A subscription-based music and video service for home has been launched, including Big 4 major label assets. Sony Music is debuting their streaming called Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity along with partners Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. The service has been available in several European countries, inluding Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Today marks the launch of the service in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Music Unlimited allows the major labels to sell subscriptions to streaming music directly to their customers, giving them more control over revenue as the industry battles piracy and declining sales. The service boasts over 6 million songs plus streaming SD, HD and 3D movie rentals. The video content will be available on multiple devices including PlayStation 3, Blu-ray players, Bravia televisions, PCs and Google’s Android OS with a subscription cost $3.99 per month and a 30 day period. From PC World : Also Sony needs to get the service onto the PSP and Android devices ASAP (both are planned). It'd be great to have it on iOS too. I can't imagine Apple approving a Music Unlimited app but they ought to be able to make a web-based version that ditches Flash for HTML5. And speaking of apps, how about one for Windows and OS X? The browser-based interface works fine, but a small app that could minimize to the task bar or dock would be very much appreciated. On the PS3 it'd be really great if we could use Music Unlimited as in-game music. There're a lot of these music streaming services available or coming soon (rumor says Google's music service will launch with the Motorola Xoom, and Spotify should be arriving in the US soon) and it's hard to see how Sony will make Music Unlimited stand out enough to justify its $10/month price. Sony, how about making the Basic tier free and charging $5/month for the Premium version? Do that and maybe you can grab some market share. A discount on Music Unlimited Premium would also make a nice Playstation Plus perk. [video]http://www.viddler.com/explore/sceablog/videos/1611/[/video] [video]http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/sony-launches-music-subscription-service-in-us/803167A5-4F65-46F1-9E3F-BDDE09C8296E[/video]
I have had a few days to play with this service and all I can say is too bad it launched in 2011. It's too little, too late, too costly. The sound quality is really great playing through decent speakers. The problem is, I have years (and years) of data logged into another cloud-based music website. The music recommendations engine of Qriocity is a bit simple. I listen to a bit of Pet Shop Boys and Erasure and then started listening to the 90's channel. The 90s channel played "re-recorded/re-mastered" versions of 80's hits. LOL. Not cool. I suppose over time, it would get better, but that seems like a no-brainer to me.
