21st CENTURY WALKMAN dotmusic.com So far the concept of music on cellphones has been limited to choosing a barely-melodic rendition of the James Bond theme for a ringtone. The excitement doesn't end there, though; according to communications experts, it won't be long before we're all using our mobile phones as personal stereos. Back in December, EMI in conjunction with BT Cellnet founded a decidely low-tech service to send music news and gossip to fans by way of SMS text messages. This year, however, truly wireless music on the move threatens to become a reality. Already you can load seven or eight MP3 songs into your Samsung SGH-M100 phone and play them back between calls. Next month, the DoCoMo network in Japan launches its Mobile Media Distribution Service, giving access to around 1,000 30-second music files. Over here in the UK, Consult.Hyperion.co.uk have devised a pilot interface for Remotemusic.com which makes use of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). With a WAP phone such as the highly sought-after Nokia 7110, users can browse Remotemusic.com's catalogue (which includes techno pioneers as varied as Heaven 17 and Cliff Richard) and listen to samples through their phonešs headset. For digital mobile music to become a success in Britain, the cost of making cell phone calls will have to be slashed. With telcos, ISPs and mobile phone companies now all competing to control similar markets, it looks as though a major price reduction is around the corner. But perhaps the technologists have forgotten one sad fact. We can already hear music down the phone, and do so on a regular basis. It's called being on hold. comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion [about i-drive] writing index dotmusic index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page

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