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Nokia To Use Microsoft Digital Music Software

BCMM writes "From an article on Reuters: 'The world's largest mobile phone maker, Nokia, and software giant Microsoft struck a deal on Monday to make it easier for consumers to buy digital music on-line and play it back on their handsets ... Nokia agreed to put Microsoft's music player software into its handsets.'" (The BBC covers the deal as well.) "The articles don't mention what sort of DRM or licensing will be involved." jfanning writes "Two new Series 60 phones were also announced that ship soon and support WMA, the 6680 and 6681. I haven't seen it mentioned clearly yet, but also the Media Transfer Protocol has been licenced, so that could mean the phone will show up as a media device in Windows Media 10." jfanning mentions also that Nokia has licensed the Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol for business phones.

32 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Yay! WMA on my phone! by Augusto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I can unwittingly download the latest spyware!

    --

    - sigs are for wimps.
    1. Re:Yay! WMA on my phone! by plover · · Score: 3, Funny
      Not in Europe. The EU is likely to force them to ship WiMP-free phones.

      They'll probably be marketed as "Microsoft Reduced Ring-Tone Phones"

      --
      John
  2. Motorola & Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Make it easier for consumers to buy digital music on-line and play it back on their handsets?

    Somehow I doubt it will be easier than iTunes, and since Motorola allready teamed up with Apple's iTunes...

  3. Where's my stream? by EspressoMachine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I want my mobile to be able to stream music. And for that matter, I also want my car stereo to be able to receive streaming audio. Downloading is so yesterday, who wants to pay per song? As a Rhapsody subscriber, I'd love to access my playlists through my phone or my car - Get on it, guys!

    --
    Despite conventional wisdom, I've discovered you can blame a guy for trying. It's called "attempted murder".
    1. Re:Where's my stream? by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Interesting

      umts + laptop and you'll have it(or whatever it is thats the fastspeed network where you live).

      or just edge.

      and just the phone if you do some creative coding(s60 is open so far after all for you, me and anybody to write on).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Where's my stream? by javaxman · · Score: 2, Informative
      I want my mobile to be able to stream music

      As much as they'd like to be able to eventually sell this service, I'm not sure most cell phone companies want you to stay on the phone _quite_ so constantly. Their networks depend on the fact that not everyone is using their phones at once. A single cell tower can support only so many callers. Ever try to make a call in an area where you know you can get service and not be able to connect? Until that problem goes away, you won't see the streaming service... not from the carriers, anyway.

      They are working on it, of course... eventually, as long as folks lobbying against cell tower density don't get their way...

  4. Interesting by Joshua53077 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It does make sense that the media companies (i.e. MS, Apple, Napster, etc.) are trying to lock up license agreements with cell phone makers but why wouldn't these companies go after the cell phone providers instead? I mean, if Apple came up with an agreement with Verizon to be their exclusive provider of music, wouldn't it force the cell phone makers to engineer apple's DRM and iTunes into their future phones? And put another way, if I were a cell phone carrier, wouldn't I want a piece of the action and the opportunity to control media standards?

  5. Crashes.... by FalconZero · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nokia is a type of PHONE
    T-Mobile is a type of NETWORK
    Sheessh - If you're gonna make up random things to get FP, at least make them vaugley techincally correct.

    Anyway... As for Nokia - The rest of my devices running MS stuff crash - Why Oh Why would I want my phone to crash as well??? I can just see it now. "Hello Bob, I need you to look up error code 61023... Bob? Bob?... damn - my phone's rebooted."

    --
    Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
  6. In Other News... by bigtallmofo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Motorola has announced that they have signed a deal with Microsoft to implement the stunningly successful Microsoft Bob into their new line of phones.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  7. Because after all, we all love... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Insightful
    > struck a deal on Monday to make it easier for consumers to buy digital music on-line and play it back on their handsets ...

    ...aah, in rapture to Beethoven's Ninth, compressed to a 32kbps mono .WMV, gloriously rendered on a tinny piezoelectric speaker.

    Turning phones into music rental devices seems to fall under the "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" category.

    Even if you stuck a headphone jack into your phone to get around the shitty piezo speaker problem, consider that if you actually plan to use your phone for something (oh, I don't know, say, talking on it?), why would you want to wear down its battery by playing music on it?

    1. Re:Because after all, we all love... by tongue · · Score: 3, Informative


      Even if you stuck a headphone jack into your phone to get around the shitty piezo speaker problem, consider that if you actually plan to use your phone for something (oh, I don't know, say, talking on it?), why would you want to wear down its battery by playing music on it?


