Not that most Americans could care, but Nokia is pushing back the US launch of its DRM-laden Comes with Music service into 2010. CWM, you'll recall, is Nokia's "free" all-you-can-eat music service that bundles the 12-18 month music subscription cost into the inflated handset price -- although like any DRM music scheme, solutions already exist to break the CWM shackles . The delay is probably a ...

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Nokia is the first mobile operator to publicly announce it will use Microsoft's multi-format DRM technology.

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Nokia’s jumped into bed with Microsoft. Is this the start of something beautiful.

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Mercora rolls a streaming mobile music service for Smartphones and Pocket PC phones. The service ties into the Santa Clara, Calif.-company's social music network site for PCs.

Dubbed Mercora M, the service turns cellular phones into mobile music players, providing users access to digital libraries stored on their computer, along with more than 100,000 music channels.

Mercora M for the mobile accesses Mercora M for the PC, which manages the music library and allows the consumer to stream the music through the 3G network onto a mobile device. "If you buy a new CD and put it on your PC, Mercora M will let you access it, too, through your mobile device," Ghose said. "We believe we've accomplished what the Microsoft Zune product was intended to do."

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By Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune Sep. 9--As another summer of catchy pop songs comes to an end, prepare for a fall that brings an array of new digital options for music fans. That's because it was a summer of music deals, starting in July when Microsoft Corp.

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The phenomenal success of the iPod has not only inspired an army of imitators, most notably SanDisk's Sansa, but has now goaded the mighty Microsoft into action. Another threat to the iPod comes from mobile phone makers like Nokia who are furiously integrating MP3 players into their handsets.

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Almost any iPod owner will tell the same story: they wouldn't swap the iconic device for any alternative. But the battle is wide open for the hearts -- and pockets -- of the vast majority who still have no MP3 player.

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Nokia’s not the only one challenging Apple. Microsoft is promising a music player and online store called Zune.

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Nokia announced this week it will spend $60m on buying Loudeye, the digital music company. So what's with Nokia - the hardware, mobile phones and base stations company - going all software and services?

The Mighty Finn has been long chanting its 'we sold X million music-playing devices last quarter' mantra and there's no doubt that having a reasonable MP3 player on your phone will become as normal as having a decent camera is now.

So we can't help but salute Nokia's brave move into digital distribution - what better to way to guarantee there's a compatible service and available content for your MP3 player phones than to buy the firm that provides them?

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