Cricket launches Mobile Music service

One criticism we hear a lot about prepaid wireless companies is that they don’t offer enough premium services, including multimedia and other Web capabilities. We’ve seen that change in a number of companies recently. This week, Cricket wireless joined the fray as they launched their Mobile Music service to their 3.84 million subscribers.

The pricing system isn’t unlike other mobile music services, and it combines desktop usage with mobile downloads. Tracks purchased over the air cost $1.99 each. Customers can alternatively spend $5 monthly for three downloads. For customers who want to knock a dollar off the price, songs will be available at Cricket’s website for 99 cents each. To download a copy of the song both to a phone and to a PC, the charge is $2.25.

“Cricket Mobile Music is a great way for our customers to enjoy their favorite music while on the go without the need to cart around another music-only device,” said Jeff Toig, vice president of product marketing for Cricket. “Our customers have demonstrated a desire to personalize their phones with music-related features such as ringtones, ringback tones and mobile video. Mobile Music lets users further personalize their phones, making Cricket a one-stop shop for both their communications and mobile entertainment needs.”

The problem, though Toig wouldn’t note it, is that when you turn your phone into a multimedia player, you kill the battery. This isn’t just a problem for prepaid phones, but all phones. I have a BlackBerry, and I still carry around my iPod because if I played music on my BlackBerry I’d have to recharge it more than once a day.

Still, this gives Cricket customers a similar service to Verizon‘s VCast for music. Incidentally, I wonder how digital music sales are doing as the economy continues to trend downward.

Via Phone Scoop.

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