Nokia launches Comes With Music in the UK

Nokia is to launch its Comes With Music service into the UK this month - making Britain the first country to sample the 'all you can eat' free music offer.

The heavily-hyped Comes With Music service offers unlimited access to 2.1 million songs in the Nokia Music Store for a year - after which you can keep playing then, as long as you have a compatible Nokia phone.

Carphone Warehouse is due to take pre-pay orders for the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic 'Comes With Music' edition on its website today - although at the time of writing there was no sign of the deal or the phone's price. Carphone is the exclusive pre-pay retailer until 31 December 2008.

The fact that Comes With Music is currently a pre-pay only offering is telling - the major operators have been reluctant to push Nokia's service because it makes their own music download stores look rather miserable in comparison.

However even Nokia's service is blighted by the spectre of Digital Rights Management (DRM) - an electronic deadlock that stops you playing the songs on other phones or the ubiquitous iPod. Increasingly music stores like iTunes and Amazon are offering unlocked music that can be played on any device - but such enlightenment has yet to dawn in the mobile phone market.