The Store Ledger
Between 2002 and 2012, nearly every phone carrier and handset maker on earth opened a music store. This table is their ledger: who owned each store, when it opened, what a track cost, how the files were locked, when it closed — and the column the era's own coverage never filled in, what happened to the music people paid for when the store died. DRM servers switched off, licenses stranded on retired handsets, purchases deleted outright: that column is the reason this page exists.
How to read it. Every filled cell names a source in the numbered list
at the bottom, grouped row by row, and every row carries the date its
cells were last checked. A cell that reads not established is a
finding, not a blank: the claim could not be sourced from a press release,
a regulator, a filing, or archived period reporting, so the cell says so.
Closing dates are set in red. Each row has a stable anchor —
/stores/#v-cast-music lands on Verizon's row — so articles
here and links from anywhere else can point at a single store's line. The
first row is the comparator: the iTunes Music Store, the shop every other
row priced itself against and eventually lost to. The dated closures are
totalled beneath the table, in order — the industry's exit, one line per
store.
| Store | Owner | Opened | Price/track | Format & DRM | Closed | What happened to purchases | What replaced it | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iTunes Music Store (comparator) | Apple | $0.99 | AAC with FairPlay DRM; DRM-free "iTunes Plus" from 2007, the whole catalogue by early 2009 | Still open | Kept. FairPlay tracks were offered a paid DRM-free upgrade from 2007, and new sales dropped DRM entirely in 2009 | Nothing — it outlived every store below | ||
| ROKR E1 / iTunes on mobile | Apple · Motorola · Cingular | $0.99, bought in iTunes on a computer — no over-the-air sales | iTunes AAC/FairPlay, transferred by cable; firmware-capped at 100 songs | 2006 — withdrawn after weak sales | Unaffected — songs lived in iTunes on the PC and kept playing there and on iPods after the phone was pulled | Motorola SLVR L7 with iTunes (2006), then the iPhone (2007) | ||
| V CAST Music | Verizon Wireless | $1.99 over the air / $0.99 by PC | WMA with Windows Media DRM; native MP3 playback disabled on launch handsets | Re-downloads of purchased songs allowed until ; after that, per Verizon's notice, undownloaded purchases were "permanently deleted" and "refunds or credits" were not available | not established | |||
| Sprint Music Store | Sprint Nextel, with Groove Mobile | $2.50 over the air (dual download); cut to $0.99 in 2007 | A copy to the phone plus a higher-quality WMA copy held online for PC download | 2011 — superseded | The online WMA copy could be re-fetched while the store ran; what became of those lockers at the 2011 switch is not established | Sprint Music Plus (RealNetworks, 2011, DRM-free) | ||
| Cingular / AT&T Mobile Music | Cingular Wireless (AT&T from 2007) | None of its own — sideloading from Napster, Yahoo! Music and eMusic; XM streaming at $8.99/month | Windows Media DRM sideloads (PlaysForSure-compatible handsets); MP3 from eMusic | not established | Purchases lived with the partner stores — Yahoo! Music Unlimited shut its DRM key servers in 2008 and moved customers to Rhapsody | The iPhone and iTunes, carried by AT&T itself from 2007 | ||
| Amp'd Mobile | Amp'd Mobile, Inc. — an MVNO on Verizon's network | not established | not established | The network and its content store went dark at midnight into , two months after the Chapter 11 filing; no arrangement for purchased content appears in the record | Nothing — subscribers were pointed to Prexar Mobile, itself defunct by 2008 | |||
| Helio | Helio — an SK Telecom / EarthLink joint venture, MVNO on Sprint | (service); music store | $1.99 over the air / $0.99 by PC, with free sideload back to the phone | not established | — Virgin Mobile ended the former Helio postpaid service | not established | Virgin Mobile USA, which bought Helio for $39 million in stock in 2008 | |
| O2 Active / O2 Music (UK) | O2 | Over-the-air downloads from 2003; converged full-track store announced | £1.00 for the 2005 Andy Cato exclusives — two DRM-free tracks a week; store pricing promised "in line with current pricing" | Windows Media downloads via the Loudeye/OD2 platform | not established | not established | O2 set aside the own-store model when it took UK iPhone exclusivity, announced | |
| Vodafone live! | Vodafone Group | (portal); full-track downloads from | not established | not established | 2009 — portal replaced by Vodafone 360; 360 itself scrapped at the end of 2011 | not established | Vodafone 360 (2009–2011) | |
