AfterDawn: News

Sony finally launches Qriocity music streaming service

Sony has finally launched their music streaming service Qriocity, in an effort to take a share of the still growing online music market.

Called, in full, "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity," the service is cloud-based and allows subscribers to listen to 6 million tracks via their PS3, Bravia HDTVs and other Sony Internet-connected devices.



Additionally, the service can sync with your existing library.

Sony executive vice president Kazuo Hirai says the service will help enhance the appeal of their Internet-connected products over similar devices and TV from Samsung and others.

The Qriocity video-on-demand service has been available for some months now in Europe and the U.S.

Music Unlimited has two tiers; "basic" at £3.99 a month and "premium" at £9.99 per month. A premium subscription gives access to "Top 100" channels and the ability to create playlists and favorites.

The service is available now in the UK and Ireland and will hit Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain, France and the U.S. in 2011.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Dec 2010 21:25

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• 6 comments

• snardos

  So what makes this better than Grooveshark or Playlist.com that they can charge for it? I don't listen to very much music online, so maybe I'm missing something.

  22.12.2010 22:04 #1

• ps3lvanub

  This is just a Last.fm that you hve to pay for. No thanks...
  

  
  
  OMG! COD6 TENTH HACK WITHOUT JTAG!

  23.12.2010 18:38 #2

• plutonash

  good god sony is stupid

  23.12.2010 18:42 #3

• xtago

  If this offers more songs than their freebie service then it'll be worth the small amount the freebie service as 1 million songs I think and the same video quality like a HDTV free to air or cable channel.
  
  I haven't actually seen anything else with better videos and you get all the brand new videos that have come out from sony all playable for free.
  
  I don't think this is in the USA right now though only Europe and Australia, pal countries pretty much.

  23.12.2010 21:48 #4

• Bozobub

  Ehh. Way, way too expensive for the limited Sony library you'll be stuck with. For the same cost as their "Premium" tier, I can have Netflix (with *all* the movie companies represented) and Grooveshark, and end up with several times the amount of media. Plus, even regular paid subscribers can't make playlists, and have to go "premium"..?! Idiotic. I can make playlists on Grooveshark for free, ya numbnuts! Way to abuse paying customers...
  
  A classic example of greed completely ruining a potentially good idea. I'll laugh my a$$ off when it fails, as they blame "the evil pirates".

  25.12.2010 13:33 #5

• phillyob

  This is different than a freebie in that it is on demand. Where as last fm, you get to listen to songs similar to the song or artist you entered and occasionally the artist you entered, here you say you want to hear "sympathy for the devil" by the rolling stones, that is what you hear. In fact, you can play the entire Stones library. At least this is the case with Rhapsody and Napster, current cloud based music subscription services. The idea here is exactly the same, but it sounds like, at least at first, they will have less music than their competitors (Napster has 11 million)
  
  As a music lover, this is worth every penny of $9.99 per month in my opinion, but obviously it is not for everyone...and I am not familiar with playlist.com or grooveshark. But compared to lastfm or pandora, this is much better.
  
  As far as the comparison to netflix....makes no sense, as that is for movies. This is music.

  27.12.2010 11:39 #6