So you built you collection in vinyl, then you bought it all again in cassette form, only to have to re-purchase it all as CD. You dabbled for a day or so with mini-disk releases, before filling your credit card with iTunes purchases. Well, great news, a new music format is upon us, although whether this one will last long in the download age remains to be seen.
Either way, Carphone Warehouse are planning on releasing Robbie Williams' best of album on a special memory card which can be slotted into high-spec mobile phones or portable computers (the iPaq et al). The memory sticks, which retail for £29.99, come with both audio and video, and are designed, I suppose, for those who want to use their mobiles or PDAs as a music player, but who can't be bothered to download tracks to it via their mobile network, or to transfer MP3s from their PC. If successful Carphone Warehouse hope to make other albums available in the same format in time for Christmas.
Confirming their involvement in the pilot, Danny Van Emden, Digital Media Director at Robbie's record label, EMI, told reporters: "The UK is in love with the mobile and it's the one device that we know our artists' fans have with them at all times - so the memory card is simply the next logical chapter in the affair."
Kevin Gillan of the Carphone Warehouse added: "We see pre-loaded music memory cards as the next step and part of a general consumer hunger for more mobile content."