Opera Mobile, the Norwegian company behind the self-titled web browser, has unveiled plans for an all-you-can-eat subscription-based streaming music service to debut in Russia. The goal of Unlimited Music is to make tunes available in a simple and affordable way to users of smartphones and feature phones, according to the firm.
Unlimited Music will allow subscribers to stream music or download it to a local device for offline listening. It’s targeted at mobile users but as we understand it, the service can be used on desktop and notebook computers as well. Interestingly enough, iOS users will only be able to stream music – no downloads here. Opera Mobile plans to expand the service to other regions at a later date.
A spokesperson said Opera was the enabling layer of the service, not the owner of the content. This simply means that a third part is providing the content, much like how their original app store operated. As TechCrunch points out, the app store was first run by Appia before moving to Opera’s full control through an acquisition of Handster.
Launching in Russia first is a smart move as that region has very few legal streaming / music downloading options. Yandex launched a service in Russia earlier this year called Yandex.Music that lets subscribers stream and download music for just $6.99 per month but outside of this, there aren’t many options.
Unlimited Music will debut at roughly $4.73 per month and include a catalog of around 2 million Russian and non-Russian tracks.
Source : techspot[dot]com
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