For those that love the original free Mix Radio service, it will remain intact – this is all about adding extra.
Jyrki Rosenberg, VP Entertainment at Nokia, told us, “People love Nokia Mix Radio – in fact, many people are amazed that we can offer it for free.
“It’s the only smartphone music service out there offering access to millions of songs out of the box without the need to sign up, sign in, or suffer adverts in between enjoying the music. When you add in the ability to skip songs and save playlists for offline uses like the tube, you have something unique.
“We spend a lot of time listening to how people use the service and have even managed to half the amount of skips per songs played, which is a combination of our systems and musicologists understanding and shaping Nokia Music around the users.
“Nokia Music is great for discovering new music, and we’ve found that there’s a core of users that want even more of it. This is how Nokia Music+ came about. By introducing features like infinite skips and unlimited downloads, we’re opening the doors for unlimited music discovery at only €3.99 per month.
“This is for people who care enough about music to pay something for more quality and choice, but don’t want to pay €9.99 monthly.”
So what do you get?
Unlimited skips. Whether you like to skip from track to track, or just want extra control over what you hear. There’s no stopping you with Nokia Music+.
Unlimited downloads. The free service allows you to download up to four Mixes (each of which contains hours of music) and play them without an Internet connection. The paid service removes this limit – you can download a massive supply of offline music you can swap as you wish.
Higher quality. We were surprised by the high quality of streaming music from Nokia Music, even over a 2.5G connection. Nokia Music+ allows you to download music at eight six times the existing quality. Plus, you can set rules to only download high quality when you’re on WiFi, for example.
Lyrics. Words to the songs you’re listening to, right on your Nokia Lumia. Either in a scrolling list, Karaoke-style format, or a display you can scroll up and down.
On your desktop. The Nokia Music+ subscription also gives you access to the service without your phone. A web-app gives you the ability to play Mixes on your computer, smart TV or other connected screens.
Nokia Music+ will roll out in the next few weeks. The price will vary slightly according to territory, but is expected be available at around €3.99/$3.99 per month.
