Unlimited Mobile Music Service – the Solution to P2P piracy?

Nokia's 'Comes With Music' phone to launch later this week, could mean less pirated music some say.

Unlimited mobile music downloads, like Nokia's Comes With Music service, will eventually lead to a drop off in the amount of P2P music piracy, claims new study.

The market researcher TNS Technology reports that British consumers might well download 2.1 billion tracks per year through such services. In the research there were more than 1,000 people aged between 16 and 64 subjected to an interview about their opinions and preferences regarding unlimited mobile music services.

"If the industry got it right we could see a significant shift in the way people obtain and listen to music," highlighted Stephen Yap, research director at TNS Technology.

The research conducted by TNS reveals some surprising numbers: allegedly 45% of users would buy fewer CDs, 47% would purchase fewer digital downloads and 38% even said they would cut down on their illegal p2p music downloads. Nokia's own Comes With Music phone is slated for release later this week, on Thursday October 2, in time for Xmas '08 stocking filler buyers.

However, compared to Nokia's rather DRM-limited service, Sony Ericsson and music specialist Omnifone's own PlayNow plus service will apparently take things one step further and even make it possible for its customers to enjoy their music on iPods and other devices.