Buy A Nokia, Get Free Music For A Year... Kinda

Yesterday, Nokia announced their plans to hop onto the Total Music by Universal bus with a new plan dubbed "Comes With Music." In this new program, consumers that purchase a new select Nokia devices will be given access to the Universal catalogue of music for one full year to download tracks and albums as they see fit. This program will appear to be free to the customer, because Nokia will be footing the bill to Universal for the program (we don't know yet whether or not that bill will be passed on to the customer via initial cost). Sounds good? Well, there are a few more things you should know before you start singing praises to Nokia.

As a bit of history, Universal recently pulled their partnership with Apple and their industry-dominating iTunes. The idea was that Universal would create their own content distribution service that would better serve the interests of the music industry, and out of that came the Total Music program. This program charges device manufacturers $5 a month per device to give their customers unlimited access to the Universal catalogue. Universal has been on the hunt to get more labels on board, but many are hesitant about the "unlimited access" piece. Nokia is the first hardware manufacturer to announce that they are in on the deal.

The monthly subscription format has become a more enticing proposition for the music industry lately. I can't blame them either, as it's a guaranteed revenue stream compared to spotty album and track purchases. The thought is also that people will be much less likely to illegally download content if they are given an affordable, easy, legal alternative. Again, I completely agree. The problem starts with the usual suspect though, DRM. Most companies want to restrict your access to that music once you download it. The second threat? That your music is gone once you end your subscription.

Nokia, unfortunately and fortunately, has fallen into one of those traps: DRM. They want to include Microsoft's PlayForSure DRM program (which is ironically not even supported by Microsoft's own Zune) to keep you from using that music on anything other than your Nokia and your PC. They do plan on allowing people to burn copies of their music to cds... for an upgrade price. The only upshot is that you can keep your music once your subscription runs out, but this is far from saving the program. And how do you extend your subscription, you may ask? Why, you just buy another Nokia, of course! Thanks Nokia... we've been battling the music industry's extreme greediness for years, now we have to fight hardware makers? Fan-freaking-tastic...

I personally am more than willing to jump on the Total Music program, or some form of subscription program, but you have to give me unfettered access. That means no DRM. That means that I keep the music I paid for and use it how I want to use it. When you've come to terms with the new face of the consumer market (I'm not just talking to the Music Industry here. I'm looking at you too Nokia...), come back and talk to me. Until then, good luck with your self-destructive lawsuits.

Nokia's unlimited "Comes With Music" misses the boat due to DRM [Ars Technica]