Loudeye (and Smartphone 2003?) Coming to MPx200
Today we received an interesting message from Smartphone Thoughts reader, Ted Fitch, about the work that Loudeye is doing with the MPx200 and a hint that Smartphone 2003 may be coming to that device in the form of a software upgrade. Here is what Ted wrote:
Loudeye here in Seattle had some interesting announcements today regarding partnering with AT&T Wireless to deliver music over GPRS to customers. You will be able to download 15 seconds to sample the song through your phone and then you will also be able to purchase the whole song through GPRS as well. The VERY interesting part of the whole news release is that according to Loudeye's website:
"The company plans to integrate the online music store experience with all of AT&T Wireless' mMode� capable phones, including the Motorola MPX200 Smartphone, enabling mobile users to discover and purchase music ranging from ringtones to full-length songs."
The big news in this is that the solution that Loudeye is providing is based upon the Windows Media 9 platform. The Windows Media 9 platform is only supported in Smartphone 2003 so doesn't this seem to indicate that AT&T is going to have a ROM update for the MPx200 to make it work with this new Loudeye technology? From the new release I get the idea that all mMode phones will be able to download ringtones through this service, but that last sentence indicates that MPx200 users will be able to download DRM protected WM9 songs to their phone (iTunes on GPRS so to speak) and that would only be possible if the MPx200 is Windows Media 2003. Here is a link to the Loudeye press release, including pictures of the MPx200 as part of the whole campaign.
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