Music is the big thing at 3GSM this year. Nokia have announced another collaboration with Microsoft, this time in mobile music. A long-term collaboration between Redmond and Finland over digital media rights includes Nokia supporting Windows Media Audio, Windows Media DRM 10, and the nesseccary Media Transfer Protocol. Couple this with the Series 60 version 3.0 supporting USB mass storage, and there's a major move here to corner this new market.

Nokia are partnering with Loudeye Corp to provide a turn-key "white label" music selling solution for networks to aid the drive behind 3G. Microsoft have already been working with Loudeye in the music space, and the partener with Nokia "will help remove islands of content and services... repalce them with a seamless digital music experience focussed on the consumer," says Amir Majidimehr of MS Windows Media.

There's no word on back porting Windows Media for existing devices, and I expect that only Series 60 version 3 will be supported. Nevertheless, this has the feeling of something that could re-shape a fair proportionof the market.