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HTC closing down short-lived Listen music store at the end of October

HTC closing down short-lived Listen music store at the end of October

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HTC Listen, an online music store that was supposed to expand the company's content-provision strategy alongside HTC Watch, is being shuttered at the end of this month. No reasons have been given for the abrupt October 31st end date.

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htc sensation xe
htc sensation xe

HTC Listen, an online music store that was supposed to expand the company's content-provision strategy alongside HTC Watch, is being shuttered at the end of this month. No reasons have been given for the abrupt October 31st end date for the service, though if we had to guess, we'd say the economics of what HTC was trying to do — selling DRM-free tracks and albums — simply weren't working out. Listen never became a particularly well known option for those looking to acquire new music in an already crowded marketplace, so it seems like the company's decided to cut its losses and focus on more successful ventures. Here's hoping its movie-centric Watch video store proves to be among those successes and doesn't follow in the footsteps of its ill-fated online store sibling.

The Sensation 4G on T-Mobile (and regional carriers like Cincinnati Bell) was the only handset to tout the Listen music store in the US, having started shipping in June, so its time on the market has truly been a brief one. Anyone who's bought music from Listen is now advised to download it before the end of October cutoff date.