Handset owners can Cliq for music

HOT ON THE heels of mobile handset orientated music download services – like Omnifone's MusicStation, is Cliq which is due to launch tomorrow.

The difference with Cliq is that it is aimed at radio stations and supports DAB radios as well as handsets and PCs. The service is accessible by downloading a Java client.

Cliq is actually being offered by UBC Media and claims to have tracks supplied by all the major record labels.

The idea is that as you listen to the radio, a list of all the radio stations tracks which have just been played or are playing is displayed on the mobile phone. The INQ would guess that you'd need to have an all-you-can-eat data tariff for this – otherwise it could get expensive.

The service is, in fact, very similar to an offering from Nokia called Visual Radio which is built into most high end models these days. Except that Cliq should work on the 85 per cent of all handsets which support Java.

Another very important difference is that the handset itself doesn't actually have to have an FM radio built in. You can just switch Cliq on if you've been listening in the car, for example.

Significantly, Cliq won't go head on up against Apple's Itunes because the software is only available for Windows. It could also have something to do with the fact that it uses Windows DRM to protect the tracks, too.

According to a report in the Torygraph, each track should cost £1.25 which is considerably more expensive than Itunes.

The INQ tried to discover where on the web the software would be placed for downloads. Our best guess would be Cliqmobile.com. But we can't be sure. µ

L'INQ
UBC Media