      Yeah, actually, not only would i, but I've been screaming for the ability to do so for years. Now I can stick a miniSD card into my cell phone and have a small "emergency supply" of music on hand whenever I need it, without having to carry around an extra gadget. And not only can I play Beethoven's 9th in 32kb mono wma, but also in 192kb vorbis, 128kb wma, and anything in between if i so choose. Not to mention the ability to put videos on my phone--now if i can just get tivo to let me store as wm10 content i can watch 24 on my phone as well.

      As for the charging, the engineers made a very wise decision in allowing the phone to charge over USB, so when i hook it up to sync to my desktop, its also charging for me, which means I only have to carry around a small USB cable instead of a whole charger, and i can charge off anything with a USB port, even if the phone's software isn't installed on the computer. hell, i can even charge off linux. :)

      (for those wondering, the phone in question is the Audiovox SMT5600, not the nokias mentioned above, but the same principles apply.)

    2. Re:Because after all, we all love... by skubeedooo · · Score: 4, Interesting
      When I'm listening to my mp3 player, i can't hear my phone ring. And i can't feel it vibrate because it's usually in my bag (i don't like leaving it in my pocket all the time). This obviously causes a problem, because if i'm expecting a call then i have to not listen to music, and if i'm not expecting a call then i'll probably miss it.

      And regarding batteries, i have a charger at home and at work. Most of my friends have nokia phone chargers. If listening to music through my phone reduces the battery to, say, 5 hours, then i probably won't care.

      I find it really bizarre how the slashdot community has so many neo-luddites. Just because this technology is not perfectly set up for how YOU listen to music, or how YOU use your phone, it doesn't mean it isn't good for others. Sometimes i get the feeling that my grandparents are more adaptable to change than the average slashdot reader.

  8. People that buy these... by Sheetrock · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Are definitely into it for the gadgetry rather than the purpose. Unfortunately, that serendipity in addition to the average longevity of cellular hardware and batteries in general contributes to a major environmental problem.

    Granted, the manufacturing processes have gotten better, or at least have been outsourced to other countries, but we desparately need to find a way to extend the life of old electronics and recycling components in order to develop a environmentally-safe and sustainable electronic culture.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  9. Too much of even a good thing makes you barf. by nomad63 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am talking about consolidation here. You consolidate your PDA with your phone. Fine. It was a wise move not to carry two separate address/phone books. It was vital and trivial decision for the business minded. But Music on my phone at the same time in return for a M$ DRM installed on my phone ? I don't know how'bout you but I do not feel my contacts staying secure after some piece of micro$oft code placed in my phone.
    Obviously this unti is going to be targetted at the college kids but, how many college kids have the money to throw away on DRM'ed song downloading anyway.
    In my opinion, this is going to be another one of Nokia's flops.

    --

    __________
    The more I know people, the more I love animals
  10. Now... by CapnGrunge · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Clueless cellphone users will add to clueless computer users for us to deal with.

    --
    I see 57005 people
  11. Microsoft? Open Standards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Microsoft will introduce open standards for digital music compression and piracy protection in its Media Players for personal computers

    HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! (sniff - wipes tears from eyes)
    Microsoft supporting open standards. (snort) Now, that's funny!

  12. Do I get a refund by sulli · · Score: 2, Insightful

    if I just keep the damn thing on vibrate all the time? I hate those )(@#&@!#@!#& ringtones.

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    sulli
    RTFJ.
  13. Missing Sync by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Palm also licensed the MS ActiveSync (Outlook/Exchange protocol). Now Nokia. How does an open source project, like Open-Xchange, license a product like that? Beyond the legal issues of GPL on software that depends on a (very) proprietary license (which can be overcome by partitioning the licensed SW over IPC APIs), how does the project negotiate with MS, and be trusted to honor the agreement? How to pay? If this is all doable, what are we waiting for?

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    make install -not war

  14. It's not just Microsoft doing this by Buran · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... and why doesn't the story reflect that? Motorola reportedly showed off their new iTunes-compatible phone today, too!

    The dirt on the Motorola E1060 - Engadget - www.engadget.com

  15. Well my other idea was... by Joshua53077 · · Score: 3, Funny

    a huge 80's style boom box/cell phone that the kids could carry on their shoulders and they could blast their newly purchased music or their phone call, so be thankful I only floated the first idea. :-P

  16. Drivers and Drivers by Stanistani · · Score: 4, Funny

    *Press One to Download Drivers*
    Beeep
    *Press Two to sync device with server*
    Meeep
    *Look up to avoid crashing into large truck*
    Yaaaaaaagggh!
    *crunch*

  17. Spywares by michelcultivo · · Score: 3, Funny

    When I go to download there will be that screen asking me to click on "Yes" to install the application? Yeah, that application signed by Verisign :)

  18. Duh by dsmitchell1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your car already has streaming audio. It's called radio!

