I had an opportunity recently to check out the Ovi Music Unlimited service which comes bundled with the Nokia phones such as X6, 5235 and 5130. I tried the service on a 5235.
One of the best features about the Nokia-Ovi service is that you get to download as many music tracks as you want from a collection of upto 4 million songs that Ovi has to offer you. And that is for 12 months. You do not have to pay anything, you just need a code (that would be SMSed to you when you activate your newly purchased Nokia Ovi device) that would activate your account. You can keep all the tracks you download, even after your subscription period of 1 year ends. There are certain digitial restrictions though – you can download or play the songs only in your Nokia-Ovi device and your PC that is registered with the service.
The best part is that you get all your music at one place and it is:
- Free, legal and easy to use.
- Your download history is saved, so you can recover anything from your new music library for up to three years after your subscription ends.
- And because Ovi Music Unlimited is legal, you know that the artists you love are making money for the music they make.
The installation process was easy. I just had to install the software that came bundled with the Nokia 5235 (and I updated it online to the latest version). With a one-click account activation process in the software, I could begin downloading the tracks. The Ovi Player has a simple interface that makes it easier to navigate through, as easy as browsing a website. Their categorization of the tracks are also easy to navigate through. I have read in other reviews that the software takes a lot of resources compared to iTunes. Even though I would agree to the comparison with iTunes in system resource utilization, I must say it is still better than Microsoft’s Zune software. You can do pretty much everything in Ovi Player that you do with the softwares like iTunes or Zune (importing existing songs from your machine to Ovi player, creating playlists, audio equalizer etc). Except that you don’t have to pay a penny to download a music track from their collection.
They have a wide variety of categories and songs – from Western to Indian Classical, Pop to Rock, Filmy to Album songs etc. And they have many latest albums in each genre to download. The Top 20 charts helps you give a headstart to the latest hit numbers and the charts listed as Bollywood Top 20, International Top 20, South Top 20 and Non-film Top 20. The playlists include special packages like Micheal Jackson special, Lucky Ali special, S P Balasubramanyam special etc. Another unique feature about their listing is “Audio Films“, which is an audio narrative of popular films with original sound bits from the movie. So in 30 minutes you get to enjoy the audio version of a movie. But the problem is, you have only Hindi films listed there.
The tracks are properly tagged, comes in WMA format and in 192 KBPS which provides a good audo quality.
One issue that I have noticed in the whole package is their regional coverage. The South Top 20 chart totally ignores Malayalam language. And the Malayalam language section doesn’t have the latest up-to-date releases whereas Hindi has the most up-to-date versions compared to the regional languages.
For the music enthusiasts who use mobile phones to have music-on-the-go (or just your PC to play music at work or home), I would suggest you go for an Ovi Music supported device, the prime reason being that you get to download a vast collection of music tracks for an entire year. But if you already own an iPod or Zune, have experienced the audio quality of those two devices and carry them for music-on-the-go, you may want to think twice. I heard the songs with the ear plugs of Nokia 5235, but regardless of the presets and custom settings of equalizer, there is excessive bass in the audio. And I really hate the ear plugs as it leaves my ears with pain. So the listening experience of Ovi Music tracks with a Nokia device is not any closer compared to the devices like iPod or Zune (I like my Zune better than my iPod, and it’s audio quality with their earphones is amazing). Plus, you cannot use the tracks you download from Ovi Player with any other devices. But still, it is better compared to other popular music phones in the market. And like I said, this is a perfect solution for those who are addicted to listening to music on their mobile phones.