Nokia embraces Microsoft DRM software

Nokia looks set to open its own music downloads service to rival iTunes following the announcement that it will incorporate Micorosoft's PlayReady digital rights management (DRM) software into all its new mobile phones.

The move means that from early 2008 all Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 mobile phones - essentially Nokia's entire range - will come with the PlayReady DRM pre-installed.

This will allow consumers to download music and videos to their Nokia mobiles and then - crucially - be able to transfer and play them on other PlayReady-compatible devices such as PCs, MP3 players and consoles such as the Xbox 360.

The PlayReady DRM can be used with a wide variety of audio and video formats such as WMA, WMV, AAC, AAC , AMR and H.264.

Microsoft has also said that PlayReady is backwardly-compatible with with Windows Media DRM 10, the copy protection software used by most of the current music and video download services with the notable exception of Apple's iTunes.

"People are increasingly using their mobile devices for enjoying digital content, such as music, games, videos and photos," said Ilkka Raiskinen, senior vice president of Multimedia Experiences at Nokia.

"By adding support for Microsoft PlayReady technology, we are enabling service providers to offer a wide range of content and create truly compelling experiences across mobile devices, personal computers and online services."

The downside is that all this content will be enbedded - critics prefer to call it 'infected' - with Microsoft's proprietary DRM. This would make it impossible to play your legitimately purchased download on a device that's not in the PlayReady camp, such as an iPod or an Apple Mac computer.