Microsoft has launched a mobile music download service in the UK that it claims is one of the first in the country to be network independent. The service went live this week as part of Microsoft’s MSN Mobile portal. According to a Mobile News report, around 1 million full-track downloads are available from record labels Sony, EMI and Warner, alongside realtones and music videos. Full music tracks are charged at £1.50, realtones at £3.00 and music videos at £2.00. The service is accessed via a mobile Web browser (by visiting www.msn.co.uk) and Microsoft claims it will work with 130 handsets at launch. The service is based on VidZone Digital Media’s platform.

In a departure from operator-led services, Microsoft said that the service is available to subscribers on any UK mobile network. “This is an exciting proposition that for the first time provides consumers a network agnostic service with a vast array of new and old music from major music labels,” said MSN Mobile UK director Hugh Griffiths. He claimed that the MSN Mobile portal has already become the UK’s largest commercial non-operator mobile portal since its launch a year ago. In separate news, Reuters notes that Microsoft is expected tomorrow to post a quarterly profit that misses its own target and announce thousands of job cuts as the global economic slump hurts even the technology industry’s biggest players.