Nokia launches Music+ streaming service

If you own a Nokia Lumia smartphone you have probably come in to contact with Nokia Music, a free to use music streaming service for Nokia device owners. All you need to do to use the service is to run the app that is included by default on Lumia devices. From here it is possible to browse more than 17 million songs it makes available, create personalized radio stations based on your own preferences, or listen to popular stations instead.

Users in addition to that get tour dates, can buy tickets, find venues or get directions to the next gig using the app and only the application.

Nokia today announced the launch of Music+, a subscription based music streaming service that offers all that Nokia Music has to offer and then some. Nokia sees this as an addition to the company's music service and users who do not want to subscribe to Music+ can use the old free service like before without any restrictions.

So, what do Nokia Music+ users get on top of what is offered for free? A lot actually but judge for yourself:

• Unlimited downloads: free users of the service can download up to four Mixes and play them when there is no Internet connection. While that is good for hours of music, it is a limiting factor, especially for users who can't stream music while on the go because of bad reception, or do not want to because of the bandwidth that accumulates quickly. So, Nokia Music+ users can make available as many mixes as they want for offline consumption as long as they have enough storage space to do so.
• Unlimited skips: you can skip as many tracks as you want while Nokia Music users are limited here.
• Better quality:  According to Nokia, Music+ users can download music that is eight times better than the music quality that free users get. The app can also be configured to only download high quality music tracks when the phone is connected to a wireless network.
• Desktop access: Nokia Music+ is also available on the desktop in form of  a web app that subscribers can run all day long to play music on their stationary computer systems.
• Lyrics: can be displayed in the application either in scrolling form, as a Karaoke-style format or a fixed text that you can scroll manually.

All that for a subscription fee of (around) $3.99 or €3.99 per month. Nokia Music+ is said to launch in the coming weeks. While not explicitly mentioned, it is likely that Nokia Music+ will also only be available for Lumia device owners.