Mobile music going down the sync

You wait years for a converged mobile and PC music download service and then two come along, both at once: Orange UK and 3 UK each announced such services within a day of each other.

Orange unveiled an extension to its music service that allows management, storage and preview of tracks from the Orange Music catalogue, and enables the transfer of digital music from PCs to Orange phones. It’s being launched across 11 handsets. Unlike 3’s service, this allows management of the catalogue on the PC but not playback.

However, Orange believes this is an important advance because it means users’ purchased tracks and playlists can be retrieved should their handset be upgraded, lost or stolen. Additionally it adds another purchase option for customers who prefer buying from a PC. The company also stated that it should have 500,000 tracks available by Christmas.

Meanwhile 3 confirmed “dual download”, in which every track its customers download to mobile will also be available online for no extra charge. Users can then play tracks on their PC, transfer it to an MP3 player or burn it to CD.

3’s music service will sell tracks at a flat rate of £1.50. Customers buying a track over the air will automatically be sent a text message with a PIN code to access the same track as a PC download. 3’s dual download service has been developed in conjunction with Musiwave.