November 9, 2005 7:27

Second iTunes phone unveiled

An alternative to the iPod could be out in time for Xmas

A new Motorola mobile phone due out before the end of the year will be able to play iTunes tracks.

The Razr V3i is only the second handset to play iTunes following the unveiling of the Rokr iTunes mobile by Apple and Motorola in San Francisco back in September.

Songs from the Rokr handset, which can hold a maximum of 100 tracks, can only be downloaded from a PC or Mac and software supplied with the phone synchronises it with iTunes software running on a companion machine.

A dedicated button on the phone takes users to the music playing menu which looks and works like its equivalent on iPods.

Apple and Motorola are not the first companies to unveil handsets that can play music.

Many handsets already have basic media players on board and store many tracks on high-capacity memory cards.