MixRadio

MixRadio
Developer(s) Line Corporation (2015-)
Microsoft Mobile (2014-2015)
Nokia (2007-2014)
Development status Active
Operating system
Windows Phone
Nokia X platform
Asha Platform
Symbian
MeeGo and Adidas miCoach Smart Run
Website www.mixrad.io

MixRadio, formerly Nokia MixRadio, Nokia Music, Nokia Music Store and OVI Music Store, is a global music streaming service. MixRadio allows free streaming of playlists without any subscriptions or ads and is available in 31 countries, including the US, Brazil, India and China. It has a catalogue of over 30 million songs.[1] Users can upgrade to MixRadio+ for $3.99 a month, this allows users to view lyrics, skips songs and download playlists, but the service is not available in all countries. The music file format used by the store is MP3 without any DRM protection.

The service was originally developed by Nokia in 2007, and was part of the company's sale of its mobile device business to Microsoft in April 2014. Microsoft, already having Xbox Music, decided to spin-off the service. Line Corporation purchased the service in December 2014.[2]

History

The service was originally launched in 2007 when Nokia set up their Nokia Comes With Music service, in partnership with Universal Music Group International, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, and hundreds of independent labels and music aggregators, to allow 12, 18, or 24 months of unlimited free-of-charge music downloads with the purchase of a Nokia Comes With Music edition phone. Files could be downloaded on mobile devices or personal computers, and kept permanently.[3]

On 29 August 2007 Nokia launched the Ovi Music Store as part of the Ovi[4][5] services portal from Nokia.[6] The original idea behind the store was to provide to all Nokia MP3 capable mobile users a music store on the phone as on the PC. The Ovi Music Store officially opened in the UK on 1 October 2007 with offering of music from SonyBMG, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Music Group, as well as others.[7] This service had its own software to serve as front gate of the store on the PC and on the phones. It was called Nokia Ovi Player, and later Nokia Music Player.

In October 2008, Nokia announced the Nokia 5800, a direct competitor to the iPhone and with it the service Comes With Music,[8] which consists of a year of free music downloads included in the price of the phone. This service was optional to the carriers.

Within the box of the phone there was a card with an ID that will be linked to the PC (MAC address) and mobile phone (IMEI), so that PC and mobile phone have unlimited music downloads for over a year.[3]

Until 2010 the service had DRM files that cannot be burned onto CDs but only played from the phone. In case the user wanted to burn the song, they had to buy it from the store.

In January 2011 Nokia withdrew this program in 27 countries, due to its failure to gain traction; existing subscribers could continue to download until their contracts ended. The service continued to be offered until 2014 in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa where take-up was better.[9]

As of 20 November 2013 Nokia renamed the service to "Nokia Mixradio". The service was again renamed to only "MixRadio" in 1 July 2014, to reflect the change of ownership from Nokia to Microsoft. On 27 November 2014, the MixRadio application was added to the adidas miCoach Smart Run touchscreen watch.[10]

On 18 December 2014, after mulling a spin-off of the service, Microsoft announced that it would sell MixRadio to Line Corporation, a subsidiary of Naver Corporation, for an undisclosed amount.[2]

In March 2015, the transaction was completed and MixRadio Ltd was formed, as a subsidiary of Line. At this time, beta versions of the app were released for Android and iOS.[11] A campaign with the United Nations to mark the International Day of Happiness, with the hashtag #HappySoundsLike was also started, launching an international and inspirational playlist.[12]

Unlimited downloads

In India, MixRadio was available for all Nokia Asha, Lumia and Nokia X phones. Users could download songs from MixRadio for free for the first three months after purchase of a Nokia Asha, Lumia or X-series phone, following which the subscription could be renewed for a fixed time period through the purchase of a voucher either online via the Oxicash website or offline through Nokia Care outlets. For Nokia Asha phones, subscription could also be renewed via carrier billing, with the supported carriers being Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. However, the vouchers were no longer issued from May 2014 and in November 2014, Microsoft announced that unlimited downloads from MixRadio will no longer be supported.[13]

Availability

MixRadio is available in 31 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates , the United Kingdom, the United States America and Vietnam.

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://musically.com/2014/07/17/what-next-for-nokias-mixradio-basically-were-planning-a-spin-off-exclusive/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Microsoft sells its MixRadio music service to Line". The Verge. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Nokia World 2007: Nokia outlines its vision of Internet evolution and commitment to environmental sustainability" (Press release). Nokia Corporation. 4 December 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  4. ↑ http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/29/nokia.5610.and.music.store/
  5. ↑ http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9767800-1.html
  6. ↑ <http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1149748
  7. ↑ http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/nokia-music-store-goes-live-uk
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "Nokia Retreats from Music Service". YLE. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  10. ↑ http://mixradioblog.tumblr.com/post/103716719713/adidas-micoach-smart-run-powered-by-mixradio
  11. ↑ mixradio.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/513746-beta-sign-up-process
  12. ↑ http://www.happysoundslike.com/en/index.html
  13. ↑ You can no longer renew MixRadio Unlimited music download subscriptions in India