  19. The Meme to Propogate by ewhac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nokia recognized that phones are not exactly what you'd call "high-end audiophile" equipment. Further, there is a lot of downward price pressure on phone manufacturing costs (mostly from the service providers, whose heavy discounts on phone handsets are easily noticed on their books by Wall Street analysts). Hence, you're not likely to see quality audio coming out of a phone soon, since few organizations will be willing to pay the extra engineering and manufacturing costs to put that quality into the phone in the first place.

    So, realizing this, Nokia understood that putting in support for AAC or MP3-Pro or Ogg Vorbis or any other high-quality audio standard was fairly pointless, since phones are physically incapable of reproducing their dynamic range. They wanted an audio format equal to the platform on which it would be running. Hence, Windows Media.

    Everyone knows Windows Media looks and sounds very poor but, on a cheap phone with low-quality sound hardware, you'd never be able to tell. So Windows Media is the obvious choice for "toy" audio applications.

    If you want quality audio, however, then you'll have to get a decent piece of audio hardware that supports quality codecs.

    Schwab

  20. Re:Prayers answered by MoonBuggy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why would you need to buy another computer? iTunes and iPods work fine on Windows or reasonably well on Linux. Fair enough if you don't want to buy an iPod - why not just rip the songs to MP3 and put them on your phone? Then you don't need to go paying again for music you own. If you really want to pay for downloads rather than hard copies you can also use hymn to strip the DRM from legally purchased iTunes songs which can then be used with any standard FairPlay-incapable MP4 software that'll run on Symbian on your phone, without any restriction hassle.

    I'd like to know if there's anything I've missed here, but if I were you I wouldn't be giving my money or approval to a big evil setup designed to make the big bosses richer while giving you less rights.

  21. What will it do really well? by Perl-Pusher · · Score: 4, Insightful
    So they have a phone that can play windows media, does it do it well? For what purpose would I want this? My daughter has a phone that takes pictures, real crappy pictures. She's always using my digital camera, so she must think so too.

    My daughters and I have iPods, we connect them to our car stereos, the home stereo, manage it with our computer and I even use it to play music in between sets in my band. What advantage would there be having a cellphone play music? What happens if a call comes in while attached to my PA system? I'm sorry but I want device that does it's main function really well, not a bunch of mediocre features slapped together in a phone.

  22. Thank you! by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now I know which mobile phone NOT to buy when I ever do switch service.
    I wish someone would publish a list of the popular carriers, the models they sell and the OS the different models use.

  23. Re:Missing SynCE by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    SynCE is a way to synchronize your WinCE device's native PIM databases with a Linux (or unixlike) computer. It does not let you sync, say, Evolution, to, say, MS Exchange. That's what the ActiveSync protocol lets you do. Even if SynCE was a GPL version of ActiveSync, MS frequently changes their protocols (eg. driving Samba developers insane); the license means the protocol updates will be shared with the licensee, while SynCE users can get left behind until a developer re-reverse engineers the protocols.

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    make install -not war

  24. ...so run Ogg on your series-60 by sopuli · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Right here. Works nicely on the SX1 stereo headset.

  25. WMP10 is for PC - NOT phone by 4r0g · · Score: 5, Informative
    The reuters story isn't really in line with the actual press releases.

    It does not say that Nokia is licensing Windows Media Player for phones, rather the technologies underneath, such as WMA, for achieving better interoperability with the PC. WMP10 is used as the PC frontend for the music solution they just launched.

    There's going to be "support for Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) digital rights management and the MPEG Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) family of codecs in Windows Media Player via a plug-in" too to support the service.

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    - 4r0g
  26. I'M serious. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In other news (Score:2, Funny) SonyEriccsson reported sales increases of its handsets rose

    That got modded "funny" but I'm dead serious.

    I've been thinking about switching to a non-Nokia phone for my next cellphone upgrade. This clinches it.

    It's bad enough that some of the existing phones are subject to attack over bluetooth. Can you imagine them with Microsoft code inside?

    Maybe Microsoft WILL clean up their act here. But even if they do, given their track record I won't be able to trust them.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  27. Finally Activesync for nokia! by wfberg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Finally Activesync for nokia! Because with the nokia suite they have now, you can sync with outlook, outlook express, lotus notes, even stuff like defunct netscape calendar, or CSV files. But with activesync, it's outlook-only all the way baby! Way to go!

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty