Mar 26, 2010

Nokia Music becomes OVI Music, DRM free(Almost) !!! in India

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Nokia India quietly(may be they are still testing, making sure things work) rebranded Nokia Music to OVI Music. Cj noted this first in early morning and posted on Twitter. Seems like they like to do things quietly or People in blogosphere always find anything before Nokia can formally announce/release. I had posted review of Nokia Music earlier in Diwali when they were offering 200 tracks free.
I decided to try and headed over to OVI Music India site and found that rebranded, revamped interface. Following is screenshot.
image


I tried this on Chrome in Ubuntu 9.04 on my laptop and I was able to log-in with my Nokia Music account.Earlier only IE+Windows was supported with Music store, I tested this on Firefox and it works there too. So IE, Firefox, Chrome all work on Windows and Ubuntu(Linux). It seems that they have made it available to multi-browsers, multi-OS.
Also I could download track straight from browser and it saved file as *.mp3, But main thing was that I was able to play it in Ubuntu via Rhythmbox. This is great as I was not able to do it earlier because it was DRM protected. This means now OVI Music downloads are DRM free except tracks downloaded with OVI Music Unlimited. I was able to copy and paste track from Ubuntu to My Nokia N82 via data cable and I was able to play the song. No need of license or anything. Earlier you needed Windows Media player as pre-requisite for all Nokia Music DRM related stuff. See following screenshot which is taken from track properties, in OVI player. Note that DRM Protected is No. That’s really great. It means you are free to move your music anywhere you want, play it on any device and keep it forever. No limits !!!
image
I found interface to be far improved than earlier and faster in operation. It’s more in lines with OVI design and icons.You can hide/show different windows, browse via charts, genre as it was earlier but now User Interface is much better to navigate.
One major thing to note here is there also OVI Music Unlimited which looks like re-branding of Nokia CWM-Comes With Music Service. In India , we still do not have any devices launched as CWM , so I guess they may be planning to launch 5235, X6 soon here.Right now if you click activate subscription , you are asked to put in PIN. If you try links like “Where you can get a OVI Music Unlimited Mobile”, you be redirected to Nokia Malaysia-they also got OVI Music few days back. Any Music with OVI Music Unlimited service can be downloaded and played with registered Mobile and PC. It also can not be burnt CD or copied. DRM is still here !!!
Problem I encountered was with login, I guess they are still in process of migrating/merging older Nokia Music and OVI accounts together. I was able to login with my Nokia Music account and it showed me remaining tracks and my download history. But when I login with my OVI account , I can not see any tracks, also when you login with your OVI account you will required to confirm and accept terms, email id, phone number. so in my case, I have 2 different accounts. But for some users, like Arjun it seems to be going great as he has his older Nokia Music account and OVI account merged successfully. I guess if you have same username in both services , you will be merged but this was not case with me :)
image Here is login with my OVI account showing no tracks.image
Here is my login with older Nokia Music account, showing 29 tracks and also Download history.
image 
I am sure there will be formal launch announcement soon Nokia has announced this via their Nokia Music India twitter account they will resolve issues with account merging soon.It’s good to see that Nokia is taking on such initiatives and improving, DRM free is good move.Have you ever used Nokia Music(OVI Music now)? So what you think? Let me know via your comments.

11 comments:

  1. Did you try with the letters OVI suffixed to your previous. This worked for me.

    (I am still experiencing downloading error for some songs - hopefully its is teething troubles)

    ReplyDelete
  2. well as I have said in my posts, I can still use my Nokia Music account which shows my track balance and download history. So i have 2 accounts now. What I need is ability to merge it in single OVI account which i use for all other services.
    They have done that with OVI share, Sportstracker so Nokia should be able to do it now also.
    I need only 1 login, not different logins which defeats purpose of integration.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not able get back my previous track balance. How can i get them????

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Ankit, was your Nokia Music username and OVI username same? There are some issues in such cases. Please try using username = olderusernameOVI . i.e. if ankit is username you used earlier for Nokiamusic then try using ankitOVI. If this doesnt work then try calling Nokia helpline by dialing your city STD code+30303838 or send them your complaint at this link http://www.nokia.co.in/get-support-and-software/ask-nokia

    ReplyDelete
  5. Got my previous track balance...
    Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Ankit, great to know it worked for you !!!
    I got email from Nokia Care saying that they wont be able to merge my OVI and Nokia Music account. which is really annoying. :)
    I hate multiple logins.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for sharing this post. This is a very helpful and informative material. Good post and keep it up. Websites are always helpful in one way or the other, that’s cool stuff, anyways, a good way to get started to renovate your dreams into the world of reality.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @sami, thanks for comments. hope you will like more things here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i have the nokia unlimited phone.
    it has drm right?
    how do i get rid of it?
    doesnt even play on my registered pc!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Are you from India? removing DRM will be illegal.
    You can check by downloading "Ovi Music Downloader" see following tutorial , step 8
    http://www.nokia.co.in/services-and-apps/music/tutorial
    I guess this should enable you to play music on multiple machines.

    Which phone you have? X6?

    ReplyDelete
  11. hey suyog plz tell me your password

    ReplyDelete