Nokia Music Streaming App Launched for U.S. Lumia Users

Nokia today announced the launch of Nokia Music, a free streaming service that will be available to U.S. Nokia Lumia smartphone owners.

Nokia said its music service will provide access to more than 150 exclusive playlists curated by a group of U.S.-based "musicologists." Listeners can expect tracks from a range of artists, from the New York Philharmonic to Lady Gaga.

"The USA is the most vibrant and competitive digital music market in the world – by a wide margin," Nokia's vice president of entertainment, Jyrki Rosenberg, said in a statement. "We have worked extra hard to ensure our service meets the expectations of the demanding, active and inspired music fans in the USA."

The ad-free service requires no registration or subscription, and lets music fans create their own soundtracks from a library of millions of songs, which can be accessed offline, without the need to tether the phone to a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. It also provides a "Gig Finder" service, which pinpoints live concerts in the users' local area.

This is not Nokia's first foray into digital music. The phone maker in 2008, but opted to end the service in 27 countries in Jan. 2011. By May 2011, it would ditch the "Ovi" moniker for "Nokia" - Ovi Maps became Nokia maps, for example, and now Ovi Music becomes Nokia Music.

The new app is now available in the Marketplace for and users.