FlyTunes announced a new kind of music service, designed for WiFi and 3G-enabled mobile phones and media players, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch included.
The idea is to outradio the (satellite) radio, by providing users with thousands of high quality music channels that can be personalized and enjoyed on your iPhone or other mobile phone, wherever you are, without any limitations and fees.
And while we’re still not sure just how it will work, it seems that the idea is to stream and sync (for offline listening) the music from your PC, something that we’ve already seen with Orb. We’ll certainly know more on January 25th when the new service will be officially launched. In the meantime, you can check out FlyTunes’ official release after the break.
PRESS RELEASE – FlyTunes Inc. today demonstrated its new digital music service for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and other portable media players and cell phones. The FlyTunes service offers users a personalized radio-like experience, with thousands of channels of digital music that can be enjoyed anywhere they go, regardless of wireless connection.
FlyTunes outshines satellite radio in a number of ways:
- FlyTunes does not require a receiver or additional hardware purchase; it works with the cell phone or personal media player already in a consumer’s pocket.
- FlyTunes offers access to over 100 times more channels than satellite radio, covering every conceivable musical taste.
- FlyTunes plays everywhere, unlike satellite radio, which does not work inside buildings, or on planes.
- FlyTunes allows users to personalize their music channels. While listening, users can promote favorite songs and flag unwanted ones (never to be played again).
- There are no setup or monthly fees for FlyTunes.
“FlyTunes bridges the massive disconnect that exists between the hundreds of millions of cell phones and portable media players people already own, and thousands of Internet radio stations that broadcast every type of music they could want,” said FlyTunes CEO Sam Abadir. “From the user’s perspective, FlyTunes provides an extremely easy-to-use service that allows them to quickly get the music they want and to discover new music.”
“Because FlyTunes uniquely sits between the broadcasters and the listener, it offers users personalized music, which has never been possible for satellite or terrestrial broadcasters, and the ability to cache hours of music for offline listening,” continued Abadir.
FlyTunes allows users to create their own customized music channels by searching over 20,000 Internet radio stations to find music that matches their preferences. Hours of personalized music can be cached to a portable media player or cell phone and listened to anywhere. Portable devices with 3G capability can quickly cache additional music, greatly reducing battery drain.
FlyTunes works with Macintosh or PC computers, and will be widely available on January 21, 2008 at the FlyTunes.fm web site. The company is providing credentialed press with preview accounts at the CES show. FlyTunes works with all Apple iPods, including the iPhone, and iPod Touch, Microsoft Zune, and all other popular media players supporting MP3 files, as well as multimedia-enabled cell phones.