Verizon Music Manager mimics iTunes for V CAST phones
updated 11:25 am EDT, Thu July 12, 2007
Verizon Music Manager
Promising to streamline the often cumbersome effort of loading music on to most cellphones, Verizon today rolled out its Music Manager tool. Similar to its Apple counterpart, the software turns any of Verizon's music-capable V CAST phones into a loadable music device with support for both an online music shop and a home collection. Songs can either be bought directly from the V CAST store at 99 cents per track and copied to the phone, or imported from CDs. Verizon also intends to convert iTunes users by importing unprotected AAC songs and intelligently converting them to WMA when a phone's music support requires the change.
Upgrading to the Music Manager is free, and new devices such as the VX8550 Chocolate will soon come bundled with the utility. The software runs on most any Windows XP or Vista PC with a USB connection for the phone, but currently limits use of the CDM 8945 phone to XP alone. Verizon will push upgrades options to all existing users by the end of July.
