Sony's Music Unlimited music service goes mobile on Android
Sony's cloud-based Music Unlimited (powered by Qriocity) music service has had a major breakthrough today: it's going mobile.
Music Unlimited, which retains a library of six million tracks and counting, is already accessible via several Sony-branded products, including the PlayStation 3, Bravia HDTVs and Blu-ray players, and the PlayStation Portable. A web-based portal is also available for access on PCs and Macs.
But this new app brings the cloud of music to select Android-based smartphones, and naturally all of the Sony Ericsson Android handhelds that will support the program.
I've been a big fan of Music Unlimited (even with the PlayStation Network downtime) since it rolled out in the United States a few months ago. It's a useful program for home entertainment, but that limited its potential for popularity. But with this move to mobile devices and the ability to access music in the cloud from anywhere (permitted that the user has 3G/Wi-Fi connectivity), this is going to be a big competitor and possibly leader against Amazon's Cloud Locker, Google Music and even Apple's iCloud when that hits the airwaves.
The Music Unlimited app is available to download from the Android Market immediately in the nine countries where the music service is available: the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.
The app itself is free, but accessing Music Unlimited is not. New users can sign up for a free 30-day trial. Subscription plans start at $3.99 for the basic plan, which permits users to only stream content, and move backwards and forwards on the pre-determined playlist. The price jumps to $9.99 per month for the premium plan, which permits full access to manually creating playlists and searching the extensive library through a medium of channels, organized by genre, moods, artists and more.
If you were a Music Unlimited subscriber before the PSN outage in April, you will be treated to a refund and an additional month of free service.
Related:
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- WWDC 2011: Apple iCloud will be free, iTunes Match replaces pirated songs
- Why I haven't unsubscribed from Sony's PlayStation Network
- Rumor: Facebook is partnering with Spotify
- Google to introduce music service without major label support