Mobile entertainment provider Thumbplay has forged a deal with Cellular South to give the wireless carrier?s customers direct access to the new cloud-based Thumbplay Music service.

As a result of the partnership, Cellular South customers can get unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs directly from their handsets and they will be able to download the Thumbplay Music application from Cellular South?s Discover Center Web site. The service will be rolled out soon on Android and BlackBerry smartphones.

?Cellular South and Thumbplay have had a relationship for mobile music dating back to September 2008,? said Greg Pruitt, manager of consumer products for Cellular South, Meadville, MS. ?This new client extends that relationship from ringtones and wallpapers to full-track titles.

?At Cellular South, we like to bring to our customers content that we think is innovative, relevant and meets our customers? interest,? he said. ?Thumbplay Music does that.?

Thumbplay Music has more than 8 million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 35,000 independent labels and comes with a free three-day trial. Subscriptions are available for $9.99 a month.

Recent industry research shows that more consumers than ever are using their mobile devices to download and listen to music.

A recent comScore study revealed that listening to music is the third fastest growing use of mobile phones in the United States. 

Thumbplay Music includes its own in-application media player.

?Thumbplay Music is unique in that it allows the end users to pick the specific titles they wish to hear in the order they wish to hear it, unlike other players that play music by genre or artist in developer-selected order. ? Mr. Pruitt said.

?It?s like having your own commercial-free private radio station which you as the end user are the program manager,? he said ?It?s just one more example of  Cellular South bringing relevant, useful, innovative and affordable content to its customers.?

Other features include:

? Unlimited, on-demand access to any artist or album, with millions of songs to choose from

? Users can build a personal music collection with Favorites and Playlist creation; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac

? Online and offline access: No connection? No problem. Listen to music on the subway or in-flight.  Available anytime, anywhere

? Genie for music discovery: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs

? Search: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs

? Import existing iTunes playlists within Thumbplay Music?s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac

"In terms of broadening and expanding access to our cloud-based on-demand music service, partnering with Cellular South is an important step for Thumbplay,? said Jeff Carr, executive vice president of Thumbplay, New York.

?We are thrilled to be able to offer direct access to Thumbplay Music to their substantial and loyal wireless subscriber base,? he said.