AT&T Launches Non-DRM Over The Air Music Store
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Richard Baguley Published on July 31, 2007 Comment on this |
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31st July 2007 - AT&T has finally launched their over the air music store. Created with Emusic, the store allows users to buy 5 songs a moth for $7.49, which can be downloaded both to a cell phone and to a desktop music player. But unlike other cell phone music services, the files downloaded from the AT&T store do not have Digital Rights Management (DRM) on them; they can be copied and played on any device that can play MP3 files. However, the store currently only allows over the air downloads with a limited number of phones, and doesn't work with the iPhone. Other networks (such as Sprint and Verizon) offer similar services that allow you to download music straight to a cell phone over the cell network, but these include DRM that limits where they can be played. On the HTC Mogul, for instance, we found that songs downloaded from Sprint's online music service can only be played in Sprint's own music player, not in the Windows Media Player program that is also included on the phone.
The selection of songs on offer from the new AT&T service also leaves something to be desired. Emusic offers over 2.5 million songs, but we were only able to find one of the Billboard top 5 pop songs on the service. Emusic does have an excellent selection of classical and indie music, though.
The new service also only works with a very limited selection of AT&T phones: the Samsung a717, the a727, the Synch and the Nokia N75. It doesn't work with the iPhone, and AT&T hasn't revealed any plans to widen he range of phones that it can work with. But you can download songs from emusic and synch them to any device that can play MP3 files, so you could still get the songs onto an iPhone through iTunes. The service also allows you to download the songs both directly onto a cell phone and onto a desktop PC.
The new service is being offered as a subscription service; users pay $7.49 a month, which allows for up to 5 songs to be downloaded. Additional songs can be downloaded for $7.49 for 5, and you can buy credits in advance then download individual songs. This works out at around $1.50 per song; nearly 50% more expensive than Sprint and Verizon, who charge $0.99 a song. The new service is available now.
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