For anyone who has a BlackBerry 7 device this news may not be that big of a deal seeing how the Music Store app came pre-loaded on your device, whether you saw the icon or not it was there and installed. For those without a BlackBerry 7 device though, the Music Store app has been in the BlackBerry Beta Zone for a while and now has moved on to being publicly available for download through BlackBerry App World.

Despite it being preloaded on BlackBerry 7 devices, those of you who tried out the app may have found that it was either not supported in your country (This app, only has support for Canada and Australia) or even got an error message stating it was disabled by your administrator. If you fit into that area, then the newly released version is the one you'll want to get your hands on. You see, Amazon MP3 powered the old version where the new version is essentially a front-end for the 7Digital music store but it's much more then that when you consider a few things.

For a while now, I griped about the inconsistency of a music market place on the PlayBook and BlackBerry 7 smartphones due to the fact the PlayBooks music store was powered by 7Digital but BlackBerry 7 devices were powered by Amazon MP3. As such, any music you purchased on your PlayBook wasn't easily retrieved on your BlackBerry smartphone. You could get it, but it was through the 7Digital app, which has a totally different icon and is a totally different download. Some folks, may not have ever even known there was a 7Digital app or site and went on thinking their purchased music was stuck on their PlayBook.

With the BlackBerry Music store now available as a separate download, being powered by 7Digital (like the PlayBooks music store) RIM finally has some convergence happening and almost a complete music ecosystem. Files bought on your PlayBook can be retrieved on your smarphone and vice-versa as they are both on the same system now. BBM Music is of course the last remaining piece of the puzzle since; music you purchase there cannot be accessed outside of BBM Music easily without some digging around (It uses Amazon MP3 still). But that leaves the door open for RIM to port BBM Music over to the PlayBook at some point ideally or come up with a different solution for moving the music about easily.

Download the BlackBerry Music Store app from App World

For those of you out there who may have purchased some music from the 7Digital Music Store, only to of have later picked up a BlackBerry 7 device it may have been a little frustrating to find out the app itself wasn't compatible. You of course could still access the music through the 7Digital website but that wasn't as nice as accessing it direct from your BlackBerry smartphone.

At some point though, in the last few days -- the 7Digital Music Store got enabled for BlackBerry 7 devices even the BlackBerry P'9981 is getting love here. So go ahead, grab the download from BlackBerry App World and discuss the update in the CrackBerry forums.

Download the 7Digital Music Store from BlackBerry App World

Following the announcement of the 7digital Music Store heading to the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Inside BlackBerry Blog has posted up a great video showing off the app. BlackBerry PlayBook Product Manager Ryan Biden takes us on a quick tour of the app on the PlayBook. Much like its handheld counterpart, the 7digital Music Store lets you check out tons of artists and albums and you can easily purchase songs with one click. Any items that have been purchased can instantly be played via the media player on the PlayBook. All of your purchased items are stored in the cloud so you can go back and forth between the PlayBook and your smartphone without a hitch.

We also get a look at the BlackBerry Podcasts app which will be installed on the PlayBook at launch. It looks amazing in its current state and should be fun to play around with. You can search and subscribe to podcats, and when the app is launched it will automatically download the latest episodes. The app handles video, HD video and audio podcasts. Also noted is that you'll be able to use BlackBerry Desktop Manager (as expected) to transfer media to the PlayBook. 

Definitely some great info in the three-minute video so sit back and check it out!

Source: Inside BlackBerry

Looks like our prediction of Research In Motion making SXSW a venue to demo the BlackBerry PlayBook is starting to ring true. Hopefully we'll see some more press releases along the way but in the meantime, some great news for music fans has come out of the press release below. Research In Motion have again teamed up with 7Digital to provide users with a store-front for music purchases only this time on a much larger scale.

Press Release

7digital and RIM Strike a Chord with Music Store on the BlackBerry PlayBook

7digital Music Store to be pre-installed on the BlackBerry PlayBook at launch in the US and Canada with further international roll out in 2011

7digital Music Store lets users browse, preview and purchase tracks from a catalogue of over 13 million MP3s

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM and WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 9, 2011) - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) and 7digital today announced that the 7digital Music Store will come pre-installed(i) on the BlackBerry(R) PlayBook(TM).

The 7digital Music Store will give BlackBerry PlayBook users access to 7digital's catalogue of over 13 million high quality (320kbps) MP3s. BlackBerry PlayBook users will be able to search for tracks, albums and artists and preview tracks before making a purchase. Users can also discover new music through 7digital's recommendation technology. Prices for BlackBerry PlayBook users will match the prices on 7digital.com, with individual tracks and albums priced in a customer's local currency.

