PC version of Nokia Music service pulled down in India

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia seems to have shut shop on its exclusive Music service for the PC..

Anujeet Majumdar|Sep 12, 2013, 18:33:58 IST

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia seems to have shut shop on its exclusive Music service for desktops in India, but will continue offering it exclusively for mobile phones. It should be noted that Nokia had decided to do away with the online version of its Music service back in 2011. However, it kept the PC version around to support its existing subscribers.

Now, a message on Nokia's landing page reveals that the service is no longer available for the PC, but users can still get the same on their Nokia phones as long as they have a subscription. The message clearly states that users cannot download music from Nokia Music through the company’s Music Player, which is a desktop client that gives users access to the store for downloading music.

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A Nokia spokesperson has now confirmed that the website has been pulled down, according to BGR. In his statement, the spokesperson said, “We were running the website and desktop client in maintenance mode as per global Nokia Care policy. We had shut down desktop downloads in December 2011 and moved to mobile only subscription plans since then. However, users who had subscriptions before that were still being supported. But with those subscriptions coming to an end, we removed the placeholder site yesterday. Users can still subscribe to and get unlimited online and offline music on their Nokia phones.”

Nokia has pulled down the PC version of its Music service in India

Nokia has also added some FAQs on its Nokia Music India landing pages, stating that Nokia Music Unlimited subscribers owning a Nokia phone can continue to download music from the same. The music downloaded through the phone could also be transferred to computers.

The biggest problem arising for users is that Nokia offers only 32kbps low-quality music through the Nokia Music mobile app. On the other hand, music downloaded from PCs earlier came with a bit-rate of 256kbps and were DRM-free. This basically means that the Finnish smartphone maker will no longer be offering high-quality music downloads. Nokia has also stated that existing users need to redeem their subscription vouchers.

The company, apart from its Nokia Music service, is also offering its Mixed Radio music streaming service for mobile users. Both services are available for Nokia’s Lumia devices as well as some Symbian devices like Pureview 808 as well as on the Nokia Asha 305, Asha 308, Asha 310 and Asha 311. While the passing of the PC version of the Nokia Music store will most likely go unnoticed by many, loyalists may still miss the high quality downloads and the convenience of the service.