Comes With Music -- Engadget

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Nokia's X6 follows the 5800's footsteps, while the X3 brings Ovi Store to Series 40

by Paul Miller posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 4:24AM

We'd be tempted to use the word "featurephone" on the X6 (pictured) if it wasn't Nokia behind the handset, pumping the relatively chubby 0.55-inch thick form factor with 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel camera, a dual LED flash, TV-out, and a 3.2-inch touchscreen. The phone is also a Comes with Music only handset, so don't expect to get all boring and old with this phone in your pocket -- or to pay for a voice plan that doesn't include the service. Otherwise, the phone seems to be a slightly slimmed down Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, sporting the same OS, A-GPS (with Ovi Maps), and we suppose a similar resistive touchscreen. Nokia was kind enough to include a free copy of Spore along with the Ovi Store, and plans to ship the handset in Q4 2009 for 459 Euros (about $652 US) before subsidy.

The X3 is a much tamer affair than the X6, offering a 2.2 non-touchscreen, a slide-out keypad, and Series 40 for an OS. There's a 3.2 megapixel camera, but you'll have to spring for a microSD card if you need significant onboard storage. What's new is that the X3 is the first Series 40 handset to include the Ovi Store, which should help it edge out the competition when it comes to functionality. The price isn't bad either, at 115 Euros (about $163 US) before subsidy. It'll be out in Q4 as well.

Update: We've added a brief video after the break.

Read - Nokia X6

Read - Nokia X3

Gallery: Nokia X6

Gallery: Nokia X3

Continue reading Nokia's X6 follows the 5800's footsteps, while the X3 brings Ovi Store to Series 40

Nokia Comes with Music US launch smartly pushed back to 2010

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 1st 2009 at 4:58AM

Not that most Americans could care, but Nokia is pushing back the US launch of its DRM-laden Comes with Music service into 2010. CWM, you'll recall, is Nokia's "free" all-you-can-eat music service that bundles the 12-18 month music subscription cost into the inflated handset price -- although like any DRM music scheme, solutions already exist to break the CWM shackles. The delay is probably a wise move considering the weak state of Nokia's US partnerships required to offset consumer costs, lukewarm response to its latest handsets, and the fact that most US consumers share a broad distaste for DRM music. We'd rather see Nokia launch late but with a compelling proposition than launch now in blind adherence to a timeline.

Video: Nokia 5230 touchscreen seen lagging the competition

by Thomas Ricker posted Aug 25th 2009 at 4:47AM

Ok S60 5th edition fans, here you go: another touchscreen Nokia slate to admire before it could be leaked by Eldar Murtazin. The new 5230 brings a 3.2-inch touchscreen riding HSDPA data, A-GPS, 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, and Bluetooth 2.0 with the promise of 33 hours of music pumped over its 3.5-mm audio jack. It will launch in two flavors in Q4: a €149 model and €259 Comes with Music version. Backside pic and video demonstrating the importance of long pink finger nails for navigating its resistive touchscreen after the break.

Note to Nokia: you really should review your marketing videos more carefully unless the severe lag / unresponsiveness seen when scrolling at 36 seconds is a feature.

Continue reading Video: Nokia 5230 touchscreen seen lagging the competition

Orange bringing Comes With Music-equipped Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to UK

by Chris Ziegler posted May 13th 2009 at 5:31AM

What a difference a year and a half makes, eh? It was August of 2007 when Orange first got all weird on Nokia over the then-wild concept of a manufacturer-owned and operated music store -- bear in mind the iPhone hadn't launched very widely at that time -- and look how far we've come. The two companies have just announced that the venerable Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be available starting May 29 loaded up with Comes With Music, Nokia's all-you-can-eat service that brings endless downloadable tracks through its Music Store. In Orange's case, Comes With Music will be available on any of five special plans starting at £25 a month (about $38), meaning that you'll be able to nab music for the duration of your two-year contract. As long as DRM's in the mix, you're basically locked into your contract for as long as you want the definitive Bryan Adams collection that you've downloaded -- so we're hoping Nokia nixes that nightmare sooner rather than later. And hey, congrats, Orange customers -- you're the first Brits to officially be offered this through a carrier, and you'll be getting it in an "exclusive" black / silver color combo.

