Orange pitches new music services to Glastonbury festival-goers: mobile operator unveils remix application and downloads service as rivals cue up launches.(Downloads)

Music fans at last weekend's Glastonbury festival were the first to experience mobile operator Orange's new twin services Fireplayer and Music Player, the first of a slew of music mobile launches from operators in partnership with record labels and handset manufacturers in coming weeks.

Orange is using the UK's summer music festivals as a launchpad for the new music services, one of which enables the user to remix a full-track download and the other which stores up to 50 full-track downloads--or two and half hours playing time.

Fireplayer--an application which enables the user to remix a track on their phone--is powered by Bounce Technology and allows the user to download the application from the Orange World portal and remix the downloaded track, which can then be recorded as a realtone.

The Music Player, meanwhile, through which the user can play and store full-track downloads on their phone without the need for extra equipment, is powered by Chaoticom's Koz format, which has already been rolled out with partners Nortel and Eurotel Praha on phones in the Czech Republic--and won best in show at last month's MEF Awards.

Downloading tracks for Fireplayer will cost 3.50 [pounds sterling] and the service is launching with about 20 tracks initially divided into rock, R&B, chart and dance genres--to be refreshed at a rate of five tracks a week. In turn, Music Player tracks will cost from 1.50 [pounds sterling] each and at launch 1,000 tracks from over 200 artists will be available.

Both are launched initially on eight phones from July 1: the Motorola MPX200, Nokia 6600, Nokia N-Gage, Orange SPV, Orange SPV E100, Orange SPV E200, Sony Ericsson P900 and Sony Ericsson P800.

Tracks for the Music Player can be previewed before purchase and the user can start listening before the download is completed--which takes an average of two-and-a-half minutes. Tracks can be paused while the phone accepts incoming calls, while downloaded tracks can also be backed up to a PC even though they can only be played on the phone.