Are you ready to start downloading music to your phone?

Verizon Wireless and its competitors certainly hope so. Verizon launched its V Cast Music store last month, just a few months after Sprint Nextel became the first wireless carrier to do so.

Wireless carriers are banking on the fact that consumers won't want to carry around two devices--a mobile phone and an MP3 player--when a phone can do both.

On the evening of his keynote speech at the iHollywood Forum Music 2.0 conference in Los Angeles, MP3.com News sat down with Ted Casey, head of mobile music for Verizon, to talk about the state of the mobile music business and his company's chances of coming out on top.

MP3.com: Let's start with a general one. How far down the mobile music road are we right now, percentage-wise? Are consumers seeing 25 percent of the possibilities of mobile music, more or less?

Ted Casey: Digital music has been in the marketplace for about 10 years now. Mobile music, including ringtones, has been in the marketplace for about seven years. I think you will continue to see rapid innovation and new functionality that expands the options for music consumers.

Today, Verizon Wireless provides a mobile music experience that is more advanced than anything else in the marketplace--the first end-to-end, integrated, downloading, and side-loading mobile music service--the most comprehensive in the world. Certainly innovation will continue, and the mobile music experience will only get better over time.

MP3.com: Why are you convinced that consumers will pay $1.99 a song on your service when they can get it cheaper elsewhere?

TC: V Cast Music offers consumers two options. You can purchase songs for $.99 through the PC and sync, or "sideload" them over to your phone, or you can purchase two copies of the song, one directly downloaded to your phone and another downloaded to your PC for $1.99. It's important to offer consumers choice and weve done that. We're seeing interest in both options, with unique benefits in the direct-to-phone downloads because they offer immediate satisfaction and a simpler process than downloading to the PC to sync to portable devices.

MP3.com: One of the major selling points from mobile phone-based music services is that almost everyone already has a phone, and this would prevent a user from having to carry multiple gadgets. Correct? What would that pitch be?

TC: Music has had a place on the phone for several years now, starting with ringtones and last year with V Cast Music Videos. V Cast Music resonates with our customers for three main reasons. First, customers enjoy the simplicity of direct downloads to their phones--no need to locate and plug in a USB cable; one less device to carry with them; one less device to charge at night, etc. Second, customers find the immediacy of direct downloads to their phones wherever they are, whenever they want music to be an important differentiator. In the mobile lives we are all increasingly living, we fundamentally aren't near a PC all of the time, and music enthusiasts no longer have to wait until they find a PC to discover and download new music.

Finally, we are developing much more than a music download experience. We are developing a 360-degree music experience--from previewing clips, viewing album art, setting up artist alerts, and downloading full songs to your phone, to viewing music videos and exclusive live performances on V Cast Performances, and of course personalizing your wireless service with True Tones and Ringback Tones. V Cast Music lets Verizon customers surround themselves with their favorite artists and songs.

MP3.com: What's the biggest kink in the V Cast Music service so far?

TC: I've been in the technology and digital media industries for 15 years. V Cast Music is a very strong service offering that I think raises the bar for what the digital music experience should be. It is operating smoothly, customer response has been very positive, and we continue to invest heavily to make music a key differentiator for Verizon Wireless.

MP3.com: Aside from the lower price point, what is the primary distinction of V Cast Music over the Sprint Music Store?

TC: V Cast Music is a complete end-to-end music experience. One area of distinction from other offerings in the mobile space is that V Cast Music offers a complete music store on the PC as well as the mobile handset, allowing users to search, browse, preview, and purchase clips on the PC as well as the handset. Customers can purchase complete albums on the PC, where it makes less sense to offer than from the mobile handset. V Cast Music is also the first music service for mobile that supports Microsoft's PlaysForSure, and allows the syncing of music from any PlaysForSure-compatible music store through the PC to the handset.

MP3.com: How about in comparison to the Amp'd music offering?

TC: I have not seen or used the Amp'd music offering. Amp'd has an impressive team, is developing an innovative service offering, and is a strong partner of Verizon Wireless--they are relying on our data and voice network to offer their service.

MP3.com: Is there enough room in the market for all of these services, along with streaming services like iRadio and portable satellite radio services from XM and Sirius? What do you say to the consumer who is wary about future consolidation in the industry?

TC: There are certainly a lot of companies chasing after customers in digital music these days. Ultimately there will be consolidation in the marketplace. I am confident Verizon Wireless is very well positioned in this space, because of its 50 million customers, reputation as the nation's most reliable network, lowest customer attrition in the industry, and our work to deliver the best-in-class mobile music offering.

MP3.com: And will mobile music eat into or complement the existing digital music market? Why?

TC: A popular question many people ask me is "Do I still need my iPod?" I believe that over time you will see more and more customers asking themselves that question and embracing the benefits of mobile music over what we've known as "portable music" in the past few years. I believe that wireless changes the music experience for customers forever in several important ways, as we have discussed, and I am seeing a growing interest in mobile music from customers.