Music was my first love… will it be Nokia’s last?

Superb news for haters of iTunes, and all that the Apple profit machine represents – Nokia are launching a new free music download service that is set to challenge the Apple behemoth and let downloaders keep the music regardless of their subscription.

Comes with Music will first appear on the Nokia XpressMusic 5310 handset and will be exclusive to Carphone Warehouse – who also sell the Apple iPhone. Comes with Music will be launched in the UK.

The service gives users a years worth of unlimited access to the whole Nokia Music Store catalogue – and after that time is up, all downloaded tracks remain with the user. That’s right – users can keep the songs they’ve downloaded! Nokia intend to generate revenue via the period beyond the 12 months -at which point further songs will be available at what Nokia describes as “a la carte” prices.

Should phone, music or license go missing, the Nokia Music Store will hold a personal “Music Vault” for each user, where all tracks previously downloaded can be regained.

Remember – Apple pay songwriters and artists pennies on iTunes, and the failing music industry virtually shakes their hands off. While not bringing the control of music back to the creators, Nokia’s entry into this market at least generates competition to iTunes.

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