Report: Nokia's Comes With Music not selling very well in the UK

by Laura June posted Apr 22nd 2009 at 5:31PM

After hearing initial reports that Nokia's Comes With Music subscription service was doing "okay," word on the streets is now... even less good. According to estimates released by Music Ally at an Association of Independent Music conference in London, Nokia's gotten about 23,000 subscribers to the service since it launched last October. That's not a great number, if it's anywhere near accurate... though Nokia has "refused to confirm" whether or not it is. Tim Grimsditch, head of Nokia's product marketing division added that it's "a very new business model, we're live in five markets and the numbers only mention one. We're going to continue to develop the model and fine tune how we market it." That said, the report can't be terribly heartening either way you slice it, and is rather reminiscent of N-Gage's niche market status if you ask us.

Nokia aiming for DRM-free implementation of Comes With Music

by Darren Murph posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 7:26PM

Make no mistake -- there's no need to wait for Nokia and its partner studios to implement a DRM-free version of Comes With Music to enjoy your subscription tracks on any device you want, but at least the handset maker -- along with those in control of the jams -- are working towards a legal way to strip your downloads of that pesky rights management stuff. According to an article on the matter from Singapore today, Adam Mirabella, director of Global Digital Music Retail at Nokia, had this to say: "We have dialogs going with all of our partners and Digital Rights Management-free (DRM-free) is also on the roadmap for the future integration of Comes With Music." No further details were spilled, but we'd say that's clear cut enough to get one's hopes up. Just don't bank on this going down anytime soon -- you should know there's lots of red tape to cut before those CmW tunes are freed of their shackles.

[Thanks, Masa]

Nokia's Comes With Music goes on European tour, Asia next, Americas deemed too boring

by Tim Stevens posted Jan 21st 2009 at 8:17AM

It was just yesterday that Reuters predicted Nokia's Comes With Music service was headed for something of a pilgrimage through the wilds of Europe, and now we have the official confirmation of this "pan European" expansion. The company has secured partnerships with music licensing and publishing big-wigs in Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, and is indicating that Singapore and Australia are next on its to-do list. Alas there was no mention of other nations getting any sort of attention, meaning Nokia handsets in the New World are unlikely to come with anything but guilt for the forseeable future.

Nokia's Comes With Music service plans world tour

by Darren Murph posted Jan 20th 2009 at 3:01AM

Nokia's all-you-can-eat Comes With Music service has been humming along quite nicely across the pond, but until now, we've been left in the dark about its plans for world domination. No more, as a recent Reuters report has it that the unlimited music service should be headed to Australia, Asia and Singapore later this quarter and Latin America / USA sometime this year. We're also told that more corners of Europe should get served in the future, though no window of time was handed out there. It should be interesting to see if any carriers jump in to subsidize these, but our gut feeling says they'll be sold for a premium unlocked at your nearest Nokia flagship.

[Via UnwiredView]

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic gets exhaustively previewed

by Darren Murph posted Jan 19th 2009 at 6:31PM

Well, hello there 5730 XpressMusic, so nice to finally meet you! This admittedly odd looking Nokia has been brought to our attention courtesy of Russia's own Mobile-Review, and while we're still trying to decide whether or not the QWERTY slide-out keyboard is a turn off or totally awesome (with its dot matrix-styled font), we figured it prudent to pass along the information, anyway. Said mobile sports a 2-inch QVGA screen, backlit keys, a 1,000mAh battery good for 4.5 hours of yappin', EDGE data, inbuilt GPS, 128MB of RAM, a microSD card slot, USB / Bluetooth and Symbian S60 running the show. We're told to expect it out in European markets this April for €220 ($289), though worldwide availability remains a mystery. Have a look in the read link for eleventy billion more images and a poorly translated preview.

