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Comes With Music is gone with music. Nokia’s music download service will be rebranded as Ovi Music Unlimited, part of the Ovi package of mobile phone software services.
Comes With Music launched in 2007 and offers unlimited music when you pay a subscription fee. It has limped along with poor sales, probably due to the digital rights management restrictions and limited availability of the service. Downloaded music can only be played on a registered computer and Nokia phone, and the music is locked up after the subscription expires by the DRM.
The online music market is stuffed full of competitors. Nokia has an advantage in that it already has its devices in people’s pockets, so it needs to lose the DRM and capitalise on that headstart if it’s to compete.
Anyone still punting DRM-protected music looks like the odd one out when the music stops — even Apple has dropped DRM from iTunes downloads. It’s pretty clear that customers aren’t interested in music that’s tied to one device. The rebranded Ovi Music Unlimited service will have a revamped interface, and hopefully will rethink the DRM.
