Vodafone launches unlimited music downloads

By Kathryn Small on Sep 22, 2008 9:07AM

Vodafone today launched an unlimited music downloads service, allowing users to download thousands of songs to their mobile phones for a fixed price per month.

MusicStation will cost $11.95 per month, with no extra data download costs, and will give users access to a database of over a million songs.

“This is a huge leap forward for the Australian music industry,” said Karen Paterson, head of live! services at Vodafone Australia.

“Vodafone is changing the way people experience music on the move. We’re making music on your mobile so easy to use and such good value that using it will be as effortless and spontaneous as making a phone call.”

David Loiterton, MD Asia Pacific at Omnifone, agreed. “It’s the anytime, anywhere access – complete access to all the music in the world, wherever you are.”

Using the MusicStation software, songs can be downloaded, rated, sent to friends and added to playlists.

Tracks are stored in EAAC+ format at 'near CD quality', with the average track taking up 1.2Mb. Paterson told iTnews that songs would take 'seconds' to download, with no data charges for downloading tracks.

David Loiterton, Omnifone MD A/Pac, said that usage rates vary between countries but that users downloaded, on average, hundreds of tracks per month.

MusicStation is already available to Vodafone affiliates in the UK, South Africa and New Zealand. It has won multiple awards, including the international award Best Mobile Music Service at the 2008 GSMA Global Mobile Awards.

The service has buy-in from major music labels including Universal, Song BMG, EMI and Warner, as well as local and independent labels Shock, Liberation Music, All Killer, Blue Pie, Destra and MGM.

“The labels understand that [subscription music] is where the business is going. You have to give customers what they want – cause if you don’t, they’re going to be on peer-to-peer sites,” said Omnifone MD A/Pac David Loiterton.

In Australia, MusicStation is available to Vodafone’s 3.57 million pre-paid and post-paid customers. To access the service, customers will need to install free MusicStation software on their mobiles.