Mobile music

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Mobile music is music which can be transported, or in other words, mobile. The term itself is a quite ambiguous. [1]

Contents

An outdated definition is as follows; 'mobile music is music which is downloaded or streamed to mobile phones and played by mobile phones. Although many phones play music as ringtones, true "music phones" generally allow users to stream music or download music files over the internet via a WiFi connection or 3G cell phone connection. Music phones are also able to import audio files from their PCs. The case of mobile music being stored within the memory of the mobile phone is the case similar to traditional business models in the music industry. It supports two variants: the user can either purchase the music for outright ownership or access entire libraries of music via a subscription model. In this case the music files are available as long as the subscription is active.' [2]

Truetones

While ringtones do not include artists voices, truetones, chaku-uta and chaku-uta full are recordings of artists' interpretation of music. Distributing them usually requires the agreement of record labels and other owners of artists' rights. [2]

History

Mobile music is technically any form of music which can be moved. This includes musical instruments. This article, however, does not go over the history of musical instruments, as there are already articles on such.

Physical hardware

Radios

Radios is one of the earliest forms of technology based mobile music. [3]

Cassette tape players

The most prominent and iconic piece of mobile music is Sony's Walkman. [4] Another term for it is a mobile cassette tape player, a product which multiple companies created. [3]

CD players

The mobile CD player, such as Sony's Discman, is another innovation in the realm of mobile music. [3] [4]

MP3 players

The MP3 is step towards a truly digital age of music. [4] [3]

Mobile phones

The integration of music in a cellphone was not easy. On one hand, technology for portable music had been developed since the 1980s with Sony driving the area with its portable walkman. On the other, cellphone technology had focused on the area of imaging, leveraging the user interest in taking pictures and the operator's need to drive data revenues through the use of its network. The success of ringtones in driving data revenues had placed operators on guard for interactive applications that could drive revenues. Nevertheless, slow data speeds in the GSM and CDMA areas which had 1 and 2G technology, prevented the economic download of music data through networks in comparison with media sites to a computer. So operators, which tended to subsidize phones with data capabilities focused more on ringtone, SMS, and picture phones than on music ready phones, and this prevented many manufacturers to develop those phones because their primary customer is the operator and not the user. Work on compression algorithms for music was extensive with AMR trying to push the envelope, but the revolution of Napster proliferated the world with the MP3 format and manufacturers began to take notice. Another issue was the development of DRM capabilities which helped prevent music piracy and gave mobile music more of a legal status. At that time, Apple was revolutionizing the world with the introduction of the new iPods and its iTunes Store.

The first report on a business plan and need for the successful integration of Music Phones was written in 2004 by Strategy Analytics - "Music phones are key for 3G", a cellular consulting firm in Massachusetts. The report boosted the need for phone manufacturers like Nokia and Motorola to join the bandwagon and explore several music options including the development of a music store strategy by Nokia and the integration of iTunes into a phone by Motorola with its Rocker. Sony, Samsung, and LG were too busy focusing on increasing pixelation and stability within CDDMA camera modules. Sony tried to leverage the Cybershot technology in a multimedia strategy, but it was too slow of a change. While Samsung was driving the high tier segment improving display capability. Nokia worked hard to drive DRM technology to be included into its OVI music store and introduced a new music phone line called Xpress music banking on end user needs rather than on operator's wants because the line was expected to receive lower subsidies from operators than others. In this way, Nokia was banking on the Idea of the report that music could be used to drive customer acquisition at that time rather than data revenues for the time, as mentioned in the report from Strategy Analytics. The Rocker was a success driving new adherents into a highly competitive US market even though it still remained tied to a computer for music downloads. It could be said that it was the adoption of the Rocker by ATT as an acquisition strategy for the US market that prompted operators to purchase music capable phones and manufacturers to develop them. This success of ATT to drive acquisitions was copied by other operators such as Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, which also drove the introduction of music into the cellphones. Two years after the Rocker, Apple introduced its iPhone and things went on its way. Today, most cell phones incorporate music capabilities which have also been transferred to the smartphones. The built-in app that you use to play music on the iPhone or iPod touch is called Music (on iOS 5 or higher) or iPod (on iOS 4 or lower). While many apps offer music, this is the most common and the one that, for many people, will be the only music app they need. [2]

iPod/Zune

The iPod and Zune are two similar pieces of technology. [4] [3]

Smartphones

Smartphone is the most revolutionary piece of technology to date in regards for mobile music, allowing access to nearly every artist at the click of a button. [5]

Software

Napster

Napster laid the groundwork for the coming wave of streaming audio services. [6]

Music streaming

Music streaming became prominent in the 2000s. Few Prominent Music Streaming Platforms [6]

Social issues

Pirating

Pirating is another issue artists face. Napster was the first large scale system for such, laying grounds for streaming. [6]

Lack of income for artists

The introduction of streaming has caused artists to be unable to support themselves through their music and its sales alone. The pandemic made people quickly aware of this issue. [7]

Social impact

Mobile music has become prominent in daily life to the point where studies have been done over such. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walkman</span> Series of portable media players by Sony

Walkman is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman started out as a portable cassette player and the brand was later extended to serve most of Sony's portable audio devices; since 2011 it consists exclusively of digital flash memory players. The current flagship product as of 2022 is the WM1ZM2 player.

iPod Line of portable media players by Apple (2001–2022)

The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The first version was released on November 10, 2001, about 8+12 months after the Macintosh version of iTunes was released. Apple sold an estimated 450 million iPod products as of 2022. Apple discontinued the iPod product line on May 10, 2022. At over 20 years, the iPod brand is the longest-running to be discontinued by Apple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartphone</span> Handheld mobile device

A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.

