Nokia has announced the launch of Comes with Music, its unlimited music service, for China. The service, which will be DRM-free, will be available across eight Nokia devices with a starting price point of €140 (£123 / $187). The cost of music is bundled into the price of the device; subsequently, users can download as much music as they like, with no additional charges, for the duration of the Comes with Music subscription (usually 12 months).
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It seems that the Chinese are being rewarded for their high piracy levels (by being offered DRM-free CWM). This should be available to all of us now. Then maybe I'd get another CWM phone. In the meantime Spotify is the best solution for me.
Ultimately it is the music label's decision. Nokia couldn't release a DRM-free CFW service here even if they wanted to.
The whole "files have terrible metadata and are of poor quality" thing may have been true 5 years ago, but these days it's hard not to find anything that's ripped to straight up 320 kbps CBR.
I'd agree quality is less of an issue, but I think meta data might be. But I think the thing is it is not enough if 90% is good, it needs to be everything. That's the guarantee you get from using a legal service.
Be very interesting to see how it goes. Piracy becomes unattractuve (for most) when it is less work (''cheaper'😉 to be legitimate. The question is - what is that level... I suspect you'll continue to see both (e.g. piracy for latest releases), but the ease of use of a CwM enabled handset will be a significant enducement to the mass market.
Someone with better information - please do comment though!
I want to this service when it will be available as DRM free for my region. I bought few tracks and am very happy with the meta data,quality and the number of tracks available. And its very convenient way to download the music from the phone since i use my phone as my main music player. But cant they use subscribtions by serial number so i can buy 1 year membership instead of buying new device! Why i need to buy new device to use it? This is out of my scope!. I know many people like to use CWM when i talked to them about it but when they know they need to buy new phone they think it dont worth it, i dont mean it dont worth the money but dont worth the sell,buy,transfer..bla bla.
So europeans don't pirate enough music to make offering DRM free CMW worthwhile for record companies.
Everybody start pirating now! Go on until DRM free subscription services become viable in Europe.
The decision to make CWM DRM-free only in China is a bit of an odd business move, but hey it's Nokia (eye roll).
I don't get why Nokia doesn't just partner up with somebody like Microsoft with their Zune service or make a deal with Spotify and include it in all their handsets. It'd likely be way more successful than CWM. Nobody wants to buy a phone and download DRM'd music that won't work once you get a new phone. It's mind-bogglingly stupid.
Unregistered wrote:The decision to make CWM DRM-free only in China is a bit of an odd business move, but hey it's Nokia (eye roll).
It's the record companies that make these decisions and there is nothing odd about their choice. This allows them to have at least little bit revenue from China.
Yep. Sometimes thinking helps. 😉
"I don't get why Nokia doesn't just partner up with somebody like Microsoft with their Zune service or make a deal with Spotify and include it in all their handsets. It'd likely be way more successful than CWM. Nobody wants to buy a phone and download DRM'd music that won't work once you get a new phone. It's mind-bogglingly stupid."
And how is Spotify any different? They serve DRM music as well, except that once your subscription expires you can't even keep the music!
Typical uninformed anti-Nokia rant.
Nokia does not own the music, the music label does. As someone already pointed out Nokia can't start releasing DRM-free music even if they wanted to.
... and you can transfer the CWM licence to a new phone if you update your phone