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Buttoned Up No More, BlackBerrys Get Their Own Music Store

Time to let your hair down and loosen your tie. Starting April 1, BlackBerry users will have access to Puretracks' DRM-free music store, with tunes available from four major labels, plus myriad indie labels. Rock on!

I am sure this announcement will make someone's day. Puretracks has developed a version of its over-the-air music download store that is compatible with a number of BlackBerry handsets. The lucky winners are users of the 8100 Pearl, the 8300 Curve, and the 8800 series smartphones. All the variants of those devices will work with the new music store.

There's one hitch that's a deal-breaker for me, but likely not for the non-audiophile. Songs from Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and independent labels will be encoded as AAC and AAC+ files at 64 kilobits per second. That's half what the iTunes Music Store encodes its AAC files at. Granted, AAC+ files offer a more advanced codec that preserves quality, but 64 Kbps is just too small for me. I've performed extensive tests of how good encoded music sounds at various bit rates. The lowest I ever go is 160 Kbps, and the bulk of my library is encoded at 192 Kbps.

Quality gripes aside, this is a nice addition to the many features available for BlackBerry users, who have thus far been slightly neglected with respect to downloadable music. Let's face it, sideloading with microSD cards just isn't enjoyable. Once the April 1 start date arrives, you'll be able to snag your favorite music over the air, and eventually via a Wi-Fi connection, says Puretracks.

"When it comes to the wireless world, BlackBerry is at the forefront and we are excited to offer our service on a cutting-edge solution that seamlessly integrates digital music into the wireless space," notes Andrea Ziegler, chief operating officer of Puretracks. "The Puretracks Mobile music service we have developed for the BlackBerry platform is an innovative mobile music store for North America that employs DRM-free, [small] files. For wireless users, this equates to inexpensive airtime costs, smaller storage requirements, and higher music quality."

Puretracks didn't disclose pricing information, nor the total number of tracks that will be available on the store. It recommends unlimited data packages for those who intend to download tracks over the air.

Enjoy getting your groove on.

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