| Orange Music / Music Player | Orange | — the Chaoticom-built "Music Player"; 203,000 full tracks sold in October 2007 | not established | not established | not established | not established | not established | |
| 3 MusicStore | Hutchison 3G (3) | not established — music services were live in all nine 3 markets by , per 3's own claim | not established | not established | not established | not established | not established | |
| T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox | T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) | Announced ; Mobile Jukebox rolled out from in five markets; Robbie Williams exclusives from 2005 | £1.50/€1.50 per 90–120-second clip at launch; £1.00 per dual-download full track (UK, 2007) | AAC copy to the phone plus a Windows Media DRM copy to the PC | not established | not established | not established | |
| KDDI Chaku-uta | KDDI (au); content from Label Mobile, the major labels' joint venture, later RecoChoku | ¥85–105 per clip plus packet charges — about ¥150 all-in | Song-clip ringtones downloaded to the handset; copy-protection details not established | — RecoChoku ended Chaku-uta downloads | not established | RecoChoku's smartphone and PC store | ||
| KDDI Chaku-uta Full | KDDI (au), via Label Mobile / RecoChoku | ~¥300 — close to US$3 per full song | Full songs over 3G direct to the handset; DRM details not established | — ended alongside Chaku-uta | not established | LISMO Music Store extended purchases to PCs from 2006; then smartphone-era stores | ||
| NTT DoCoMo full-track downloads / Uta-hodai | NTT DoCoMo | — Chaku-Uta Full via i-mode; Uta-hodai flat-rate subscription from 2007 | ~¥300 (about $2.70) per song at launch | i-mode downloads; 904i-series handsets added Windows Media Audio support | not established | not established | not established | |
| China Mobile ringback tones | China Mobile | not established — 40,000,000 subscribers by mid-2005, per period reporting | not established | Network-side ringback audio — the tone plays from the operator's servers, and no file reaches the buyer's handset | Still running — video ringback tones added from 2018 | Nothing to strand: subscribers rented a tone on the network side rather than owning a file | Video ringback tones, from 2018 | |
| Nokia Music Store / OD2 chain | Nokia — platform lineage OD2 (1999) → Loudeye (2004) → Nokia (2006) | Announced ; first store live autumn 2007 | €1.00 per track, €10 per album | WMA with Windows Media DRM at launch; catalogue and re-downloads DRM-free MP3 by early 2011 | 2016-03 — the chain's last form, MixRadio, closed (announced ); Ovi Music Unlimited had been dropped in 27 markets in | Earlier WMA purchases could be re-downloaded as DRM-free MP3s during the Ovi-era switch | MixRadio streaming, sold to Line in 2014 and closed in 2016 | |
| Jamster / Jamba | Jamba GmbH, Berlin (founded 2000); VeriSign from 2004 ($273M); News Corp majority from 2006 ($187.5M) | 2000, as Jamba | Subscription-first: "free" ringtone offers rolling into weekly club charges — the UK's ASA upheld 298 complaints and restricted the TV ads to post-9pm on | Ringtones, truetones and wallpapers billed by premium SMS | not established | not established | not established |
Two of the emptier rows above rest on what the record at this very address preserved. The Internet Archive's captures of the 2005 Mobile Music Blog — the industry weblog that lived at mobilemusicblog.com before this publication — hold period figures the companies themselves no longer publish:
"3 Says 30 Million Music Downloads — But…" · The Mobile Music Blog · 2005-06-16 · 3's claim of 30 million "full version music clips" mixed full tracks, videos, truetones and ringbacks
"Asia's Mobile Music Market" · The Mobile Music Blog · 2005-08-08 · China Mobile: 40,000,000 ringback-tone subscribers, via Variety
The industry exited in nine dated closures
Nine of the eighteen rows carry a documented closing date. Set end to end, they are the industry's exit:
- Still true
- Music bought from the iTunes Music Store in 2003 still plays, DRM-free since 2009; China Mobile still sells ringback tones, in video form since 2018.
- Shut down / gone
- Nine stores with dated closures, from the ROKR's 2006 withdrawal to RecoChoku's 2016 chaku-uta cut-off. Amp'd's store died with its network; Verizon deleted undownloaded V CAST purchases in 2013.
- Actively wrong
- The era's implication that "buy" meant "keep": V CAST purchases left undownloaded after 2013-06-30 were permanently deleted with no refunds or credits, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited's DRM keys went dark in 2008.
- Not established
- Closing dates for seven rows (O2, Orange, 3, T-Mobile Jukebox, DoCoMo, Jamster, AT&T Mobile Music); most launch prices outside the US and Japan; and nearly every answer to "what happened to purchases" in Europe — the column stays open.
