The world’s first all-you-can-eat (and keep forever) download service for mobile phones blitzed its way to Nokia handsets in 2008, initially giving new owners of the Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 5310 access to unlimited music downloads in the shape of Comes With Music.
The Nokia N96 joined the ranks of Comes With Music handsets shortly afterwards, bringing its roomy 16GB of built-in storage and letting music lovers carry over 3,500 songs in their pockets and download new tracks on the go.
As soon as it launched, Comes With Music ruffled the feathers of rival music services, since Nokia had support from all four major music labels, and tons of indie labels too, which it continues to grow. That meant the entire top 40 was available, as well as armfuls of back catalogue tracks, from day one. Comes With Music was an instant wave-maker, and put Nokia firmly in the entertainment, as well as mobile phone, business.
What we say
If you only do one thing
Slot a bigger memory card in your Comes With Music handset. You won’t be able to resist the temptation of downloading more tracks than your phone can hold in its internal memory, but by installing a bigger microSD card you’ll upgrade the storage and, hey-presto, it’ll be able to carry more songs.
What they say
“Audiophiles thought Christmas had downloaded early with news that Nokia Comes with Music is now available… we’re impressed”
Rhiain Morgan, T3.com
Miscellany
The lowdown on downloads
Music downloads aren’t just handy, they’re the future of the record industry, and Nokia Comes With Music is right at the forefront of the revolution. Here are a few facts about the biggest change to music since the wax cylinder:
Downloads in the charts…
Downloaded music sales were recognised by the charts in September 2004, and are now included in the overall UK Charts, along with other media. – The Official Charts
The soaring popularity of music downloads…
A third of all music purchases were made online in 2008 – Yahoo Finance
The power of music downloads…
Lil Wayne’s Lollipop was the best selling download of 2008, shifting 9.1 million copies online. Coldplay’s Viva La Vida beat it to the overall number one slot, but included high street CD sales. – IFPI
The future of Comes With Music…
Analysts expect unlimited music download services to balloon, with a whopping 2.1 billion tracks downloaded through the likes of Nokia Comes With Music. – Music Ally
How much music could you download?
Comes With Music lets you download as much as you like for up to 18 months. Since the average track takes around 30 seconds to download, we make that over 1.5 million tracks you could download for free!