Orange is teaming up with Channel 4 and Universal to let UK pay as you go customers listen to music via their mobiles. It’s not quite a repeat of Nokia’s Comes With Music service, which allows unlimited listening and downloads — this is listening only and it’s limited to 600 minutes a month. The release trumps the fact that it’s the first “free” PAYG music service in the UK and that it gives customers on the “Monkey” package access to hundreds of thousands of tracks. But just how free is it?
Customers get access to tunes online or via their handset every time they top up by £10 ($16.43) or more. But as Forrester analyst and occasional paidContent:UK contributor Mark Mulligan points out, they are only allowed to hear 600 minutes each month — which roughly translates to 14 albums. For customers regularly paying £30 ($49.23) a month in phone credit, it’s the equivalent of paying £2.14 ($3.53) for each album listen — but you don’t get to keep it. “So still far from free, even though they

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