Ben Drury, CEO 7digital comments, "We're really excited to be working with RIM to bring the 7digital experience to the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM has created an incredible tablet with premium multimedia features and together we are delivering a truly exceptional music experience for mobile users, offering content that is extremely easy to discover, purchase and use.

"We currently have the largest international footprint of any MP3 digital music seller and we look forward to expanding our business with RIM throughout the year."

"The 7digital Music Store is a perfect complement to the high-performance BlackBerry PlayBook, providing users with fast searches and downloads, and a slick interface that makes it very easy to discover, purchase and enjoy music," said Alistair Mitchell, Vice President, BBM Platform & Integrated Services. "We are thrilled to be working with 7digital to provide BlackBerry PlayBook users with access to an amazing catalog of 13 million tracks."

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet running the 7digital Music Store application will be previewed this week at the South by South West conference in Austin, Texas.

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Kevin first gave us a taste of what 7digital had to offer at WES 2009 and again this year when attended the Mobile World Congress 2010 back in February. In fact, Mike Lazaridis noted that their app was a Super App in his MWC keynote speech. 7digital is one of the leading digital media providers, with over 10 million (fully licensed) tracks in their global catalogue and is continually growing.

Through their 7digital Music Store BlackBerry app, users can easily browse (by artist, tag or album) and buy DRM-free high quality MP3 music. Included in the application is a media player; enabling you to import your playlists and MP3 files. You can also check out the charts, weekly features and new music. The application has been updated to version 1.4.5 and now includes the following:

• New: Support for Torch 9800, Curve 3G 9300 & Pearl 3G 91xx smartphone
• New: Universal search support on OS 6.0
• New: Filter support on Storm series smartphones
• New: Last.fm recommendations on hi-res devices
• New: Launch shortcut from built-in media player
• New: Integrated Sign-up and Add Card screens
• Improved: More featured content on hi-res devices
• Improved: Battery performance on OS 4.6 devices
• Improved: 7digital download performance
• Improved: My Music album art handling

When I get my hands on a Torch 9800, I will be definitely be adding 7digital music right away. You can pick up 7ditigal Music Store, for free, from BlackBerry App World.

• Pick up &digital Music Store for BlackBerry Smartphones >>

Shazam for BlackBerry rolled out version 2.5 last week. Some cool new functions were added to the mix with this release that I'm sure most users can appreciate. Especially, since they work quite nicely from my testing. The rundown of new features is as follows:

• Searching And Launching Of YouTube Videos From Tagged Music.
• In App Ability To "Tweet" Tagged Music To All Of Your Twitter Followers.
• Integrated In App Music Purchases Direct From The 7Digital Music Store.

Since its initial release, Shazam hasn't really seen that many updates or functionality added. So these additions are welcomed ones for sure. You can check out the free or paid versions of Shazam in BlackBerry App World. For me, the 5 tags per month the free version offers is enough but other users may want the unlimited tagging options that Shazam Encore brings. In either case, the free version of Shazam does offer a free 7 day trial to try out the service so you can decide.

• Click Here To Learn More And Download Shazam For BlackBerry Via BlackBerry App World>>

On the first day of Mobile World Congress 2010, 7digital dropped an update to their popular 7digital Music Store for BlackBerry app. I caught up with James Shannon from DevelopIQ, makers of the app, to give us the run down of what's new and improved. You can catch the video above. If video isn't your cup of tea, then here's the Coles Notes on version 1.2:

• New: Last.fm scrobbling support
• New: Last.fm 'now playing' support
• New: BlackBerry Curve 8350i support
• New: Netherlands store & Dutch localisation
• New: Rest of Europe store
• New: 7digital store artist search
• New: 7digital store playback from locker
• New: My Music - Browse Purchased
• New: My Music - Track search
• New: My Music - Add Folder to manual playlist
• New: My Music - Delete Artist/Album/Track
• New: Media card encryption support
• Improved: My Music browsing performance
• Improved: My Locker refresh performance over WiFi
• Improved: Carrier network download performance
• Other minor fixes & improvements 

All in all it's a great upgrade and James says even more is coming in version 1.3. Good stuff, considering this is already one well-built BlackBerry application. If you don't haven't tried the 7digital app yet, be sure to give it a go by downloading it from App World.

• Learn More / Download 7digital Music Store for BlackBerry from App World >>

Without a doubt one of the slickest app previews we saw at WES 2009 was for the 7digital MP3 Music Store for BlackBerry app, built by Develop IQ. The 7digital MP3 Music Store makes it easy to browse, buy and download DRM-free MP3s right to your BlackBerry, and the app is both sexy and smart. Example - if you're in cell coverage, you'll get a low-quality version of the song you want, which will then automatically be replaced by a high-quality version when you're in WiFi.

The 7digital MP3 Music Store for BlackBerry should be ready to download later this month/next month in available markets. Be sure to watch the video above for an excellent overview and lots of details.