Creative to Launch Music Video Store

Singapore based Creative on Thursday announced it had joined forces with Soundbuzz to launch the Soundbuzz Music Video Store. Creative hopes that the creation of the store will help drive sales of its new Zen Vision player as well as future video-enabled portable players.

Although Apple was thought to be moving towards the medium, Creative says that it's always had its eyes on music videos.

"We've always seen music videos on-the-go as the next big thing in digital entertainment," Joseph Liow, General Manager of Creative Labs Asia, said in a statement. "As the feasibility of distributing music videos has grown, so too has our diligence in pioneering portable media players with extraordinary video capabilities."

The music store has been set for an October release in Singapore, with a Asian release shortly after. No announcement was made as to availability in other markets.

Sony, BMG and EMI have already allowed their artists to appear in the store, which will initially feature 1,000 videos from the likes of Beyonce, Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Craig David. The companies anticipate the remaining labels to sign on by early 2006.

"Music videos are incredibly popular among music fans who are increasingly mobile and want their music with them at all times," Yen Ong, Soundbuzz's Asia general manager said. "It was inevitable that music labels and device manufacturers would look at joining forces to deliver videos to the ever growing ranks of online music purchasers."

Many thought that Apple would be first to the market with a video store to supplement a possible video-enabled iPod. But the Cupertino company still seems to believe that video on a mobile device is still not where it needs to be.

A Wall Street Journal report in July claimed that a video iPod was due in September, however an event on Tuesday instead introduced the iTunes phone and iPod Nano. Also, Steve Jobs has cancelled his keynote in Paris, throwing cold water on any new product announcements there.