re: up today...pc world article 3 Mobile customers sing to...

re: up today...pc world article 3 Mobile customers sing to destra's tune
Dahna McConnachie, PC World

18/01/2006 14:20:40

Leaving the house with a digital camera, a mobile phone and an MP3 player may make you feel tech-hip and savy, but head of the digital music site mp3.com believes that belongs in the past, and the future lies with 3G phones.

MP3.com.au, a division of destra Media , and 3 mobile today launched a subscription-based $3 a month digital music download service. The service will allow 3 Mobile customers access to the entire MP3.com.au catalogue, which includes 100,000 tracks of independent music.

destra CEO, Domenic Carosa said that as the storage capacity of 3G phones gets greater, people will no longer need MP3 players.

"The music quality over a 3G phone is comparable to that of an MP3 player. People used to leave the house with a camera, a phone and an MP3 player, but that is increasingly not going to be the case anymore," he said

Through the partnership, the tracks from mp3.com.au will be converted into the mobile standard (mpg4) on 3's mobile network. destra Media is hosting and managing the service and has developed the user interface and experience for 3 mobile customers.

"As we already run a web hosting service, storage is not an issue. We have terabytes and terabytes," Carosa said.

The revenue sharing partnership between destra and 3 Mobile is not an exclusive one and destra is currently in discussion with a number of 3G mobile venders internationally.

3 mobile's Head of content, Annie Mackin, was not available to comment but said in a media release that the partnership was a great way for 3 Mobile to give customers access to unsigned, and talented music.