Forum > Sony Ericsson / Sony > General > No copy protection in Sony Ericsson's music store

On Monday Sony Ericsson opens their music and game venture PlayNow Arena. Then one million tunes will be available for download and copy with no technical restrictions.


With start of Monday, Sony Ericsson users in the nordic countries will get access to Sony Ericsson's music store. Then over one million tunes will be available for download and the whole range will be DRM free. In other words one will be able to copy the tunes to and from the computer, the mobile phone and other media players. Sony Ericsson is aiming to offer over five million tunes shortly but will not give an exact time frame for this.

After a tune has been bought it can be downloaded both to the mobile and the computer. The mobile version of the tunes are in the AAC+ format with a bit rate of 48 kbps and a size of between 1 and 1.5 mega bytes. When downloading to the computer one gets an MP3 file instead with a bit rate of 320 kbps. If downloading directly to the mobil one pays 1.26 EUR per tune in the form of a premium SMS. If downloading to the computer one can choose to pay either same sum with premium SMS or 0.94 EUR per tune with a credit card.

Sony Ericsson does not offer any streaming service so all music one wants to listen to must be downloaded, however there is a possibility to test play 30 seconds of the tunes. The data cost to download to the mobile entirely depends on the type of operator subscription one have.

Sony Ericsson has intensively worked on their collaboration partners within the music industry to get a deal allowing sales without DRM protection.
- All big music companies with the exception of Universal are with us, says Martin Blomkvist, content manager at Sony Ericsson, to Mobil.

Apart from music, PlayNow Arena also contains wall papers, ring signals and themes, but the other big part in Sony Ericsson's venture consists of games.

At launch 250 games will be available for 25 of Sony Ericsson's mobile phones. Some games will be for free, but remaining will cost 4.19 EUR and upwards. PlayNow Arena is adapted for all Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones and all that have a built-in MP3 player from K800 and forward.

When it comes to the music range there is nothing that prohibits anyone to buy music and play it on one's mobile phone, irrespective of manufacture.