RIM launches BBM Music service

CANADIAN PHONE MAKER Research in Motion (RIM) has launched its BBM Music app in Canada, the US and Australia.

The firm made the announcement in a blog post today, adding that other countries will follow "shortly".

In August, RIM unveiled the on-the-go music service to rival Spotify and We7.

RIM's music streaming service runs though Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and the company will charge a monthly subscription fee of $4.99.

The system works by allowing users to select a personal library of up to 50 tracks. Once you have friends added to your 'BBM Music Community' you can share up to all of your tracks with them and vice versa. So the more friends you have the bigger your shared music library becomes.

You can listen to your friends' music in full and there will be the option to download tracks for listening offline.

RIM was also keen to clear up any misconceptions about the service, which some had thought was limited to just 50 songs. The firm said, "So, let's say you have 10 BBM friends with BBM Music subscriptions, and they each have 50 songs in their music profiles. From those friends alone, plus the 50 songs you downloaded to start your profile, you could have 550 songs in no time, right on your BlackBerry smartphone."

RIM has managed to get all four record labels involved in its music service, which is powered by Omnifone. The service will include millions of tracks from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. µ