• by Jonathan Blum , January 6, 2006

Las Vegas--What do Steve Ballmer, Ivan Seidenberg, Green Day, and Shakira have in common? No, not bad hair. The answer: they've all made music available via wireless phones.

In a rare display of cooperation, Verizon Communications Inc. and Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced plans to launch an online music store tied to Verizon Wireless's VCast broadband cellular network. Plans for the service, announced here at the Consumer Electronics Show, involve a digital library of more than 1 million songs from most of the major labels and feature acts such as Green Day, Shakira, INXS, and the Black Eyed Peas. The VCast Music Store will debut Jan. 16.

The plan makes Verizon Wireless the first U.S. wireless carrier to provide for direct music downloads via an existing cellular network. The offering is targeted to high-end wireless handsets with the capacity to handle advertising. The service supports downloads directly to the phone, songs purchased via PCs, and content ripped from device to device, all of which require significant user interaction and page views. Through VCast, consumers will also be able to transfer songs between their phones and Windows-based PCs.

The cost per song will vary by download method. Tracks purchased via a PC using a standard Internet connection will cost 99 cents per song. Music downloaded directly to the phone via Verizon's wireless network will cost $1.99 per song. When they download to the phone, consumers will receive two copies of the song--one for the phone and one for the PC, according to Verizon. Music fans will also be able to synchronize tracks from the PC to the phone via a USB (universal serial bus) connection.

In addition to tracks from the VCast service, any MP3 or WMA (Windows Media Audio) song stored on a PC can be transferred to phones. The new service will be available over Verizon's cellular network to 150 million U.S. residents.

The service is an attempt to compete with established digital music services, namely Apple iTunes Music Store. It might be a tough slog. Apple controls some 75 percent of portable music player sales as of year-end 2005, and recently shoved the Rio, the No. 2 portable music player from the market. The brand was shuttered by parent D&M Holdings late last year.