Cingular Music details unveiled

As teased up yesterday, Cingular Wireless has taken the wraps off its mobile music strategy, scheduled to launch Nov. 6. It allows customers to sideload tracks downloaded from any music subscription service by using a form of digital rights management technology from Microsoft known as PlaysForSure.

It also provides mobile access to the online music services of Napster, eMusic and Yahoo Music via their respective WAP sites. There is no OTA component yet, but will be within the next six months, the company says. Interestingly, Cingular thinks it can jump-start the struggling music subscription business by making it a wireless service. But putting the company's music future in the hands of third-party partners is a risky strategy. On paper, it makes sense and could be very successful. We'll see how it's executed.

Read the full report:
- in the Billboard Magazine article
- or the company release

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