Jamster Pokes Into Full-Song, Mobile Download Space

The force behind the Crazy Frog is now diversifying. Jamster, owned by VeriSign, will soon deliver over-the-air, full-track mobile downloads. The move was announced earlier this week, and will involve digital rights technology supplied by Seattle-based Melodeo. "We chose to work with Melodeo because music labels have endorsed their technology and because of the need in the mobile marketplace for digital rights protection," said Mahi de Silva, senior vice president at VeriSign Communications Services. Other details, including total catalog, launch dates and pricing, were not revealed.

The Jamster plans come on the heels of similar news from Los Angeles-based MVNO Amp'd Mobile, which will offer full-track mobile downloads at a money-losing 99-cents. Exactly how Jamster will price its tones is unclear at this point, though the service will directly compete with carriers by offering an SMS-based ordering process. Regardless of price, overall adoption of full-track downloads remains a question mark, especially with the presence of easy side-loading on a large number of mobile device. Regardless, this a tough market to predict, especially since a $4 billion ringtone market exists alongside several do-it-yourself services.