G-phone, Valentine Sites, Pedal Power and the Whiskey Safari

The way it will work is that the rights owners will make the music available via content aggregators, who, in turn, will stream it to the Timeout store. Customers who are browsing in the store can choose to buy single tracks, or create their own compilations, and have them copied to a portable music player or mobile phone, or burnt on a CD at a small extra cost.

The sweetener? The music will be available at around Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 per song.

Now that certainly sounds competitive in comparison with an iTunes’s 99 cents, but it’s rather steep compared to the Rs. 99 a month that will get you unlimited downloads from Hungama.com (from a library of 200,000+ songs), or the Rs. 50 compilation of 150 MP3 tracks from Sony BMG that a Forbes India staffer picked up in Bangalore.

But all of them can’t compete with the vast sea of bootleg music floating around, which comes at an unbeatable price: Free.

It will certainly be interesting to see whether Reliance Timeout can succeed where so many have failed and actually get people to pay for music.

We, and the world, will be watching.
-  by Nilofer D’Souza

Webhead
Valentine’s Day is coming up. If, unlike certain political parties, all that romance doesn’t drive you nuts, here are a few sites that are all hearts and flowers.

stvalentinesday.org is chock full of historical details on the holiday, including various legends on St. Valentine the man, as rebel or miracle-worker, the gang war slaying on the Valentine Day Massacre, sappy poets from the Middle Ages, and how it’s celebrated across the world today.

If you want a laugh, check out the Love Calculator on hotvalentinesday.com , which will calculate the intensity of love between you and your lover (or wannabe lover), and how long you’ll last.

For the social media savvy, be sure to make someone your Twitter Valentine. The page isn’t up yet, but it’s rumoured that soon you’ll be able to type out a Twitter message to the username of your love (or good friend!) followed by a heart (ie @forbes_india <3). Twitter will ping forbes_india to see if we heart you back, and if you’re lucky, we’ll click on the giant YES.

If you’re hitched, try impressing your husband or wife with tips from holidays.lovingyou.com/valentine/ , including tons of romantic getaways (with or without the kids), and a 14-day lead-up to V-day, which includes Valentine’s e-cards, love coupons, and other suggestions.

Looking for more sensual stuff? At askmen.com/dating/love_tip_200/200_love_tip.html you’ll be surprised by new sex tips that include massage oils, games, and chocolate. We won’t say more; you’ll have to check it out yourself.