RYAN NAKASHIMA
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Mobile phone carrier Cricket is making its unlimited music service, Muve Music, an exclusive feature of its higher-end phones.
The change is a bid to encourage users of lower-end, basic cellphones to trade up to smartphones, which require more expensive plans. The company will stop offering the service on basic phones to new customers.
Muve Music allows users to download songs from a catalog of millions. The songs cannot be transferred off the phone, and access disappears if a subscriber cancels service. About 600,000 Cricket subscribers now pay an extra $10 a month to get the service.
Starting next month, Muve will be included in all plans for smartphones that use Google’s Android operating system. The plans go from $50 a month including 1 gigabyte of data to $70 a month for 5 GB.