Will the latest entrant into the online music scene have Pandora and iTunes shaking in their boots? Not at the moment.
Sony launched this week a new streaming-music service, called Music Unlimited, which is currently available in the U.K. and Ireland, will be available in the U.S. next year. Other nations, such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and New Zealand will also get the service next year. No launch dates were given. Music Unlimited offers up a sizable library of music, roughly six million songs, about half the size of the 12 million songs in the iTunes store. And, it has many features similar to the incumbent players.
But how does it stack up against them, and other music services, based on the different plans offered?
We take a look.
The 10 Euro per-month option
Music Unlimted offers several plans, with the most expensive costing 10 Euros per month.
With this plan, much like with iTunes, you can import your existing music. There is a slight difference, however. Sony will scan your collection, and collect the basic song data. Once the scan is done, you will be able to stream your already-owned music to any Web-connected Sony product.
There are some limits to this scan. You cannot play songs that have digital-rights-management protections in place, and you cannot play songs that are not in Sony's library, even if you already own them.
And, there is one other major issue here. You may have noticed the words "Web-connected Sony product" above. That means you cannot run the service on non-Sony products. Many will not be able to use this on their current mobile phones, tablet PCs, or other devices, not made by Sony. This seriously limits the user base of Music Unlimited.
The four Euro per-month option
The less-expensive option works almost identically to Pandora, a free service. The service profiles songs you like, and creates a custom radio station, based on your tastes. The only real difference here, is that Sony is allowing users an infinite number of skips. Pandora limits paid users to six skips an hour, per station.
Given how long Pandora worked on its selection algorithm, and the level of complexity it displays, one has to wonder if Sony's algorithm will be as solid. The stations Sony created will be based on both genre, and era. Other mood-based stations will be available through a Sony service, called SensMe, which is already available on the Playstation Portable.
Again, with this plan, one runs into the device issue. Sony's Music Unlimited is limited to Sony-made devices. Pandora can run on any PC or Mac as well as on iOS, Blackberry, Palm and Android-enabled devices.
On a positive note, Music Unlimited will run on PlayStation 3 consoles, Bravia television sets, and Vaio computers. There is talk of introducing a portable device for the service, but no specifics have been released. The PlayStation 3's biggest rival, Xbox 360, has had a streaming music service since June of 2009.
Users who opt for the premium subscription plan get a 30-day Premium free trial.
Unless you already have a lot of Sony-made devices, you will probably want to skip this service. At least, until it has a wider range of hardware offerings.
(Image from Sony)
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Steven Loeb
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Pandora, the leading internet radio service, gives people music they love
anytime, anywhere, through a wide variety of connected devices: laptop and
desktop computers, smartphones, connected BluRay players, connected TVs,
etc. Personalized stations launch instantly with the input of a single “seed” –
a favorite artist, song or genre. The Music Genome Project®, a deeply
detailed, hand-built musical taxonomy, powers the personalization or
Pandora. Using this musicological “DNA” and constant listener feedback
Pandora crafts personalized stations from the more than 800,000 songs that
have been analyzed since the project began in January 2000.
More than 75 million people throughout the United States listen to
personalized radio stations for free on Pandora through their PCs, mobile
phones and devices such as the iPad, and connected in-house devices
ranging from TVs to set-top boxes to Blu-Ray players. Mobile technology has
been a significant factor in the growth and popularity of Pandora, starting
with the introduction of the Apple app store for the iPhone in the summer of
2008. Pandora instantly became one of the most top downloaded apps and
today, according to Nielsen, is one of the top five most popular apps across
all smartphone platforms.
Pandora is free, simple and, thanks to connectivity, available everywhere
consumers are – at the office, at home, in the car and all points in between.
In 2009 the Company announced that Pandora would be incorporated into
the dashboard in Ford cars via SYNC technology; GM has already followed in
announcing plans to integrate Pandora into its vehicles and Mercedes-Benz
introduced their Media Interface Plus device that works with the
free Pandora iPhone app to provide direct control of Pandora from in-dash
stereo controls. This was all great news for the millions of Pandora listeners
who had been plugging their smartphones into car dashboards to listen to
personalized stations while driving. More than 50 percent of radio listening
happens in the car, making it a crucial arena for Pandora.
Today tens of millions of people have a deeply personal connection with
Pandora based on the delight of personalized radio listening and discovery.
These highly engaged listeners reinforce the value Pandora provides to: 1)
musicians, who have found in Pandora a level playing field on which their
music has a greater chance of being played than ever before; 2) advertisers,
who benefit from the multi-platform reach of Pandora, as well as its best
practices in targeting consumers for specific campaigns; 3) the music
industry, which has found in Pandora a highly effective distribution channel;
and 4) automobile and consumer electronics device manufacturers, who have
noted that incorporating Pandora into their product makes it more valuable
to consumers.
Pandora continues to focus on its business in the United States. The radio
arena has never been hotter, thanks to technology that enables radio to be
personalized to the individual and more accessible than ever before. Right
now millions of people listen to Pandora in the United States and we hope
someday to bring Pandora to billions of people around the world.
Timeline:
• 2000 – Tim Westergren’s Music Genome Project begins.
• 2005 – Pandora launches on the web.
• 2008 – Pandora app becomes one of the most consistently downloaded
apps in the Apple store.
• 2009 – Ford announces Pandora will be incorporated into car
dashboard. Alpine and Pioneer begin selling aftermarket radios that
connect to consumers’ iPhones and puts the control and command of
Pandora into the car dashboard.
• 2010 – Pandora is present on more than 200 connected consumer
electronics devices ranging from smartphones to TVs to set-top boxes
to Blu-ray players and is able to stream visual, audio, and interactive
advertising to computers, smartphones, iPads, and in-home connected
devices.
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Last.fm is a social networking company which revolves around its music recommendation engine. Recommendations are made by comparing user data to the rest of the Last.fm user community. This community gives more potential to grow into media other than music. This is most likely a reason why media giant, CBS, acquired Last.fm for $280 million in May of 2007.Last.fm grew from very modest funding compared to its competitors Pandora, ilike, MyStrands and others.
