Cingular Music Announced

Following early reports, Cingular today revealed its new music initiative. Dubbed Cingular Music, the service will let Cingular subscribers buy, subscribe to, or stream music from multiple high-profile online networks through handsets from LG, Samsung, and Sony-Ericsson. The carrier has partnered with online stores Napster, Yahoo! Music, and eMusic to allow customers of these stores to obtain and transfer their music directly from their phones at no additional cost beyond those of the stores themselves. Support for Napster and Yahoo! subscription services, where customers can download unlimited songs at a fixed monthly rate, is a cellphone industry first, Cingular says. Additionally, Cingular users can subscribe to XM Radio Mobile for $9 per month to stream 25 of the satellite radio network's more popular channels. Cingular Music will officially launch on November 6th.

Cingular has simultaneously announced the Cingular SYNC phone, a self-branded version of the Samsung's A707 handset that will be ready for the provider's music service with 3G wireless support for EDGE and HSDPA as well as music support for AAC, MP3, and WMA. The phone will also ship on November 6th and will sell for $50 with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate.

By Electronista Staff