UK’s UBC Media Group will be soft-launching a new service in London in March, according to Business Weekly. The intent of the service is to allow the radio station to sell mobile versions of the music it is playing… “DMD broadcasts encoded and encrypted music files, alongside a radio station’s audio stream. These are cached in the mobile device and can be bought and played immediately. When a track is purchased on the handset, a copy is also sent to your home computer after online registration.” So all the files are actually downloaded to the device, and you choose which ones you want to pay for and keep. Depending on how long those files are kept for that could require a lot of storage—I’m guessing it also uses a lot of battery life. However, it is easier to use than similar systems I’ve heard about. The system uses the DAP-IP technology.
The DMD (digital music downloading) technology was developed by The Technology Partnership (TTP) at the Melbourn Science Park, which is responsible for Virgin’s Lobster mobile TV phone—which sounds like it could be one of the devices which can use the service. The price of the songs people buy will be charged to their phone bill, and a prepaid version is planned. Universal Music Group, Warner Music and EMI have signed on.