A ringtone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming telephone call. Originally referring to the sound of electromechanical striking of bells or gongs, the term refers to any sound by any device alerting of an incoming call.

Sony Mobile Communications Inc. was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Corporation and Ericsson. It was originally incorporated as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, and headquartered in London, England, until Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16, 2012. On April 1, 2021, Sony integrated its electronics businesses including Sony Mobile into one company called Sony Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDDI</span> Japanese telecommunications operator

KDDI Corporation is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of DDI, KDD (ケイディディ), and IDO. In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from the DDI-Cellular Group. As of 2020, it is the second-largest mobile telecommunications provider in Japan in terms of the number of contracts, following NTT Docomo.

The Nokia 3210 is a GSM cellular phone, announced by Nokia on 18 March 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of mobile phones</span> Mobile communication devices

The history of mobile phones covers mobile communication devices that connect wirelessly to the public switched telephone network.

Wireless Village is a set of specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. It is intended to be a standard for cellphones and mobile devices to use these services across platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portable media player</span> Portable device capable of storing and playing digital media

A portable media player (PMP) or digital audio player (DAP) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored on a compact disc (CD), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), Blu-ray Disc (BD), flash memory, microdrive, SD cards or hard disk drive; most earlier PMPs used physical media, but modern players mostly use flash memory. In contrast, analogue portable audio players play music from non-digital media that use analogue media, such as cassette tapes or vinyl records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile phone feature</span> Mobile phone capability or application

A mobile phone feature is a capability, service, or application that a mobile phone offers to its users. Mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native code try to differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years.

Mobile content is any type of web hypertext and information content and electronic media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like text, sound, ringtones, graphics, flash, discount offers, mobile games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid-1990s, the usage and significance of the mobile devices in everyday technological life has grown accordingly. Owners of mobile phones can now use their devices to make photo snapshots for upload, twits, mobile calendar appointments, and mostly send and receive text messages, listen to music, watch videos, take mobile pictures and make videos, use websites to redeem coupons for purchases, view and edit office documents, get driving instructions on mobile maps and so on. The use of mobile content in various areas has grown accordingly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Ericsson W800</span> First Sony Ericsson phone to use the Walkman brand

The W800 Walkman, released in 2005, was the first Sony Ericsson phone to use the Walkman brand. The phone features Bluetooth v1.2, Infrared and USB connectivity.

Push email is an email system that provides an always-on capability, in which when new email arrives at the mail delivery agent (MDA), it is immediately, actively transferred (pushed) by the MDA to the mail user agent (MUA), also called the email client, so that the end-user can see incoming email immediately. This is in contrast with systems that check for new incoming mail every so often, on a schedule. Email clients include smartphones and, less strictly, IMAP personal computer mail applications.

LISMO is an online music service provided by au, a Japanese mobile phone brand run by KDDI, a Japanese telecommunication company. This service uses a mobile phone as a music player. This service was introduced on January 19, 2006, and the service began operating at the end of January in Japan. The first mobile phone which supports LISMO was sold on January 26, 2006. Since 2008, KDDI and Okinawa Cellular introduced 'LISMO Video', a new service with new means to enjoy video content as well.

The online service imeem was a social media website where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. It operated from 2003 until 2009 when it was shut down after being acquired by MySpace.

The Sony Ericsson W580i is a mid range slider style mobile phone in the Walkman series. The phone was announced on 26 March 2007 and was released in early August. It is a 2.5G Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM phone with EDGE capabilities and has a 2 megapixel camera. It comes in "Style White", "Boulevard Black", "Metro Pink", "Urban Grey", "Jungle Green" and "Velvet Red".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile phone</span> Portable device to make telephone calls using a radio link

A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area, as opposed to a fixed-location phone. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture, and therefore mobile telephones are called cellphones in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, multimedia messaging, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications, satellite access, business applications, payments, multimedia playback and streaming, digital photography, and video games. Mobile phones offering only basic capabilities are known as feature phones ; mobile phones that offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the rise of digital media on the internet and computers as a central and primary means to record, distribute, store, and play music caused widespread economic changes in the music industry. The rise of digital media with high-speed internet access fundamentally changed the relationships between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music stores, the technology industry, and consumers. The rise of digital music consumption options contributed to several fundamental changes in consumption. One significant change in the music industry was the remarkable decline of conventional album sales on CD and vinyl. With the à la carte sales models increasing in popularity, consumers no longer downloaded entire albums but rather chose single songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Ericsson Satio</span> Smartphone model

The Sony Ericsson Satio (U1) is a smartphone, announced by Sony Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on 15 February 2009 as the Idou. It was released on 7 October 2009 in the UK in 3 colour schemes: Black, Silver and Bordeaux (Red).

References

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  4. 1 2 3 4 Brownfield, Troy (2020-06-25). "From Walkman to Your Phone: 40 Years of Portable Music". The Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  5. "Infographic: The History of Portable Music". Statista Daily Data. 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  6. 1 2 3 "A history of music streaming". dynaudio.com. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  7. Sisario, Ben (2021-05-07). "Musicians Say Streaming Doesn't Pay. Can the Industry Change?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  8. Kuch, Mia; Wöllner, Clemens (2021-01-01). "On the Move: Principal Components of the Functions and Experiences of Mobile Music Listening". Music & Science. 4. doi: 10.1177/20592043211032852 . ISSN   2059-2043.

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