It's emerged that Orange's new Monkey IVR-based streaming music service has a monthly usage cap.
Users can only dial in to listen to playlists for up to 600 minutes a month, according to music industry analyst Mark Mulligan. Which sounds pretty generous, but breaks down as 20 minutes a day.
Given that the service is aimed at 16-24 year-olds and is intended as a legal alternative to music piracy, it's a puzzling restriction that risks sending its young audience back to BitTorrent if they reach their 10-hour limit in a month.
The limit may help to keep a rein on Orange's licensing costs for the service, however. Although it pays a flat fee per user to label partner Universal Music Group, it will also be paying per-stream licensing fees to music publishers.
For a service that feels 'free' to users, who get it simply by topping up their prepay account by £10 a month, such restrictions may be fair.
However, as any parent will tell you, restrictions being fair is one thing, but convincing teenagers that they're fair is an entirely different proposition. Good luck with that one, Orange...
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