Samsung's new Music Hub available on Galaxy S III, combines streaming with storage locker
Last month I posted about the new Samsung Hub powered by mSpot and 7digital, but I couldn't test it out since it was not yet available on my T-Mobile Galaxy S III. I recently received an update that killed global search in order for Samsung to comply with an Apple-forced injunction, but the silver lining is that the Samsung Music Hub service support was also added to my device.
Samsung Music Hub is only available right now on the Galaxy S III smartphone. Samsung worked with mSpot and 7digital to create a powerful music service available at the now standard $10/month subscription fee. Unlike Spotify and some other streaming services, Samsung Music Hub also brings in the Amazon/Google/iTunes Match-like online storage locker service for your own existing music. You also get their radio feature so music discovery is easy, similar to what is provided by Rdio and Slacker Radio.
The cloud locker lets you upload music stored on your computer with automatic syncing via iTunes or Windows Media Player. Your songs are scanned and matched with their 19+ million song catalog for playback in high quality. Any unmatched songs are uploaded so you can access them later on your GSIII. You can upload 100GB of this unmatched music (approximately 60,000 songs) as part of your $10 monthly subscription.
You can check out a fair review of this new service on USA Today and I tend to agree with them on the confusion caused by different players on the Android platform. In my music folder I have Play Music, Music Hub, Music Player, Amazon MP3, and Spotify. Music Hub is intended to simplify the music experience for Galaxy S III owners and you can honestly do this by skipping the Amazon, Spotify, and Google music services. Tap on the Music Hub icon on your Galaxy S III to see if your carrier enabled access to the service and you will find you can try it out for free for 30 days.
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