Puretracks Launches Mobile Music Store, Tastes Great, DRM Free

By Dave Forde on March 11th, 2008

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It looks like Alistair Mitchell’s Puretracks has found a new play in the online digital music world as the company has announced a new partnership with Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and various independent labels to develop a DRM-free mobile music store and service for BlackBerry smartphones. The Puretracks Mobile Edition music store for BlackBerry, built in conjunction with handset development partner Magnet Mobile Media, will work with all BlackBerry Pearl, Curve and 8800 series phones.

“When it comes to the wireless world, BlackBerry is at the forefront and we are excited to offer our service on a cutting-edge solution that seamlessly integrates digital music into the wireless space,” notes Andrea Ziegler, Chief Operating Officer of Puretracks. “The Puretracks Mobile music service we have developed for the BlackBerry platform is an innovative mobile music store for North America that employs DRM-free, 64 kb AAC/AAC+ files. For wireless users, this equates to inexpensive airtime costs, smaller storage requirements, and higher music quality.”

The new service will be launched at CTIA Wireless April 1, and a sneak peek this week at South By Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas. The new mobile music store, which will debut in the United States with future roll-out plans slated for Canada and other markets, will feature a broad selection of songs from top mainstream and independent artists. Future additions to the Puretracks Mobile Edition music service will include support for Wi-Fi capable handsets, enabling BlackBerry smartphone users to download MP3 files over Wi-Fi connections.