Deals to turn phones into mobile jukeboxes
17:42 15 February 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Will Knight
Cellphones could soon have yet another function - high-capacity portable music downloaders and players - following the announcement of two major deals between handset makers and music software companies.
Several new cellphones featuring music playing software from Microsoft and arch rival Apple were revealed on Monday at 3GSM, the mobile industry's conference in Cannes, France.
US cellphone maker Motorola's E1060 is the first handset to feature Apple's iTunes software. Meanwhile the 6680 and 6681 from Finnish cellphone company Nokia are both compatible with Microsoft's Windows Media Player and the US music download site Loudeye.
Many phones can already store and play digital music files. But making handsets compatible with already ubiquitous music software and download services will allow users to retrieve tracks from online music stores to their handsets. It will also enable copyright holders to make sure music is downloaded to phones in a format that cannot be easily duplicated.
Faster downloads
Motorola's E1060 can use up to 512MB of TransFlash memory - about 100 songs - while Nokia's 6680 and 6681 models each come with a 64 MB flash memory card, about 15 songs. The devices also have built-in digital cameras, and are compatible with 3G phone networks.
3G networks can transfer data at around 400 kilobytes per second, which is faster than many broadband PC services and will allow users download a digital song in under a minute.
Andrew Brown, program manager for European Mobile Devices at analyst firm IDC, says the agreements should prove popular among tech-savvy music fans. "Fundamentally, I think it will benefit the end user," he told New Scientist. "These companies have all realised that they need to co-operate to achieve a common goal."
All of the new phones also support copy-protected file formats developed by Apple and Microsoft. This will prevent most users from sharing their portable music collection without permission, a major concern for record companies. But Brown suggests that all the competing file standards could eventually prove problematic. "We need open and compatible standards," he says.
Increased storage
Brown adds that phones with even greater storage capacity may prove more popular among music fans. These will enable users to take more of their music collection with them, as they can now with Apple's iPod, Creative's Nomad and Sony's NW-HD3.
In January 2005 Toshiba announced a 2GB, 2.1 cm diameter hard drive designed specifically for cell phones. Similar hard drives are already used in Apple's wildly successful iPod and iPod mini music players. And Brown says the first phone with a hard drive is expected to debut towards the end of 2005.
However, Motorola and Nokia are not the only cellphone companies hoping to turn their handsets into music players.
Also on Monday, UK cellphone maker Sendo unveiled the X2, a phone with memory that can be expanded to 1GB using a miniSD card. And Sony Ericsson says it will reveal a phone in March that can be used to download and play music from its own online music store.
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