CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 05/01/2007
- Released on: 05/02/2007
Virgin Mobile has made its name in the cell phone carrier world by catering to a young, urban audience. Not only does it offer a simple yet unique selection of phones, the prepaid operator has rolled put a number of youth-centric services that further enhance its hip reputation. The latest of these services is its new Headliner music service. Billed as an interactive mobile music magazine, Headliner offers a full range of music content including news, reviews, artist bios, and concert dates. The service does not offer music downloads, but it brings a comprehensive set of information to the music fan. On the other hand, the connection speed is slow, and we think you'll have to be a hard-core music lover to justify the monthly cost. Though the $2.49 per month certainly won't break the bank by itself, it could make for a hefty overall cost if you purchase a lot of calling minutes as well.
Headliner runs on a broad selection of Virgin Mobile phones including the Kyocera Cyclops, the UTStarcom Slice, the Kyocera Slider Sonic, and the Kyocera Switch Back, which we used as our test phone. Downloading the application is a simple affair. Just open the carrier's Virgin XL Web service, navigate to the Music menu, and select the Get button. Though Virgin Mobile uses the 2.5G 1xRTT data network from Sprint, the download took just a few seconds. We then opened the application, and we were good to go. Headliner is stored in the My Stuff folder for convenient access.
Headliner offers content in a number of categories. My Artists offers a variety of information organized by artist (of course). You get a full discography by album, a short biography, and the latest news, tour information, and reviews. There's also a section for related artists that could be a bit amusing at times. For example, it matched The B-52's with Madonna.
You can save your preferred performers to a quick list for frequent updates and rate artists on a scale of one to five stars. Also, you can elect to receive text messages whenever there's news, like an album announcement or a tour date. Just keep in mind that standard Virgin Mobile text-messaging rates apply (generally 5 cents per received or sent message, but cheaper if you purchase a text bundle).
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