Sources
Every dated cell was checked on 2026-08-14 against the press releases, regulator adjudications, securities filings and archived period reporting listed below, row by row.
- iTunes Music Store — Apple press release, 2003-04-28, launch, $0.99 pricing and catalogue, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2003/04/28Apple-Launches-the-iTunes-Music-Store/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- iTunes Music Store — NBC News, 2007, iTunes Plus DRM-free launch and the 30-cent upgrade path, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18944841, accessed 2026-08-14.
- iTunes Music Store — Macworld, January 2009, the whole catalogue going DRM-free, https://www.macworld.com/article/194277/itunestore.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- ROKR / iTunes mobile — Apple, Motorola and Cingular joint press release, 2005-09-07, launch, PC-side purchase model and the 100-song limit, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/09/07Apple-Motorola-Cingular-Launch-Worlds-First-Mobile-Phone-with-iTunes/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- ROKR / iTunes mobile — MacRumors, 2006-01-31, the SLVR L7 taking the iTunes-phone slot at Cingular, https://www.macrumors.com/2006/01/31/motorola-slvr-l7-from-cingular-itunes/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- ROKR / iTunes mobile — GSMArena flashback, the E1's withdrawal after weak sales, https://www.gsmarena.com/flashback_the_motorola_rokr_e1_was_a_dud_but_it_paved_the_way_for_the_iphone-news-38934.php, accessed 2026-08-14.
- V CAST Music — Verizon Wireless press release, 2006-01-11, launch date of 2006-01-16, $1.99/$0.99 pricing, Windows Media DRM via PacketVideo, https://www.verizon.com/about/news/vzw/2006/01/pr2006-01-11, accessed 2026-08-14.
- V CAST Music — Microsoft press release, 2006-01-05, Windows Media platform and DRM for V CAST Music, https://news.microsoft.com/2006/01/05/verizon-wireless-chooses-microsoft-windows-media-to-power-its-new-v-cast-music-service/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- V CAST Music — NBC News, 2006, native MP3 playback disabled on V CAST Music handsets, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna10780287, accessed 2026-08-14.
- V CAST Music — Verizon Wireless press release, 2008-06-30, the Rhapsody rebuild of the store, https://www.verizon.com/about/news/vzw/2008/06/pr2008-06-30c, accessed 2026-08-14.
- V CAST Music — Verizon support notice preserved on Verizon's community forum: discontinuation 2012-08-08, re-downloads until 2013-06-30, then permanent deletion with no refunds or credits, https://community.verizon.com/t5/My-Verizon-outdated/Changes-deleted-options-and-soon-to-be-deleted-options/td-p/454620, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Sprint Music Store — The Washington Post, 2005-11-01, launch, $2.50 over-the-air price and the dual-copy WMA locker, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2005/11/01/sprint-branches-into-music-with-phone-downloads/ca8fe46f-6b1f-4ad2-b983-1500291a6da8/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Sprint Music Store — Billboard, 2005, the first US over-the-air download store, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/sprint-launches-first-wireless-download-service-1404058/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Sprint Music Store — AppleInsider, 2007-03-26, the cut to 99-cent over-the-air downloads, https://appleinsider.com/articles/07/03/26/sprint_challenges_iphone_with_99_cent_over_the_air_music_downloads, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Sprint Music Store — Engadget, 2011-04-12, Sprint Music Plus (RealNetworks) superseding the store, https://www.engadget.com/2011-04-12-sprint-music-plus-app-gives-users-yet-another-mobile-jam-portal.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Cingular / AT&T Mobile Music — Tech Monitor, November 2006, launch with Napster, Yahoo! and XM at $8.99/month, https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/cingular_wireless_launches_mobile_music_subscription_service, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Cingular / AT&T Mobile Music — Napster Inc. Form 8-K exhibit, SEC EDGAR, 2006, the Cingular partnership, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001122787/000114420406045951/v056861_ex99-1.htm, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Cingular / AT&T Mobile Music — Opensource.com's DRM history, Yahoo! Music Unlimited's 2008 DRM-server shutdown and Rhapsody migration, https://opensource.com/life/11/11/drm-graveyard-brief-history-digital-rights-management-music, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Cingular / AT&T Mobile Music — Apple press release, 2007-01-09, the iPhone announcement with Cingular/AT&T, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2007/01/09Apple-Reinvents-the-Phone-with-iPhone/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Amp'd Mobile — The Hollywood Reporter, July 2007, the shutdown, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ampd-mobile-closes-up-shop-144811/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Amp'd Mobile — InfoWorld, 2007, the December 2005 launch and the collapse, https://www.infoworld.com/article/2642668/amp-d-is-latest-mobile-niche-casualty.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Amp'd Mobile — The Daily Reporter, 2007-06-05, the Chapter 11 filing of 2007-06-01, https://dailyreporter.com/2007/06/05/amp8217d-mobile-files-chapter-11/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Helio — Engadget, 2007-02-06, Helio Music launch and $1.99/$0.99 pricing, https://www.engadget.com/2007/02/06/helio-music-launches/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Helio — TechCrunch, 2007-02-06, the over-the-air store and PC client, https://techcrunch.com/2007/02/06/helio-jumps-on-the-music-downloading-bandwagon/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Helio — Forbes, 2008-06-27, the Virgin Mobile acquisition for $39 million in stock, https://www.forbes.com/2008/06/27/helio-virgin-mobile-tech-wire-cx_ew_0627helio.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Helio — PhoneArena, 2010, Virgin Mobile ending the former Helio postpaid service on 2010-05-25, https://www.phonearena.com/news/Virgin-Mobile-USA-says-bye-bye-to-their-postpaid-Helio-service_id9952, accessed 2026-08-14.
