Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced a partnership with Europe's MusicNet to launch a music service designed to work seamlessly with the firm's leading edge digital music players --- the K3, K5 and T9 models.
MusicNet will supply the platform for the Samsung Media Studio, a proprietary media player for Samsung's devices. Under the terms of the deal, customers can choose between a flat rate monthly subscription for unlimited downloads, or pay for individual song downloads.
The new service will offer portable music subscriptions for unlimited downloads for a flat monthly fee, or the purchase of individual tracks or albums. In France and Germany, where subscribers will have access to 2.6 million tracks, the service will be available for $20 a month, or $1.57 a track. In Britain, where 3 million songs are available, the service will cost $21 a month, or $1.60 a track.
This marks Samsung latest attempt to battle against the market-leading iPod. iTunes Store has grown to become one of the top music retailers on the United States, bolstered by a tight integration with Apple's iPod, which holds about 75 percent of the digital media players market.