We have removed the "Thumbs down" for the Thumbplay free BlackBerry (Tour, Bold, Pearl and Storm) app available in BlackBerry App World, we gave it, earlier this week.
In general, we are suspicious of Thumbplay because someone on the staff who doesn't want to reveal his/her name was charged for a month of "free ringtones" from Thumbplay. Yes, it said somewhere up or down in the corner that she/he would be charged, but she/he "really wanted the free ringtones."
Thumbplay has been sued in a class action suit which claims that the billing methods used had no "checks and safeguards." to protect consumers' from unauthorized charges on their wireless bills. After that story appeared, we ran a rebuttal after Thumbplay contacted us.
The Thumbplay app is not subscription-based, as a deleted-reviewer in BlackBerry App World suggested, but pay by song-only.
So here's what the PR guy for Thumbplay wrote us regarding how the free Thumbplay BlackBerry app works:
BEGIN QUOTE:
"Thank you for getting back to us. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you directly about the Thumbplay Music Store. In the meantime, following are a few highlights of the app and responses to your questions.
This is a brand new app, featuring DRM-free downloads, and it represents the very first music store on BlackBerry - an absolute win for mobile entertainment users. The app is free-of-charge to download, and once there, users can preview every song...for free.
Every week, a different featured song is available free-of-charge as a bonus for our customers. The songs in the store all have their individual prices listed clearly, most tracks are $0.99 each, some as low as $0.69 and others are $1.29. When users click to purchase, they are asked to sign in, and they are also asked to confirm their purchase.
This confirmation happens every time.
Payment is made via credit card or through PayPal and there is no subscription service with the current offering.
Thumbplay is a highly customer-centric company with an unwavering commitment to providing our loyal customers a great experience and an exceptional product offering.
END QUOTE
Okay, so this free Thumplay BlackBerry app may be worth a try as long a you read the screens before you pay for anything. The free weekly featured-songs are very enticing.
In more Thumbplay news, Thumbplay raised $2 million more in funding. The total money raised by Thumbplay, totals $61 million over the years. An article in mocoNews suggested that the company was hurting because of its business model to which mocoNews published an update/rebuttal in the article.
We'd like to know your experiences with Thumbplay, did a free ringtone buying experience leave a bad taste on your thumbs?
If you are looking for BlackBerry Music Apps that are absolutely free check out these services:
- BlackBerry (Storm Tour) Apps 2Day: Nobex Radio.
- BlackBerry (Storm / Tour ) Updated Apps 2Day: FlyCast Streaming Radio Now with Caching.
- Buy Music from Your BlackBerry Storm with Slacker Radio.
- BlackBerry Apps Today: RealPlayer SP.
BlackBerry Storm Apps and Accessories.
Blackberry Tour News and Reviews.