- O2 — O2 press release (Virgin Media O2 archive), the full-track O2 Music Service announcement, over-the-air downloads since 2003 and the Loudeye negotiations, https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/archive/o2-to-take-full-track-music-download-to-the-next-level/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- O2 — Internet Archive capture of The Mobile Music Blog's July 2005 archive, the Andy Cato deal: two exclusive DRM-free tracks a week at £1, as reported from the Guardian and BBC, https://web.archive.org/web/20051023130131/http://www.mobilemusicblog.com:80/2005/07/index.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- O2 — Mobile Europe archive on the OD2 download chain, https://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/4696/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- O2 — Apple press release, 2007-09-18, O2 as exclusive UK iPhone carrier, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2007/09/18Apple-Chooses-O2-as-Exclusive-Carrier-for-iPhone-in-UK/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Vodafone live! — Vodafone Portugal press release, 2002-11, the 2002-10-24 eight-country launch, https://www.vodafone.pt/en/press-releases/2002/11/vodafone-live-a-revolutionary-new-concept-in-mobile-communications.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Vodafone live! — Vodafone Portugal press release, 2006-05-15, full-track downloads "launched by Vodafone in November 2004", https://www.vodafone.pt/en/press-releases/2006/5/vodafone-launches-innovative-music-service-in-portugal.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Vodafone live! — Light Reading, 2011-10-19, Vodafone 360's September 2009 launch as live!'s successor and its scrapping at the end of 2011, https://www.lightreading.com/business-management/vodafone-ditches-360, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Orange — Mobile Europe, Orange UK's Chaoticom "Music Player" launching 2004-07-01, https://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/2565/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Orange — Tech Digest, November 2007, 203,000 full-track downloads in October 2007, https://www.techdigest.tv/2007/11/orange_uk_revea.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- 3 MusicStore — Internet Archive capture of The Mobile Music Blog, 2005-06-16, 3's claim of 30 million "full version music clips" across nine markets and what the figure mixed together, https://web.archive.org/web/20051225040608/http://www.mobilemusicblog.com/2005/06/3_says_30_milli.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- 3 MusicStore — Mobile News, "Decade of Three", 3's claimed 75% share of UK mobile music retail at the end of 2005, https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/features/article/decade-of-three-the-uks-ugly-duckling-reaches-10/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox — The Register, 2004-06-29, the Ear Phones / Mobile Jukebox announcement, £1.50/€1.50 per 90–120-second clip, handsets on sale the following month in five markets, https://www.theregister.com/2004/06/29/t-mobile_music_service, accessed 2026-08-14.
