Music phones get more in tune with consumers

“Music as an experience is extremely important to Nokia because we know how important it is to our users from a convergence perspective,” said Ira Frimere, the company’s North American product manager for its upscale “N” series of phones.

“For Nokia it’s a matter of making it seamless for the end user, so that they can easily get music onto their devices, create their playlists, see their album art and have good-quality sound coming from the devices as well.”

There are other subscription services for music cell phones, some offered directly through wireless carriers. Verizon Wireless recently teamed up with online music service Rhapsody to offer the $15-a-month V CAST Music with Rhapsody service, which works with many of Verizon Wireless’ phones.

Music is downloaded via computer, much like iTunes, then transferred to the cell for playing.

“Music subscription services are particularly useful for people who like to explore music choices and try out a lot different things without necessarily buying them,” said Greengart.

“But if you’re not going to buy a lot of new music, a subscription is an ongoing cost, whereas if you just buy a few tracks every once in a while, that’s going to be more economical.”

Nokia Nokia's 5310 Xpress Music phone can hold up to 3,000 songs using a 4-gigabyte microSD card. It comes with a 1-GB microSD card.

Making a checklist
No matter what music phone you decide on, if you’re going to spend any significant amount of time using it to listen to your tunes, here’s some features and points you’ll want to consider:

3.5mm standard headphone jack. Not all music phones have these. The original iPhone, released last year didn’t; it had a 2.5mm jack, as does the Samsung Juke. Adapters are available. The iPhone 3G has a 3.5mm jack, as do most newer music phones.

“Even most of the BlackBerry line (of smartphones) has switched over to the 3.5mm jack, so that music can be added to the list of things you might use a BlackBerry for,” said Greengart.

Phones with a built-in FM transmitter. “In your car you can set it so that it broadcasts to an open station on your radio dial, and then you can listen to music in your car that way,” Greengart said.

More stand-alone digital music players are also coming with FM transmitters, noted Rubin of The NPD Group.

Support for stereo Bluetooth. When you really want to enjoy your music, you’ll want to hear it in stereo. And that means the phone should have the ability to connect with a Bluetooth-enabled speakers or stereo headphones — different than the Bluetooth headsets used for making hands-free calls.

“A Bluetooth headset is mono, not stereo,” Greengart said. “If your phone supports stereo Bluetooth, you can listen to your music without wires and in stereo. Most phones specifically geared toward music can do that. The iPhone is a notable exception; it cannot.”

However, he said, there are adapters that can be purchased for the iPhone that provide that function.

Music formats. Digital music comes in different formats, including MP3, WMA and AAC. Make sure the phone you want will be able to play the music you have or want to have.

Battery life. It’s a constant struggle for most cell users, so think about how much of the time you’ll be wanting to use your phone to listen to music and weigh that when making a decision.

“That’s definitely one of the concerns by consumers about music phones, running down the battery while using the phone as a music player,” said Rubin.

Ease of use and easy-to-get-to controls. Phones with dedicated music playback buttons and easy-to-navigate menus can make a world of difference, say Greengart and Rubin.

Motorola’s ROKR E8, for example, uses a touchscreen for music, so that “with one ‘press’ of the virtual music key, the phone keypad disappears, and control keys for the music player … appear in its place,” the company says.

Sony Ericsson, which recently announced three new Walkman phones, said the phones use use “Shake” control “to change tracks with the flick of your hand.”

Some things might sound gimmicky, and the best way to know what really works for you is to test phones out in the store.

“You need to consider even some little things, like how many steps does it take to change a track?” said Greengart.

“For example, if you’re listening to music, something in an upbeat, peppy mode, and then some long, slow ballad comes on and you want to skip it, do you need to open up the phone, press three buttons, hold down something else, unlock it, go into the music menu — which is three levels deep — and then hit fast forward? Or can you do it without going through all those steps?”

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