{"id":1281,"date":"2009-01-26T01:31:35","date_gmt":"2009-01-26T06:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2009-01-26T00:34:01","modified_gmt":"2009-01-26T05:34:01","slug":"nokia-5800-xpressmusic-comes-with-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2009\/01\/26\/nokia-5800-xpressmusic-comes-with-music","title":{"rendered":"Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Comes With Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was walking around Sungei Wang yesterday, and noticed a bunch of ads, selling the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic<\/a> for about RM1,399 or lower.<\/p>\n

I had first read about it, from Suanie<\/a> and was impressed when she said:<\/p>\n

\nVlasta Berka, GM of Nokia (M) took the stage to officially launch the Nokia 5800 XPM. He also announced the price \u2013 RM1,499 which I think is a real steal. They are also giving away 1,000 DRM-free songs with each unit; song artists include Madonna, Jason Mraz, Kylie Minogue, Norah Jones, Michael Buble\u2026 you know, the talented ones.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1,000 DRM-free songs<\/b>. According to The Star<\/a>, it comes with a voucher of some sorts, and you have a selection of over 10,000 songs, from big labels like EMI, Warner Music and so on. It comes I believe, with an 8GB microSD card, which stores up to 6,000 tracks!<\/p>\n

But, lets go back to the 1,000 DRM-free songs. You’re paying market price – RM1,499, for a device, and you’re getting free music. Back in November 2008, I wrote about looking for devices that comes with music<\/a>. I revisited the article<\/a> in The Economist, and noted that handsets in the UK, could cost as little as \u00a3130, and it would come with a supply of music!<\/p>\n

I wonder what Nokia is paying the music industry for this feature. In fact, I wonder if the music is downloaded over-the-air, which also means, people will want to get unlimited data plans. Budget-conscious owners, will probably do it via a desktop application (I presume), which probably only works on Windows. Discounting Mac users (and even Linux users), is a big mistake, which I hope someone like Russell Beattie<\/a> would get fixed.<\/p>\n

So, what is the true cost of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, without music? A phone store by Nokia, when Apple can’t even muster the iTunes Music Store? Depending on popularity, I wonder if Apple will slowly miss the boat, here in Malaysia. More on this, if\/when I try the phone out…<\/p>\n

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