- T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox — Marketing Week, 2005, the Robbie Williams partnership and branded handset, https://www.marketingweek.com/t-mobile-unveils-a-robbie-williams-branded-handset/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox — Tech Digest, July 2007, the UK dual-download store at £1 per track, https://www.techdigest.tv/2007/07/tmobile_launche_8.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox — Mobile Industry Review, 2008-06-03, AAC-to-phone plus Windows Media DRM-to-PC dual downloads and the album catalogue, https://www.mobileindustryreview.com/t-mobile_launch_mobile_jukebox/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta — Japan Inc. Mobile Media Watch no. 36, 2002-12-18, the December 2002 debut, ¥85–105 pricing plus packet charges, and Label Mobile as supplier, https://www.japaninc.com/mmw36, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta — Telecompaper, the 100-million-download milestone, https://www.telecompaper.com/news/one-hundred-million-downloads-for-chaku-uta-service--454287, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta and Chaku-uta Full — ARAMA! Japan, 2016, RecoChoku ending Chaku-uta and Chaku-uta Full downloads on 2016-12-15, https://aramajapan.com/news/recochoku-reveals-its-best-selling-artists-and-songs-ever-and-announces-service-changes/68367/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta Full — KDDI news release, 2006-05-24, the November 2004 launch, 50 million downloads by 2006-05-20, and the LISMO Music Store PC extension, https://www.kddi.com/english/corporate/news_release/2006/0524/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta Full — Billboard, the 200-million-download milestone, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/japans-chaku-uta-reaches-200m-download-milestone-1308793/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- KDDI Chaku-uta Full — Japan Inc. Mobile Media Watch no. 101, full-song downloads at close to US$3.00, https://www.japaninc.com/mmw101, accessed 2026-08-14.
- NTT DoCoMo — Billboard, 2006, DoCoMo becoming the third Japanese carrier with full-song downloads on 2006-06-07, via Label Mobile's Chaku-Uta Full sites on i-mode, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/ntt-docomo-presses-button-on-mobile-downloads-1353607/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- NTT DoCoMo — CIO / IDG News Service, 2006-05-11, the announcement and the roughly ¥300 ($2.70) per-song price, https://www.cio.com/article/2446571/ntt-docomo-to-launch-music-download-service.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- NTT DoCoMo — NTT DoCoMo press release, 2007-04-23, the 904i series with Uta-hodai flat-rate full-track downloads and WMA support, https://www.docomo.ne.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2007/001335.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- China Mobile — Internet Archive capture of The Mobile Music Blog, 2005-08-08, 40 million ringback-tone subscribers as reported from Variety, https://web.archive.org/web/20051023131656/http://www.mobilemusicblog.com:80/2005/08/asias_mobile_mu.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- China Mobile — TelcoBridges technical documentation, ringback tones as network-side audio, https://docs.telcobridges.com/wiki/Ringback_tones, accessed 2026-08-14.
- China Mobile — Huawei WinWin, video ringback tones at China Mobile from July 2018, https://www.huawei.com/en/huaweitech/publication/winwin/33/video-crbt-became-an-important-calling-card-for-yunnan, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Nokia Music Store / OD2 — Nokia press release via GlobeNewswire, 2007-08-29, the store announcement, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2007/08/29/1848727/0/en/The-Nokia-Music-Store-your-music-your-way.html, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Nokia Music Store / OD2 — MIT Technology Review / AP, 2007-08-29, €1 per track and €10 per album with all four major labels, https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/08/29/271422/finlands-nokia-unveils-music-downloads-internet-services-gadgets/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Nokia Music Store / OD2 — GSMArena, January 2011, Ovi Music Unlimited dropped in 27 markets with DRM named as the reason, https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_kills_ovi_music_unlimited_says_drm_is_the_reason-news-2229.php, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Nokia Music Store / OD2 — All About Symbian, the completed switch to DRM-free with re-download of earlier purchases as MP3, http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/12097_Ovi_Music_completing_switch_to.php, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Nokia Music Store / OD2 — Music Ally, 2016-02-16, Line shutting MixRadio, https://musically.com/2016/02/16/line-to-shut-down-mixradio-streaming-service/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Jamster / Jamba — Billboard, the Samwer brothers and Jamba's Berlin founding, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/samwer-bros-split-jamba-1401826/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Jamster / Jamba — VeriSign investor release, 2006, the News Corporation joint venture and the 2004 acquisition, https://investor.verisign.com/news-releases/news-release-details/news-corporation-and-verisign-announce-joint-venture-create, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Jamster / Jamba — Campaign, News Corp's $187.5M controlling stake, https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/news-corp-pays-1875m-ringtone-firm-jamba/592021, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Jamster / Jamba — The Media Leader, the ASA's 2005-09-21 adjudication: 298 complaints upheld, post-9pm restriction on Jamster advertising, https://uk.themedialeader.com/asa-dishes-out-pre-watershed-ban-on-crazy-frog/, accessed 2026-08-14.
- Jamster / Jamba — Pinsent Masons Out-Law, 2005, the ASA ruling and the failed injunction against publication, https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/crazy-frog-punished-by-advertising-watchdog, accessed 2026-08-14.