The Japanese will soon be able to download full-length, CD-quality songs to their cellphones under a cunning plan invented by Japan's second biggest phone outfits.
KDDI plans to offer a service of 10,000 songs with sound quality so good the music can be listened to on stereo speakers.
Users can also use the tunes they download as ring tones. Working with record labels, KDDI plans to allow users to download each tune for several hundred yen and eventually expand the database of songs.
In a press release a KDDI spokesman said that the company may be able to offer songs for downloads before CDs are officially released.
The service, which begins next month, is called "Chaku Uta Full," or "Full Ringer Songs."
Since December 2002, KDDI has offered a hugely popular "Chaku Uta" service that allows mobile phone users to download parts of songs for ring tones.
The original Chaku Uta service proved popular with more than 10 million downloads per month.
Story source:
theinquirer.net.