Omnifone, the UK-based digital music company, has announced a service which will allow mobile users to download an unlimited number of songs to their phone as part of their monthly plan - and keep them even if they change their contract.

The service, called Music Station Max, will be rolled out in the UK in the first half of the year, and will initially be available on LG phones, though deals with other manufacturers would follow, the company said.

As part of the service, subscribers will be able to download an unlimited number of songs directly to their phone via the 3G network, and then 'sideload' them onto their computer, where they can create playlists and share proferences with friends using Omnifone's software.

If the user chooses to change his or her contract, they can either continue subscribing to an 'unlimited download' service for a monthly fee - similar to the Napster model, or leave the service, in which case a number of the downloaded songs will remain on their phone. The company has not said how many.

Universal, the world's largest record label, has already signed on for the service, Omnifone said, and the three other major labels are also expected to join.

Omnifone has an existing service available on Vodafone - supported by all four major labels - where users pay £1.99 a week for 'all they can eat' music downloads. In that service, tracks that are downloaded are protected by digital rights management software, and disappear from the user's phone when the subscription lapses.

Omnifone has not said which operator it will partner with for the new service.

The move is one of number of so-called 'plug in and go' services, where mobile users are able to access music on their phones as soon as they sign up to a contract, rather than having to go to sites like iTunes to buy tracks.

Nokia has already announced its Comes With Music phone - also based on a partnership with Universal - which is expected to be available in the second half of the year.

'Plug in and go' services are appealing to operators because they mean the latter can build a 'free' music offering into their phone tariffs - thereby increasing the revenues derived from data services. They are also enticing to record companies, which can begin to peg back the losses caused by illegal downloading by licensing their music as a part of a service their customers cannot do without - in this case a phone contract.

The labels are understood to be considering a similar strategy with internet service providers, where 'free music' would come as part of a broadband subscription.

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