Every week in this space I try to show you some cool apps you may have missed. Don’t feel bad about missing some; new apps come out every day, and no one can keep up. And, like the glut of lousy games that nearly killed the video game industry in the Atari days, many apps are garbage.
So this week we’re taking a break from the traditional app round up so I can feature a service: Music Unlimited. Despite my position as a tech columnist and all-around geek, I have been hesitant to try new streaming music services. This is mostly because I am lazy. Pandora was all I needed for the past few years so I never bothered looking elsewhere. Then Spotify notifications started popping up all over my Facebook feed. Around the same time I looked at my PlayStation 3 and PS Vita and wondered: “What else can these things do?”
Well, one of the things they can do is host Sony’s Music Unlimited, an intuitive streaming service with millions of tracks. After a free trial with Music Unlimited from the Sony Entertainment Network I had a new appreciation for my PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. This streaming music service offers instant access to a global catalogue of more than 18 million songs across every genre. Christmas may be over, but it still makes a pretty cool gift.
“Whether it’s your classic-rocker uncle, your hip-hopper little brother or your show-tunes grandma, everyone has a taste for a type of music that can be found on Sony’s Music Unlimited service,” said a Sony spokesman.
He’s right. I had no trouble finding the perfect mix of punk rock and old school rap to suit my taste – Black Flag meets Public Enemy.
I created my ideal station by using “My Channels” – a music discovery function that let me create and control customized radio stations built around my favorite artists. The feature analyzes and categorizes the musical traits of the more than 18 million tracks in the Music Unlimited services’ global catalogue, and then automatically creates a station built around my taste. This isn’t a bleeding-edge feature – Spotify, Pandora and others offer the same feature – but it is impressive when you consider the millions of tracks at your disposal with Music Unlimited.
You can access the service on platforms such as the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, BRAVIA TVs, PCs, Android tablets and smartphones, and iPhone and iPod Touch.
The Premium plan costs $9.99 per month, and is ideal for music lovers who want full control of the entire Music Unlimited catalog, including premium channels and on-demand access to millions of songs.
However, both Premium and the Access plan ($4.99/mo.) subscribers will enjoy ad-free radio channels, and the ability to add owned music to the cloud with the “Music Sync” feature that matches songs and playlists from a PC to your personal cloud library.
Sony is offering a free, 14-day trial for a Premium plan (no credit card required) here:
http://www.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/music-unlimited/why-music-unlimited/