South Africa's new online music store for all... from Nokia

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A local Nokia representative contacted me last week, clearly keen for me to run a blog post about their new online music offering in South Africa. However, it's actually such a great idea - and desperately needed in our Apple iTunes-challenged nation (well, in terms of SA-specific offerings anyway) - that I was more than happy to write about it.

As of today, 9 September 2010, the South African Nokia Music Store - which began operating in April last year - will become known as Ovi Music (in keeping with Nokia's overseas Ovi services). Regardless of whether they own a Nokia device or not, South Africans will be able to access and download over 6 million songs from thousands of music artists, both local and international.

Best of all, the tracks will be DRM-free, so once you pay R10 per track or R100 per full album, the music - in MP3 format - is yours to use as you wish. With no need for propriety players and continual authorisation, you'll be able to enjoy your new music on whatever music-playing device you want, and regardless of whether you're a PC-slave or Mac-slut. And, for the record, Ovi Music's MP3s will be at a high quality 320kb/s, whereas previously the Nokia Music Store offered audio files at a passable, but not ideal, 190kb/s.

So, yeah, kudos to Nokia for providing an affordable, SA-centric option for locals who are over the schlep of buying CDs, but still want to do the legal thing in regards to digital music downloads.


Also today, Nokia’s local unlimited download service, Comes with Music, will be renamed Ovi Music Unlimited. Consumers who buy an Ovi Music Unlimited device will enjoy 12 months of unlimited free music downloads, and they'll be able to keep the tracks forever - even once the 12 month period has ended. Ovi Music Unlimited retains the use of DRM though, with audio files protected by Windows Media DRM and downloadable in WMA (Windows Media Audio) format only.

Current Ovi Music Unlimited-enabled devices in South Africa include the Nokia 5130, Nokia 5530, Nokia 5630 and Nokia X6. In mid-October, the brand new Nokia N8 will join this list. And for people who already have subscriptions to the service, you'll be able to renew your access for one, three, six or 12 month terms in future.

All very interesting and good to know... Thanks, Nokia.

Now where's my free stuff? ;)

Comments

Gerdus said…
Great now I have no excuse not to pay for all my music :-) Now all we need is a netflix type service for TV/Movies; oh and real broadband that doesn't cost > R1000
9:35 AM
Pfangirl said…
Gerdus, I totally agree! I wait desperately for those services to arrive.
4:33 PM
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