7Digital arrives on BlackBerry

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 6 Oct 2009 at 11:24

7Digital has launched a mobile version of its music service for BlackBerry handsets.

The free app can be downloaded from RIM's App World store and will offer BlackBerry owners the ability to buy more than six million MP3 tracks encoded at 320Kbits/sec.

One neat aspect of the service is a feature called Wi-Fi Auto-Sync, which automatically detects the speed of the wireless connection and alters the bit rate of the track accordingly.

This means that when users on a GPRS or EDGE connection click to download a track, they will receive a 64Kbits/sec version, allowing them to grab it quickly and listen as it downloads.

It's not in our best interests to remain monogamous, and we'll certainly be looking to work with other platforms

However, when they roam onto a faster network, or within range of a Wi-Fi connection, the service will automatically begin updating the track to 320Kbits/sec in the background.

As with 7Digital's web service, all purchases will be stored in the customer's online locker, allowing them to download as many copies as they wish. There's also support for Bluetooth streaming to other devices.

"Nokia has its Comes with Music, and Apple has iTunes. BlackBerry is missing a music service and we think there's a need there," said Ben Drury, CEO of 7digital. "However, it's not in our best interests to remain monogamous, and we'll certainly be looking to work with other platforms."

7Digital is now building Push support into the app, meaning that music bought through its web service can be automatically pushed to a BlackBerry handset.

The app is currently available for the BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8900 and 8520, and Storm.