Africa

Americas

by Al Sacco

BlackBerry Gets Free Amazon MP3 Music App

Opinion
Dec 14, 2010
Mobile Small and Medium Business

RIM and Amazon.com today announced a brand new on-device music application and service for BlackBerry smartphone users.

It comes as no surprise—rumors about an Amazon MP3 app for BlackBerry first hit the Web back in September and leaked Research In Motion (RIM) documents have since confirmed the app’s eventual arrival—but BlackBerry-maker RIM and Amazon.com today officially announced a beta version of a brand new Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry smartphones application.

Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry Smartphones Icon
Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry Smartphones Icon

An on-device iTunes music store of sorts for BlackBerry smartphone users, Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry aims to give users on-the-go access to all of their favorite music and musicians. The app’s not the first media application of its type—think: 7Digital–but none of the existing apps/services have the name recognition or user base of Amazon.com. Amazon.com shopping and Kindle apps are also available for BlackBerry.

Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry lets users search Amazon music by what’s popular, what is new and via genre. It allows for 30-second song previews before purchases. The app works over Wi-Fi and cellular networks. And it highlights daily free-song and album deals. The majority of songs seem to be priced between $0.99 and $1.29.

The app requires 610KB of application memory, so you’ll need a media card if you’re using a BlackBerry with no built-in storage, and it only works on BlackBerrys running RIM’s BlackBerry 5 OS or higher.

Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry Album Search Screen
Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry Album Search Screen

I haven’t spent too much time with the app yet, beyond downloading a couple of songs, one free, and browsing a bit. But the app’s UI looks a lot like RIM’s BlackBerry App World—which is a good thing. And it integrates nicely with your BlackBerry media application so you can quickly and easily jump from the Amazon app to your on-device music collection.

The Amazon MP3 app is a welcome addition to the BlackBerry platform, and I’m a frequent Amazon.com buyer, so I can see getting quite a bit of user out of this new software.

Download the application for free via RIM’s BlackBerry App World mobile software shop.

For more details on Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry smartphones, visit RIM’s website or pop on over to the application user guide.

AS

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Email Al at ASacco@CIO.com.