Musical mayhem
Sony has unveiled a new cloud- based digital music service called Music Unlimited by Qriocity.
The subscriptions service promises to give music fans access to millions of songs from labels such as: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as various independent labels.
The catalogue will initially offer around 6 millions songs and will expand over time.
Users will be able to play music via Sony devices including 2010 models of BRAVIA TVs, Blu-Ray Disc player and Home Theater system plus VAIO computers and the PlayStation 3. Sony is also rolling out the service to Android phones.
Music Unlimited is available in the UK, Ireland and the US with Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand getting the service in 2011.
The service offers 2 subscription plans: Basic for £3.99 and Premium for £9.99. The basic plan offers unlimited forward skipping of songs with no advert radio stations and personalised channels categorised by era and mood via ‘SensMe'.
As well as those features, premium subscribers will get full songs on demand plus the ability to create personal playlists plus access to Top 100 channels regularly updated with the latest chart toppers.
The service takes note of users' listening habits and song ratings, adapting to their preferences and personalises music channels accordingly. Users can also sync their existing music files from other media players into Sony's new offering.
The music service is an extension of Sony's Video on Demand powered by Qriocity service, which is a streaming service rolled out in the US in April 2010, allowing customers to rent films instantly on various Sony models.
"As we start to expand Qriocity globally, these services ‘powered by Qriocity' offer a single ID log-in and wallet solution, and empower users to easily consume content including music and video across a growing number of integrated devices," said Kazuo Hirai, president of networked products and services group at Sony.
"Seamless accessibility to content through these fresh user experiences will enrich Sony's network service offerings and continually add value to the unique aspects of Sony's network-enabled products," he added.
