With a bit of help from Microsoft, we're going to have another music store for Windows Phone in early 2012. UK based 7digital will debut their music store as a dedicated application on the smartphones in the new year. While many of you might think "but we have the Zune music marketplace", it's worth pointing out the reach of that is just eight countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada, and Australia). 7digital and its 17 million tracks?Thirty five countries.

What can we expect from the store? CEO Ben Drury in the press release:

• Discover
  Users can browse music by genre and new releases as well as search for artist, track or album names. 7digital's top track and album charts are also available
• Preview
  30 to 90 second previews of all tracks are available before purchase
• Purchase
  An in-app store for users to easily browse, purchase and download music straight to their Windows device whilst still listening to their music
• Download
  Tracks will download in a compressed, lower quality format when using a cellular network, for instant listening. When a WiFi connection is available, the purchased track can be upgraded to a full MP3 320kbps quality file
• Sync
  Users can access and synchronise tracks they have stored locally on their device, as well as from their 7digital cloud locker into the 7digital app player
• Listen
  Playlists can be created and managed from within the application.
  

We look forward to the Zune muisc store having more competition - Nokia music is there for some, but 7digital is going to be available across the entire platform. If you can't wait, try out their HTML5 mobile store m.7digital.com, and keep an eye on AAWP for news of the public release.

Hat tip to Engadget, and you can find out more about 7digital on their website.