BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless made headlines last week at the Consumer Electronics Show when it unveiled a new full-track mobile music download service. But the carrier is busy this week defending the offering’s lack of support for MP3 music files.
Verizon Wireless’ Vcast Music offers tunes that can be downloaded to a PC as well as directly to a handset, and includes a “side loading” feature that allows users to move songs from pre-existing PC libraries to their phone using a USB cable. The service uses Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media Player, which automatically transcodes MP3s into Microsoft’s WMA format.
But the software also disables native media players designed to play MP3 files. Verizon Wireless said it decided to support only one media player on the handset in an effort to simplify the user experience.
“The reason we have done this is that we wanted to create the cleanest, simplest, most user-friendly experience on the device possible,” said Jesse Money, Verizon Wireless’ director of consumer multimedia services. “Two media players would create a very confusing user experience.”
New handsets that support Vcast Music, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s SCH-A950 and LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s VX-8100, use the new software instead of a native MP3 player. Users who already own supporting phones may choose to keep their existing media players, or can upgrade to Vcast Music and lose access to their existing player.
Customers using Apple Computer Inc.’s operating system or Linux-based computers are unable to transfer MP3 files to Microsoft’s format. The news sparked an uproar in the blogosphere, where critics speculated that Microsoft demanded Verizon Wireless disable MP3 functionality, but Money said the software giant “had absolutely nothing to do with this.”
Verizon Wireless said it plans to launch its new music service on Jan. 16, offering full-track downloads to a PC for 99 cents or directly to a phone for $2.
