Nokia is today launching its Music Store service on two handsets - the N81 and N95.

You can access the store using one of those handsets or your desktop computer providing you are running Windows XP or Vista and Internet Explorer 6 or above.

Tracks cost 80p each or £8 for an album. You can also get streamed music for £8 a month. Questions remain as to how Nokia can extract money directly from subscribers without upsetting the operators who view subscribers as their source of revenue.

Vodafone is also aiming to steal Apple's and O2's thunder ahead of the iPhone launch in the UK, but using a very different approach.

Rather than downloading music, customers will get access to a streaming* service which launches today. MusicStation offers unlimited streaming for £1.99 a week. The service will be provided by Omnifone and will work on most Vodafone handsets.

Coming just before O2's 9 November iPhone launch, both services are being seen as pre-emptive attacks on the arrival of the iPhone.

More from Nokia, as long as you're running IE6, here or Vodafone's press release is here.

Bootnote: Omnifone got in touch to clarify this - the music is downloaded to your phone and you get access to it for as long as you are subscribed to the service.®

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