Beatnik, which provides audio software solutions for mobile devices, has announced the release of the Beatnik Mobile Music Player, which it says enables high fidelity, full track music services to be delivered directly to low cost, mass-market phones over existing 2.5G networks. 
Users of the Beatnik Mobile Music Player experience the same high quality digital music playback as with standalone players, the company says, with the added benefit of being able to browse and buy new songs for immediate delivery and playback on their mobile phone. The optimised, standard file format used, which is up to 10 times smaller than equivalent quality digital encoding, enables full track, over-the-air downloads over bandwidth limited networks such as GPRS. The highly efficient file format not only results in increased song storage capacity on the device, but also means tracks can be downloaded in less time than they take to play, allowing instantaneous playback on the handset.
The user interface of the Beatnik Mobile Music Player supports full playlist and track browsing, together with intuitive try before you buy and ringtone installation services. Secure copyright and forward lock revenue protection mechanisms are embedded within the player application, providing DRM compliance for music content aggregators and service providers.
By enabling over-the-air full track delivery to low cost phones we are more than doubling the addressable market for music services,” says Beatniks Chief Sales Officer, Jeremy Copp. Until now, only high-end Smartphones and 3G networks could support full track, over-the-air music download, which immediately disconnected the mass market consumer from the content. Network operators and music content aggregators can now for the first time realise the potential of the mobile music market by delivering to the mass market consumers most likely to purchase songs. Music remains the primary after market revenue opportunity, and Beatniks new technologies allow this opportunity to be extended to the emerging ultra low cost handset markets in India, China, Latin America and Eastern Europe.”
Thomas Dolby Robertson, Musician and Beatnik Founder, adds:
The mobile music market has shown it has massive potential. Now the race is on to turn every consumer mobile phone into a personal music player. But people demand a high quality listening experience, an easy to use and intuitive user interface, and immediate access to the widest range of music product. The Beatnik Mobile Music Player delivers these characteristics, along with a set of services that will ensure the rapid growth of full track music delivery to mobile phones.”
The company points out that the Beatnik Mobile Music Player builds on software already shipping in half a billion mobile phones and in low cost phone chipsets from semiconductor vendors. This means that handset manufacturers can rapidly bring full track music functionality to any phone with minimal incremental cost, significantly increasing the value of the phone to network operators.
As well as licensing its core audio engine software to leading mobile phone manufacturers, including Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and SAGEM, Beatnik is able to deliver the Beatnik Mobile Music Player application for handsets, and its music conversion service to network operators, service providers and content aggregators who wish to deliver optimised content to Beatnik-enabled devices.