Vodafone Australia to Launch MusicStation Subscription Service

A music subscription service will be launched in Australia by Vodafone and will be available to all the company’s 3G subscribers. Called the MusicStation, it lets users download as much music as they want for a weekly fee of AU$2.75.

A million tracks will already be available by launch, all from the big four in music (Universal, Sony BMG, EMI, and Warner) as well as most of Australia’s indie labels. All the tracks will be downloaded through the MusicStation JAVA application in eAAC+ format with 48 to 64Kbps bitrate that is admittedly a bit disappointing. Still, you can download music through the program anytime and anywhere—the JAVA application runs in the background so you can just queue the tracks up and let them download while you do other stuff. The downloads don’t add to your regular data limit too. Unfortunately, you can’t keep all the music you get through the service when you decide to cut the subscription, but seeing as it’s a bit on the affordable side, it might be worth the investment.

MusicStation will only be available on nine handsets during launch (although the number would undoubtedly be more soon enough): Nokia 6210 Navigator (pictured), 6121 Classic, N95 8GB, E65, and N73; Sony Ericsson C902, W880i and, W890i; and the LG Viewty.

Via CNET AU