[Thanks, momchil]

Tunebite lets you enjoy Nokia's Comes with Music service, DRM-free

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Dec 10th 2008 at 7:11PM

Not that you'd be interested, because DRM isn't a clumsy or expensive solution to a problem that exists largely (or even solely) in the heads of the film and music industries, but a new version of Tunebite is out, and among its many features is the ability to make unprotected dupes of tracks downloaded from Nokia's Comes With Music service. This isn't the "crack" everyone's talking about -- there's nothing new about software that records protected audio off the sound card -- but this package does so at speeds of up to 54x. Not bad, eh? But please, don't use it. Kanye needs our money if he's going to keep scarfing up all those awesome gadgets.

[Via Electricpig]

Nokia's Comes With Music gets scrutinized, sounds good so far

by Darren Murph posted Oct 16th 2008 at 3:57PM

If you're not in the UK, chances are that you haven't really paid attention to the teeny, tiny fact that Nokia's long-awaited Comes With Music download service launched today. Regardless of your ignorance to the facts, the all-you-can-eat music service has been activated for users across the pond who forked over the poundage for a CwM-equipped 5310 XpressMusic. Early impressions are actually pretty great, with critics finding themselves pleasantly surprised with just how intuitive the navigation was. MusicAlly did point out that these "free" tunes weren't transferable to blank CDs -- when they tried, they got a message notifying them of epic failure. At any rate, the reviews are sure looking good for Nokia right out of the gate, though only time will tell if people will take notice and buy into yet another music service.

[Via CNET]

Read - MusicAlly impressions
Read - NetworkWorld impressions

Nokia Comes With Music officially launches October 16, 5310 XpressMusic eats first

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 12:37PM

The 5800 XpressMusic is stealing the lion's share of the spotlight today, but the first S60 5th Edition handset out there actually isn't the first to get hooked up with Nokia's all-you-can-eat Comes With Music service. That honor will instead go to the lowly 5310 XpressMusic candybar, which will get access to about 2 million track downloads when it hits Carphone Warehouse in the UK in prepaid form for £130 (about $228) on October 16, a day earlier than rumored. Other models will have to wait, though Comes With Music versions of the N95 8GB and 5800 are both planned.

Nokia's XpressMusic 5800 Tube launching October 2nd?

by Darren Murph posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 5:38PM

Okay, so first we heard that Nokia's Comes with Music service would be good and ready by October 2nd. Then we heard October 17th. Now, a certain "anonymous industry source" has revealed that the long-awaited XpressMusic 5800 (or the Tube, as it were) will be launching on the 2nd of next month. With so much conflicting evidence out and about, we're firmly in "wait and see" mode at this point, and considering that "launch" gives no indication of a ship date, we reckon you're better off doing the same.

[Thanks, Mikkel]

Nokia's first Comes with Music handset on sale 10/17 in UK

by Darren Murph posted Sep 19th 2008 at 12:45PM

A recent Reuters article doesn't mention a specific model (although we have our hunches), but one thing's for sure: some kind of Comes with Music handset is launching on October 17th. We had previously assumed that October 2nd would be the go-live date for the intriguing music bundle, but retailer Carphone Warehouse has now made clear that Britain won't be able to buy in until a few weeks later. As predicted, a Nokia spokesman declined to comment, so we'd go ahead and pencil (key word: pencil) this one into your increasingly crowded datebook.

[Via MobileBurn]

Nokia's Comes With Music premium in the $150 range?

by Darren Murph posted Sep 10th 2008 at 10:09PM

We put "free" in quotes for a reason, and now it seems the dark, nasty truth could be upon us. While pre-order prices on a retailer's website should be taken as pure speculation and nothing more, a couple of notable examples reveal £70 to £85 premiums on the Comes with Music version of two phones. For instance, Expansys offers up Nokia's N95 8GB for £394.99, but the CwM edition is a stiff £479.99. It's hard to say if the prices are jacked up by Nokia's directive, but again, we aren't getting too riled up until these things launch for real.