Espoo, Finland - Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on Wednesday introduced the Nokia Music Store, a PC and over-the-air digital music service that uses technology gained from its acquisition of Loudeye.

Initially, mobile users of the store will be limited to compatible handsets from Nokia, including the new N81, N95, and existing XpressMusic models such as the Nokia 5310 and 5610.

In addition to monthly subscriptions for streaming music, individual tracks sold in 192 Kbps Windows Media Audio format will cost about $1.36 each, and albums about $13.66.

Nokia plans to launch the music store across several European markets this fall, with additional stores in Europe and Asia opening over the coming months.

Nokia did not announce any wireless network partners for the service, and many European networks, such as Vodafone, Orange and 3 in the U.K., already have their own mobile music services.

Alongside the Nokia Music Store, the company also launched the Nokia N81, a music and games-based handset that is linked directly to the Nokia Music Store as well as N-Gage, the company's revamped mobile games service.

An 8GB version of the N81 is slated to sell for about $588 when it ships in Europe in the fourth quarter.

Related Links:
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1149748

http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1149755

http://tinyurl.com/2ucl2b (Billboard)