Nokia said today it has agreed to buy U.S.-based digital music distributor Loudeye Corp. for about $60 million. By acquiring Loudeye, Nokia can offer consumers a comprehensive mobile music experience, including devices, applications and the ability to purchase digital music.

Photo: Nokia to Acquire Loudeye to Boost Mobile-Music Share Photo 1

As the world's No. 1 handset maker seeks to grab a larger share of the growing digital mobile music market, Nokia will be able to leverage Loudeye's 60 live services in over 20 countries and multiple languages across Europe and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Loudeye aggregates rights and content from all the major labels and hundreds of independents and currently offers licensed catalog and complete media for over 1.6 million tracks.

Nokia Nseries multimedia computers represent the next leap forward in personal computing. The multimedia computer offers all the functionalities of a PC and many portable single purpose devices in a connected mobile device that is always with you and always connected. Because multimedia computers have a programmable operating system, people can download and install software applications. Unlike most mobile devices, this means people can add features and applications to their multimedia computers without having to buy a new device.

Tens of millions of Nokia devices have a music player and every Nokia Nseries device incorporates a music player, high memory capacity and an FM radio, as well as support for a wide range of digital music formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA. With the Nokia Nseries, you can quickly and easily find and purchase music over the air and download it to your device from your music store. Or, simply drag and drop your personal music collection from your PC to your Nokia Nseries device or synchronize your recent music purchases with your PC via Bluetooth or USB cable.