Vodafone Tunes up for Launch

January 10, 2006 - source: BWCS

UK-based mobile giant Vodafone is to partner with Sony NetServices to launch a new music service for its customers. The pair will offer Vodafone subscribers the chance to access the tunes of their choice via their mobile handsets.

Vodafone said that its Radio DJ service will offer personalised radio channels that will stream music to 3G phones and personal computers. According to a statement from the company "Customers have access to hundreds of thousands of songs, both current popular hits and back catalogue, from the world's largest record companies, and many smaller independent labels."

The system will work by enabling users to customise radio channels according to their own personal tastes. They will be able to do this by pressing a button to indicate "like" or "dislike" when a song is played. Once the customer has rejected a song, by pressing dislike, the channel will skip to the next tune, meanwhile the radio channel based on Sony's online service, will apparently ensure that similar songs are also kept out of the future playlist.

The mobile company will launch the new service in six of its major European markets during the next few months and plans to charge customers a monthly fee for access to an unlimited number of songs. The service will first appear in the UK, followed by France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Overall the new music service will be available in 20 markets by the end of the year.