BY KENNY CHEE

BUYING digital music at music stations could become a lifestyle trend in Singapore.

The only music megastore in Singapore, HMV, is the latest to sell digital music through kiosks at its 313@Somerset store, which opens next Thursday.

The Somerset store will have two kiosks where customers can sit and browse through digital music albums on the kiosks' touchscreens.

Like the CD-listening stations HMV has in its Heeren store, which will close on Dec 26, the new kiosks will allow consumers to listen to a 30-second preview on headphones before deciding whether they want to buy the tunes.

About 1.4 million digital tracks will be available from the four major record labels - Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI.

But HMV is not the only player in the market when it comes to digital-music station services - both Sony Ericsson and Sing- Tel launched their music stations in January.

SingTel's digital-music stations are available at its concept shops in Jurong Point, Tampines Mall and Bugis Junction.

SingTel customers can buy digital music through a touchscreen device in the stores, then transfer the tracks to their mobile phones.

For Sony Ericsson, its digital- music stations - called PlayNow kiosks - were last reported to be available at seven of its stores, including Junction 8 and Boon Lay MRT station.

Sony Ericsson's service allows customers to buy tracks through the kiosks and transfer them to Sony Ericsson phones.

Most music labels say that the move to digital-music stations is simply a way forward as the sales of physical music media decline.

Mr Simon Nasser, marketing director of Warner Music Singapore, said that his label offered to sell its music through HMV's kiosks to provide consumers with a new way to shop for music.

'(We) want to innovate and try new things,' said Mr Nasser.

Ms Emily Butt, managing director of HMV Singapore and Hong Kong, told my paper that HMV had, in 2007, begun selling digital tracks via kiosks in Hong Kong.

However, she does not expect sales in Singapore to necessarily take off - music sold via kiosks in Hong Kong currently makes up less than 1 per cent of its business.

Still, Ms Butt said that HMV hopes to 'offer this as a legitimate way (for Singaporeans) to legally buy digital music'.

AND good news for HMV fans - digital tracks offered at HMV digital kiosks, which cost - which cost US$100,000 (S$138,400) to set up at the $2.5-million 313@Somerset store - are affordable.

Single tracks will be priced at about $0.80, $1.30 and $1.65 (newer tracks may cost more than older ones), while digital albums, go for $8.05, $11.25 and $16.05 (older releases may cost less).

The selected tracks can be bought as 192kbs WMA format music files saved on, say, the customer's thumbdrive, or burnt on CDs, with about 15 tracks on one CD.

But the WMA versions will be copy-protected and can be transferred only three times to other devices, such as digital music players and mobile phones that can play the WMA format.

This also means the tracks cannot be played on Apple's iPhone and iPod music players.

Those devices recognise other formats, such as MP3s.

HMV's price points may turn out to be a draw. At Sony Ericsson's PlayNow kiosks, songs are priced at $2.99 each. But the upside is that those are free of copy-protection restrictions.

At SingTel's new concept stores, digital music tracks can be bought as 128kbs MP3 files for $3.75 each, but the tracks are locked to the phone and cannot be transferred.

This year, other digital-music services were offered, namely unlimited music-download services tied to telco plans.

They are Nokia's Comes With Music, SingTel's AMPed and Sony Ericsson's PlayNow plus.

Ms Butt from HMV said that the music store decided to ride the digital-music wave to keep up with the times.

She said that music sales at HMV dropped 7 to 8 per cent this year compared to a year ago, thanks to consumers moving to digital formats.

'Singaporeans aren't buying CDs or they are getting their music from other illegal sources for free,' she said.

But are music kiosks really a viable option that will draw customers?

Ms Debbie Swee, a market analyst from market research firm IDC, said that kiosks are a value-added service for existing customers, but that people would not necessarily take advantage of it.

This is because many people are still used to getting their music fix through illegal avenues, she said.

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