Verizon Brings Music Right into Your Cell Phone

By Jessie Seyfer, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Jan. 17–Verizon on Monday became the latest entrant into the growing number of music-download services, launching one that allows subscribers to bring music directly into selected cell phones as well as their personal computers.

But for consumers, it turns out that turning a mobile phone into a music player isn’t cheap. Verizon’s V Cast Music service costs $15 a month plus 99 cents or $1.99 a song, depending on whether they’re downloaded to computer or phone. A competing Sprint service charges a $15 monthly fee plus $2.50 per downloaded song.

Spurred by the phenomenal success of Apple Computer’s iTunes online music service and its iPod portable player, telecommunications companies have sought to exploit a gadget people carry nearly everywhere: their phone. But even the Rokr music phone, released by Motorola and Apple, has left consumers underwhelmed. So far, no company has duplicated the success of an iPod-iTunes tandem for mobile phones.

“I can envision a certain number of online music consumers, at some point during the day, saying, ‘Oh my God, I heard a song and I’ve got to have it right now,’ ” Gartner analyst Mike McGuire said. “That’s going to be something they do the first couple of times, and when they see their bill at the end of the month, they’re going to say to themselves, ‘Perhaps restraint is called for.’ “

V Cast works with two kinds of phones, to which songs can be downloaded only in areas served by Verizon’s network, which covers an estimated 150 million people in the United States including the Bay Area. Music can also be obtained online then uploaded into the phone, which holds about 200 songs.

Industry analysts say it’s too early to know whether consumers will bite. Battery life, download speed, file-storage space and, of course, price are all important considerations, McGuire said. But it all depends on whether people are ready to adopt music on their mobile phones. A recent Gartner study found that fewer than 5 percent of U.S. cell phone users take advantage of music and video downloads.

Last year, Cingular Wireless released the Rokr phone, which holds up to 100 songs — uploaded from PCs using Apple’s iTunes and a USB cable. But songs could not be downloaded directly to the phone.

Other services, such as RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, offer streaming radio to cellular phones on a subscription basis.

Verizon’s service is also not without its quirks. V Cast requires Microsoft’s Windows Media Player 10, which runs only on the Windows XP operating system. Also, MP3-format songs must first be converted to a Windows Media Player format. Songs purchased through iTunes can’t be converted.

But the promise of the mobile marketplace is difficult to ignore, with an estimated 195 million wireless subscribers in the United States, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association.

At this early stage in the mobile-phone music game, McGuire said, the question is, “Is this a different way to get music, or is it a better way to get music?”

Contact Jessie Seyfer at jseyfer@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5425.

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:VZ, NASDAQ-NMS:AAPL, NYSE:MOT, Unknown:CIW, NASDAQ-NMS:RNWK, NASDAQ-NMS:MSFT,