Thumbplay Music on BlackBerry.
(Credit: Thumbplay)
Since there's no such thing as too many music apps, Thumbplay has
announced at CES its plan to turn its song and ringtone e-store into a
downloadable, cloud-based, on-demand music player for desktops and
smartphones.
Thumbplay Music launches on Thursday as an invitation-only beta for
Windows, Mac, and select BlackBerry smartphones. A single Adobe AIR
app will run Thumbplay Music on Windows and Mac. At launch, the app
supports BlackBerry Tour (9630), Bold (9000), and Curve (8900) phones.
Compatibility with a greater number of BlackBerry models, and apps for
iPhone and Android, are next on Thumbplay's road map.
Thumbplay is modeling its nascent app on a subscription service that
touts unlimited on-demand playback for artists and albums, a search
feature, favorites that can synchronize between the smartphone and
desktop app, and an offline playback mode. Thumbplay Music also
supports iTunes playlists and playlists of your own creation on both
the desktop and phone versions. A music discovery element similar to
Pandora additionally seeks out tunes based on songs you already like.
Thumbplay Music's AIR app for Windows and Mac.
Thumbplay Music's AIR app for Windows and Mac.
(Credit: Thumbplay)
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Already an online presence, Thumbplay's repertoire includes songs from
Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group,
EMI Music, and independent labels like CD Baby, INgrooves, and IODA.
Although the apps themselves are free, Thumbplay will adopt a
subscription-based pricing model for the service once the apps become
generally available in early 2010. After a free, three-day trial, the
on-demand music service will cost $9.99 per month. The private beta,
however, lets you try it out now for free. You can sign up on the
Thumbplay Music site.