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Nokia Music free streaming service comes to US, available exclusively for Lumia handsets
Nokia Lumia owners on the other side of the pond have been rockin' out to the company's streaming service ever since Music launched during last year's Nokia World, but users in the US of A are about to get access as well. The Windows Phone handset maker just announced that Nokia Music will be available for US-based Lumia devices beginning today, with a US-based team of "musicologists" running the show. Users will have access to more than 150 playlists that span all major genres as part of an all-you-can-eat pro bono offering. There's also an option to create custom playlists with a Pandora-like feature that pulls in songs based on a selected artist and plays them back in random order, without advertisements popping in every few minutes. Playlists can be downloaded for offline listening as well. Officially, the app supports Lumia 900 and 710 handsets, and it can be downloaded from Marketplace today. Full details are in the PR after the break.
MOG FreePlay brings 11 million songs to the web gratis, makes you work for free tunes
Free? Yeah, we all like free, but when it comes to streaming music, there's always a catch. This time it's a FreePlay "tank," which lets you stream any of MOG's 11 million songs from the web without subscription fees -- well, at least until that looming gauge hits empty. The system adds a rather unique social media twist, filling tanks to different levels based on virtual interactions. And MOG's CEO says many users should never hit empty -- there are a variety of ways to earn free music, such as "interacting with advertisers in meaningful ways." Like Spotify, MOG's ultimate goal is to convert freeloaders to paid subscribers, and forking over $5 (Basic) or $10 (Primo) per month does have its benefits, including hardware integration and mobile access -- both of which won't work with the free version. Now that we have several free streaming options, it ultimately comes down to availability -- having access to 11 million tracks could be great, but only if you can play the songs you want to listen to. So, do you MOG? And no, we also have no idea what that means, but you can check it out when the site goes live tomorrow morning at 9AM ET.
Crackle for iOS brings free movies and TV shows to iPads, iPhones
After appearing on Android, Bravia TV connected platforms, the PS3 and Roku, Sony's Crackle has finally brought its ad-supported movie and TV show streaming act to iOS. The iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch clients also have an advantage over their Android counterparts, like the PS3 and Google TV apps they have access to extra content from the website (all in SD resolution) which now includes episodes from Seinfeld and movies like Pineapple Express. While senior VP Eric Berger tells USA Today the name is a reference to the need for content to "crackle" or be special, there's plenty of fluff in the catalog along with many well known older shows and movies. Still, at the low, low price of $0 we're sure you'll find something worthwhile.
Warner Music talks trash about free streaming services, keeps using them
Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. isn't happy with free music streaming services. Shocking, right? Coming out yesterday with a barrage of disparagement for online streamers like Spotify and Last.fm, Bronfman Jr. made it clear that they do not represent "the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future." Why is that, Eddie? The man in charge seems to think that paid subscription models are the future, because "the number of potential subscribers dwarfs the number of people who are actually purchasing music" online. That's wonderful and all, but he neglects to tell us the specifics of how and why Warner will succeed at something that every publisher would love to have, but none have managed to translate into reality yet. Additionally, WMG is not withdrawing its music library for the moment -- something a lot of publications seem to have erroneously reported (see Spotify tweet below) -- which leads us to believe the entire spiel is more of a renegotiating ploy than a concrete statement of intent. [Thanks, Wiggy Fuzz]
