A new media format is coming around promising to change the way we listen to music. In the beginning there was the LP; which from the viewpoint of this article, was music in the home. Then we invented the CD; which meant our favourite music could finally accompany us on the move, for the price of carrying a portable cd-player. Now, some of the biggest companies worldwide in the music industry are pushing a new media format that is promising to make music truly mobile: by allowing us to insert and play it on our mobile phones.

Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI Music among others, are aiming to make this new format the new standard, but that sure is a bet to be won. They've named it 'slotMusic', and it means today's LPs will be stored in a microSD card that can be inserted and played back in a number of different devices, addressing rather neatly a prominent problem, such as that of Digital Rights Management(DRM), for today's music. This medium also allows the storage of images, videos and other forms of multimedia on it, like the CD did and does, only the microSD has larger storage capacity. The price is claimed to be similar to that of a CD and slotMusic also comes with a USB adapter for the easy transfer of the device content from the card to a computer or portable MP3 player.

There are already a number of artists who have released their albums in this new medium format, including top artists such as Coldplay, M.I.A., Usher, Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Katy Perry, ABBA, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Keane, amongst others.

Somewhat surprisingly (considering the names behind the move) there are a number of problems with this approach, which in my opinion put the success of the product in much doubt.

• The device might have larger storage capacity, but it still means one album per physical object. This is a BIG problem when you think of the trouble one has to go through to hear a number of different albums, and an even bigger one when you compare to how easy doing that is on other music players.
• It is an extra object the listener has to carry. If I have music stored on my phone, there is no way I can forget it at home when leaving for work every day, except for the case when I forget my mobile -- an unlikely, to say the least, event. With slotMusic however, I would also need an extra carrying case/ bag / container with all my albums -- which I can easily imagine myself forgetting.
  
• Mobile phones, (and by that I mean carriers, operators, artists, etc.) already provide (and have been marketing extensively, might I add: e.g. see what Nokia is doing with their music store) the capability of downloading music onto the phone. This approach, like all things online, offers much greater availability, ease-of-access and combined with the built-in music player that allows you to switch between albums instantly, really puts up a challenge for slotMusic.
  

I think slotMusic will really have to prove itself to catch on. I can't see it becoming the next big thing, but the reason I find this whole story more interesting is because it only goes to show that our life style, and way of living seems to be changing globally into the mobile realm. The trend is becoming 'everything mobile' and it's growing; fast.