Sony Debuts 'Music Unlimited' In The UK

For awhile now we've heard rumors that Sony may be launching their very own music service to compete with Apple iTunes. Today the company finally took the wraps of the new service when they announced the debut of "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity".

The new cloud based digital music service initially launched in the U.K. and Ireland and will eventually be rolled out in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and of course the U.S. by some time next year.

This subscription based service will be priced at £3.99 a month for Basic access, £9.99 for the Premium stuff which gives you full on-demand access to over 6 million tunes. The basic plan works as an ad-free radio station and subscribers can listen to dozens of personalized channels - categorized by genre, era as well as mood through SensMe - without the requirement to download or manage their music files.

The premium subscription plan offers a one time 30 day Premium free trial enabling users to listen in full to every song on-demand, create personal playlists of favorites, and gain access to premium Top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits.

Being that it is a cloud based service there is nothing to download. Users select the songs they want and stream them to their Sony PS3, Bravia TV, web-connected Blu-ray player or to a PC such as the Sony Viao. Sony is also promising future support for "a wide range of Sony's portable devices" and Android-based smartphones.

My Thoughts

It'll be interesting to see if Sony can break into the music service business. They have some great portable music devices out now and several smartphones that would be well paired with this type of streaming service. The down side is they are so late to the game that most established services and/or devices like the iPod and iTunes almost have an insurmountable lead making it hard for them to get a good foot hold.

Source: Sony Press Release