Can a music service actually sell music without any software, media players, or DRM? Well, the newest mobile music service, SongNumbers, thinks it can. SongNumbers aims to go truly cross-platform by doing away with the platform altogether. The service claims that their "critical mass media utility" will empower artists and record labels by allowing customers to [...]

FlyTunes announced a new kind of music service, designed for WiFi and 3G-enabled mobile phones and media players, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch included. The idea is to outradio the (satellite) radio, by providing users with thousands of high quality music channels that can be personalized and enjoyed on your iPhone or other mobile phone, wherever you are, without any limitations and fees. And while we’re still not sure just how it will work, it seems that the idea is to stream and sync (for offline listening) the music from your PC, something that we’ve already seen with Orb. We’ll certainly know more on January 25th when the new service will be officially launched. In the meantime, you can check out FlyTunes’ official release after the break. PRESS RELEASE - FlyTunes Inc. today demonstrated its new digital music service for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and other portable media players and cell phones. The FlyTunes service offers users a personalized radio-like experience, with thousands of channels of digital music that can be enjoyed anywhere they go, regardless of wireless connection. FlyTunes outshines satellite radio in a number of ways:

• FlyTunes does not require a receiver or additional hardware purchase; it works with the cell phone or personal media player already in a consumer’s pocket.
• FlyTunes offers access to over 100 times more channels than satellite radio, covering every conceivable musical taste.
• FlyTunes plays everywhere, unlike satellite radio, which does not work inside buildings, or on planes.
• FlyTunes allows users to personalize their music channels. While listening, users can promote favorite songs and flag unwanted ones (never to be played again).
• There are no setup or monthly fees for FlyTunes.

“FlyTunes bridges the massive disconnect that exists between the hundreds of millions of cell phones and portable media players people already own, and thousands of Internet radio stations that broadcast every type of music they could want,” said FlyTunes CEO Sam Abadir. “From the user’s perspective, FlyTunes provides an extremely easy-to-use service that allows them to quickly get the music they want and to discover new music.” “Because FlyTunes uniquely sits between the broadcasters and the listener, it offers users personalized music, which has never been possible for satellite or terrestrial broadcasters, and the ability to cache hours of music for offline listening,” continued Abadir. FlyTunes allows users to create their own customized music channels by searching over 20,000 Internet radio stations to find music that matches their preferences. Hours of personalized music can be cached to a portable media player or cell phone and listened to anywhere. Portable devices with 3G capability can quickly cache additional music, greatly reducing battery drain. FlyTunes works with Macintosh or PC computers, and will be widely available on January 21, 2008 at the FlyTunes.fm web site. The company is providing credentialed press with preview accounts at the CES show. FlyTunes works with all Apple iPods, including the iPhone, and iPod Touch, Microsoft Zune, and all other popular media players supporting MP3 files, as well as multimedia-enabled cell phones. ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Apple to require iTunes subscription for iPhonePandora streaming radio on your AT&T handset - Pandora and AT&T, together as oneCarphone Warehouse may offer Omniphone's Music Station service on handheldsOmnifone launches mobile music download service - MusicStationiTunes Music Store starts to offer ringtone-compatible songs - Ringtone service is now live

In order the grab a piece of the music downloads market currently dominated by Apple’s iTunes, Nokia is launching an innovative “Comes with Music” program. The idea is bundle handsets with a year of unlimited access to “millions of tracks” from (at least initially) Universal Music Group International. And while it’s hard to find any good words about Nokia’s “partner in crime,” we salute the Finish giant for taking initiative and trying to push the music industry one step forward towards adopting the new ways of doing business. Yap, the DRM will be included, but what the hack — I guess that will still be the way how RIAA’s doing business. Back to Nokia. They’ve managed to pull such deal from Universal to allow its customers to keep the music even when they cancel the service. And speaking of the service, you’ll probably want to know the launch date - it’s “mid 2008,” no exact date is provided. ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Napster's OTA music subscription service now available on DoCoMoCarphone Warehouse may offer Omniphone's Music Station service on handheldsMusic Porter X launched by NTT DoCoMoAlltel launches Jump MusicVodafone working on an unlimited music download service