Technophiles have long had many gadgets through which they could listen to their favourite music. All they needed was enough extra space for a Walkman or Discman; pop on the headphones and -- voila -- instant music.
And now a new option has come to the fore. A growing number of cellphone manufacturers are building music playback features into devices that were once infamous as shrill disturbers of the peace.
Many experts see a future for the cellphone jukebox, even if they are not unanimous as to how and when "music phones" will conquer the market in grand style.
There are two basic approaches to making cell phones "music capable." Some phones contain a radio that can pick up FM stations, says Bernhard Jodeleit of the telecommunications journal "Connect." Other devices play songs recorded in the MP3 or similar music formats.
Manfred Breul, spokesman for the mobile communication at the industry's trade federation BITKOM, points out that increasingly, one sees cell phones that are designed from scratch to integrate the playback of files. "These typically work with some sort of swappable storage cards." Other electronics makers offer accessory devices that can be linked into a mobile phone to provide the same functionality or to transfer song files from computer to phone via a data cable. No ready-to-play storage cards are on the market yet.
"The going standard for storage size is 32MB," Jodeleit says. That's enough for a half-hour or a full hour of music, depending upon the quality at which the music was recorded, known as the bit rate. At higher bit rates, music in MP3 format can reach quality levels close to that of a CD. "You need to be an experienced listener to be able to tell the difference," confirms Steven Hofman, a European mobile communications dealer.
Analysts point out that consumers need not worry about reaching deeper into their wallets for cell phones that play music, at least not in theory. "The manufacturers' suggested retail prices are not any higher than for other cellphones," Jodeleit claims. Still, these models are less likely to be offered at low or no-cost specials when users sign up for new service contracts, as is the case for many other models.
Among the manufacturers producing music-ready cellphones or similar components are the Finish firm Nokia, German electronics giant Siemens, and America's Motorola. Nokia's top model is the 5510. It supports stereo playback of FM radio as well as music files in the AAC (advanced audio coding) format.
Nokia also offers a cigarette pack sized "Music Player" accessory that is compatible with its various cell phone models. "We will in the future definitely see more cell phones that play music," says Nokia's Kristina Ruecken. Two different F-equipped cellphones are expected to hit the market in the third quarter of 2002.
The Siemens SL45 has been available since October of 2000 in many parts of the world, offering swappable storage cards with up to 128MB of memory for MP3 files. Its replacement model, the SL45i, has been on the market since September of 2001, reports Siemens' Stefan Mueller.
With its "MP3 Player" add-on, Motorola also has plans for this market. "The player is outfitted with a clip so that you can wear it on a buttonhole or a belt," says Motorola's Susanne Hoyer. Music can be downloaded from storage cards by using special software.
Hofman, for one, feels that it is "a completely normal trend for electronics appliances to grow together." He presumes that down the road people will want to bring one device, a cellphone, along on trips instead of a separate phone and Walkman. This opinion, though, is not universal. Jodeleit feels that music playback will likely only be incorporated in a few fancy cellphones, known as Smart Phones. "I just can't really imagine that a revolution of music phones is what lies ahead for us," Jodeleit said.
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