Cingular plans to team-up with XM Satellite Radio, Web music subscription services Napster Inc., and Yahoo Inc., to let its customers play songs on their cell phones. Cingular follows the launch of a virtual wireless music store by rival Sprint Nextel Corp last year, and Verizon Wireless early this year.Wireless providers have been gearing up to deliver everything from videos to music on cell phones, aiming to profit from growing demand for portable digital music players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.Cingular will let consumers transfer music from their computer to their phone from services such as Yahoo and Napster as well as Web based music channels from satellite radio firm XM, people familiar with the matter said.Yahoo's music service is called Music Unlimited. Dimensional Associates Inc runs eMusic. Sprint and Verizon Wireless let customers download songs over the air while they are on the go and also let them transfer songs from their computer to their phone.   

Cingular plans to team-up with XM Satellite Radio, Web music subscription services Napster Inc., and Yahoo Inc., to let its customers play songs on their cell phones. Cingular follows the launch of a virtual wireless music store by rival Sprint Nextel Corp last year, and Verizon Wireless early this year.

Wireless providers have been gearing up to deliver everything from videos to music on cell phones, aiming to profit from growing demand for portable digital music players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

Cingular will let consumers transfer music from their computer to their phone from services such as Yahoo and Napster as well as Web based music channels from satellite radio firm XM, people familiar with the matter said.Yahoo's music service is called Music Unlimited. Dimensional Associates Inc runs eMusic.

Sprint and Verizon Wireless let customers download songs over the air while they are on the go and also let them transfer songs from their computer to their phone.

Because Cingular is coming to the market later than its rivals, analysts said it made sense for them to ally with subscription services to give consumers a wider choice.

Beginning November 6, consumers can visit www.cingularsource.com/cingularmusic for more details on Cingular Music, including handset information.

• Napster: For a monthly subscription price of $14.95 a month, Cingular customers can fill and refill their phone by simply connecting their Cingular phone to their PC and downloading their favorite tracks from among Napster's more than 2 million songs. In fact, Cingular and Napster are currently offering a free 60-day trial so users can see just how easy and fast it is to side-load unlimited music to your handset. Additionally, from their mobile phone, customers can access Napster Mobile and browse the entire Napster catalog, listen to 30-second samples, rate songs, and recommend music picks with friends. And, for just $0.99, consumers can also buy songs on the handset for delivery to the PC for side-loading later. Ericsson is hosting, integrating and managing the round-the-clock operations for Napster Mobile, a service co-developed by Napster and Ericsson leveraging on Napster's vast music catalogue and Ericsson's mobile platform and personalization content.
• Yahoo! Music: With Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go, Cingular customers have unlimited access to over 2 million songs to play and transfer from their PC to their mobile device (rates are as low as $11.99 a month). With Yahoo! Music for Mobile, Cingular customers can, on their mobile handsets, browse the extensive Yahoo! Music catalog for album, artist and song content as well as receive personalized music recommendations and remotely add songs direct to their PC. Free to all Yahoo! Music users is the Yahoo! Music Jukebox, a digital music player that allows consumers, from their PC, to play, rip and burn MP3s and CDs, share playlists, listen to LAUNCHcast Radio, and transfer music seamlessly to mobile devices.
• eMusic: Currently, consumers who purchase a Sony Ericsson W810i or Sony Ericsson W300i will be able to enjoy a free "in-box" offer to side-load up to 50 songs from eMusic's vast catalog of two million tracks, allowing them to enjoy and discover music from both classic and new artists such as Johnny Cash, Spoon, Ray Charles, Neko Case, Blind Willie Johnson, Miles Davis, Ying Yang Twins, Bob Marley, Black Flag, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Lucinda Williams. Not only can consumers transfer eMusic's MP3 tracks to multiple devices and burn them to CD, they also own, not rent, tracks purchased from eMusic.

XM Satellite Radio
Cingular also teamed with XM Satellite Radio to offer mobile access to audio streams of 25 popular commercial-free music channels. Through XM Radio Mobile, Cingular customers will be able to enjoy a variety of music virtually anytime, anywhere for $8.99 a month. Cingular will launch the service November 6. The XM Radio Mobile application was developed and will be hosted by MobiTV, the global leader in mobile and broadband television and music services.

"This partnership offers us a brand new platform to distribute the extraordinary content that has made XM Radio the number one satellite radio company," said Adam Reyer, senior vice president, Business Development for XM Satellite Radio. "Now Cingular customers can enjoy 25 of the most popular commercial-free music channels, virtually anywhere they go."

Cingular Music: One-Click Access to Your Music, Your Way
Cingular realizes that simply offering music on the handset is not enough. A true mobile music solution is designed to make it easy and intuitive for consumers to experience the full gamut of music content available on the handset today. Cingular Music combines "all things music" that exists on your handset and delivers it to one central hub, making it simple for users to access and enjoy. Cingular Music contains eight distinct menu options:

• Music Player: Music Player is where you can access the phone's entire catalog of music. Within Music Player, users can create their own playlists by choosing songs from the All Songs menu list as well as have songs played in random order.
• Shop Music: The Shop Music folder is where users go to purchase or explore music content from Napster and Yahoo! Music, depending on your handset. Users can also personalize their phones by purchasing ringtones and Answer Tones™ from the Cingular MEdia Mall.
• MusicID: For the first time, users can identify a song with MusicID, Cingular's music recognition service, and then purchase that song from the handset by directly linking into the Napster library where the song(s) can later be side-loaded. Beyond this new feature, MusicID can easily identify a recorded song by a simple press of the button. Within seconds, a song can be analyzed among a database of more than 3 million songs and then, when identified, you are provided the name of the artist and the track. And, if the song matches an available ringtone, you can easily purchase it without having to spend time searching.
• Music Videos: The Music Videos folder provides a direct link to Cingular's video offerings, including video content from MTV Networks' premiere MTV, VH1 and CMT music brands; Warner Music (Music Choice); as well as original video footage from Cingular Sounds Live (CSL) concert series.
• Streaming Music: The Streaming Music folder is where users can listen to various genres of music content from either XM Radio Mobile or MobiRadio, depending on their handset.
• The Buzz: The Buzz is the place to go to access Billboard Mobile, a mobile music application that gives Cingular customers access to music and entertainment news, Billboard charts and local concert information, directly from the handset.
• Community: Comprised of artist fan sites and chat rooms, the Community folder is where music fans can connect with others who share similar interests. From sharing music and reviews within a particular community (via SMS or IM) or simply listening to music from your favorite artists' site, the Community folder is a one-stop-shop for discovering and re-discovering music.
• Music Apps: The Music Apps folder is the home for other new and exciting music-centric applications including Mobilcast, a podcasting service, and Hip Hop Official, a music video application.