CELLPHONE maker Nokia opened possibly the largest online music store here on Tuesday, serving up a catalogue that includes songs from both global acts like U2 and local singer Hady Mirza.

The latest sign that the CD is on the way out, the store lets users download songs to their PC at home or to cellphones over the air.

With a catalogue containing 'millions of songs', it will compete with existing stores from Soundbuzz and StarHub, for years the main sources for online music here.

Users can also use a streaming service that lets them play the entire collection online without downloading the tracks. This costs $16 a month.

Nokia Singapore general manager Grant McBeath said it opened a store here, despite the small market, because users are tech-savvy.

The Singapore store is the second to open in the region, after Australia.

Its aim is to replicate the success of Apple's iTunes store, which has sold four billion songs in five years. iTunes is available in more than 20 countries but not Singapore.

The growth of such stores has been fuelled by digital downloads of songs, which users can transfer directly to an MP3 player or cut into a CD.

In the United States, iTunes has started to outsell major CD retailers like WalMart from the first two months of this year.

Musicians, too, are turning to digital downloads, to stay in step with a new generation of fans bred on the instant gratification offered by the Internet and cellphones.

Madonna, whose first albums were out on cassettes and vinyl records in the 1980s, started selling songs on her latest album Hard Candy via cellphones before the CD hit stores this week.

Nokia's Mr McBeath said its songs will help sell more of its phones, many of which come with music functions like those on MP3 players.