IFA 2010 - Sony joins the media streaming party

The media streaming market sure is getting busy. Sony has just outed a new cloud based music and video service and it has iTunes locked squarely in its sights. Called music Unlimited powered by Qriocity (pronounced 'curiosity', in case you were wondering), it wants to be your online, one-stop shop for all your music, which you'll be able to access via a range of Sony's devices - so, PlayStation 3, Bravia TVs, Blu-Ray players and Sony's range of computers and eventually other portable devices.

But to make it a fully-fledged iTunes rival, you'll be able to buy tracks through any of the aforementioned platforms too. And similarly to iTunes' Genius mode, you can discover new sounds based on personal tastes.

The new service joins Sony's Qriocity video-on-demand service, which is currently only available in the US, but will now be rolled out to the UK, Germany, France Spain and Italy, with hundreds of film titles and TV shows to choose from.

Sony's got its work cut out. With Apples's Airplay coming to the iOS4.2 update in November as well as the arrival of Apple TV in a month, both companies are sure to be locking horns in the not to distant future.

Both services will be rolled out to the UK by the end of the year. There's no pricing details, but we suspect these will be revealed closer to the official release.

Comments

thx67

1 year ago

It will be garbage. I have a lot of Sony kit but their pricing will be ludicrous and will smothered In drm. The albums will be £12.99. If it's not successful they will just walk away from it. I have a ps3 and the video store is ok but the prices are higher than the DVD costs and are stereo? At least iTunes is 5.1. Sony seem to be losing the plot at the moment. Do they really think they have a chance against iTunes if they are bringing this to the uk "by the end of next year". 2006 would be too late. They are announcing a square wheel soon which will revolutionise cars. Available in 2035