MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY: 7digital launches early digital music store for Windows 8, available now on Preview version

By Mat Smith  posted Jul 24th 2012 8:15AM

Digital music store 7digital has announced that it's launching a Windows 8-based version -- and you can even shop around on the preview iteration, ahead of the operating system's October launch date. The store will offer up 20 million tracks, with your account still working across the existing platforms, including the recent Windows Phone version. This preview app, which runs on both the desktop and metro versions, also includes 7digital's music discovery service and 30-second previews of all its content. If you've already invested into 7digital's music library, then you can start syncing your collection to your experimental Windows 8 devices starting today. The music-seller also promises "further refinements" ahead of Microsoft's big launch.
Show full PR text7digital releases first digital music store on Windows 8
7digital application provides Windows 8 users with access to 20 million high quality music tracks
Newest addition to 7digital's mobile offering will capitalise on the millions of anticipated Windows 8 devices coming to market
The 7digital music store is available worldwide to anyone currently previewing Windows 8.
London, UK, 24th July 2012 – 7digital, the leading digital media company, today announced the availability of a music application for the Windows 8 operating system, ahead of the full launch in October.
The 7digital Music Store application, available from the Windows Store Preview, is an early preview that will be further refined ahead of the Windows 8 release. 7digital is the first digital music store to be made available worldwide on the Windows 8 platform.
The application has been developed as part of 7digital's platform agnostic mobile strategy, providing consumers with access to their music collection across all devices. The application has been designed to work on both the desktop and tablet (Metro) versions of Windows 8, and provides users with a single, unified interface for music discovery and purchase across all their Windows 8 devices.
Users will have access to 7digital's entire catalogue of 20 million high quality digital music tracks, can search through 7digital's catalogue for favourite artists and tracks, or discover new music based on 7digital's recommendation technology. 30 second previews of all tracks are available before purchase, and purchased music is automatically added to a user's cloud-based 7digital Locker for access on other devices or through a web browser.
Existing 7digital users will be able to automatically sync and download all tracks and albums in their 7digital Locker to a Windows 8 device, once the application has been installed. Favourite artists and albums can also be 'pinned' to the Windows 8 UI and shared with friends.
Ben Drury, CEO of 7digital comments "The potential of Windows 8 is huge. Microsoft's renewed commitment to the tablet space, and development of the Surface hardware, means there could be millions of devices in the market by the end of next year. We believe this offers us a significant market opportunity as a digital music provider.
"The heart of our digital strategy is providing a platform agnostic music store that does not tie users to a single device or operating system; we have apps for Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and iOS already available. Developing the Windows 8 application early means we're ideally placed to become the default digital music store for newly purchased desktops and tablets, and compatible across all other platforms. We're also ensuring our existing customers can access their tracks and albums, and purchase new music, as soon as they buy or upgrade to Windows 8."
The 7digital Music Store application is available globally from the Windows Store Preview for users testing the current Windows 8 build. The application is available worldwide, and is compatible with x86, x64 and ARM based devices.