T-Mobile brings music to your ears

T-Mobile has launched a mobile jukebox service which will let customers download 90-second tracks to their handsets.

The company is also launching five new phones that will have the software embedded to receive the songs.

Mobile operators believe that music will be a key source of revenue in the future as more people sign up for 3G services and phones.

At £1.49 per track, the tracks are around 70p dearer than Apple's iTunes downloads. But T-Mobile believes that the service will take off, especially when it offers 3G services which will allow users to download full tracks.

"We believe we have a competitive proposition," said a T-Mobile spokesman. "Although it could take more than two minutes to download with 2.5G, it will take around 20 seconds with 3G."