Omnifone's MusicStation launches to nail Apple, Napster, and that crap Orange Music service

Link: UK dotcom tycoons take on Apple with iPhone competitor | New media | MediaGuardian.co.uk

A group of British entrepreneurs who made millions in the dotcom era are taking on the might of Apple and its eagerly awaited iPhone with a new mobile music service which gives fans access to more than 1m tracks for just £1.99 a week.
And users will not need to pay the hundreds of pounds that Apple is expected to charge for the iPhone as the service works on three-quarters of existing mobile phones.

MusicStation will launch in the UK in the spring, with Orange and Vodafone expected to be the first to offer the service to customers. It has been four years in development, with its creators Omnifone hammering out deals with all the major music labels, scores of handset manufacturers and over 20 mobile phone companies who together service nearly 700 million customers in 40 countries.

“Our goal is that all the major European territories will have at least one operator offering MusicStation by the time of the iPhone launch in November,” according to Omniphone’s chief executive Rob Lewis.

Oh I don’t know about this one.

I wonder, I wonder. On one hand it sounds rather exciting.

On the other hand, a simple Google search for MusicStation yeileded trillions of results — I couldn’t find the relevant MusicStation. That’s a bit of a shitty name to choose for your product from a Google perspective. Even a ‘MusicStation UK‘ yielded Capital FM and Packard Bell. Maybe their site isn’t up yet. Maybe there’s no need for a website.

I found the Omnifone ok though. But only after I’d spelt it wrong a few times 😉 That’s user-error on my part.

Hmm. So the interface looks pretty interesting.

Unlimited music for £2 a week. Well, quite compelling that.

Do go and check out the demo. Omnifone have definitely knocked out a rather spiffing competitor — or what looks like one — to Napster and iTunes.

A few issues that I’m not entirely sure about…

1. Downloading to your Sony Ericsson is fine, but a bit limited if you’ve only got a 512mb memory card.
2. If you’re on Vodafone, o2 or Orange, forget it. Unless they’ve done a deal to prevent you being nailed for four-quid-a-meg data costs. I hope they have.
3. I want to ‘own’ the stuff on my computer. I just do. Or I want to get access to it via the web, at least. My mobile phone battery isn’t *that* brilliant.
4. If I lose my phone, what happens? Can I repopulate the handset with my favourite files? I hope so. Will that cost me two-grand to re-download 512mb’s worth of data?
5. What if I choose to swap phone providers — does my music follow me? I’m thinking about the billing mechanism.
6. A million tracks sounds good; but you know, just how comprehensive is that? I still get pissed off with iTunes for not carrying various artists I want.
7. Ergo can I rip my own CDs and put them on MusicStation? Possibly not.

I’ll see if I can find answers.

In the meantime, do check out the demo. Worth a look!