Sony's Music Unlimited Service Will Let Users Play Music While Gaming

Sony's Music Unlimited service will let users stream music while they play games, according to Sony's director of music services Anu Kirk. Kirk also clarified that the available of the service has nothing to do with the PS4 not supporting CD and MP3 playback.

[JoGam]

I'm really enjoying the music service. Sony have me a year subscription for $12 a year ago. They just sent me an email to renew for $3 for three months. Thats $1 a month. Great deal Sony.

[Thehyph]

I'm on my second free month trial, and it's much better than when I used it the first time. (14 months ago) My only beef with it is some content that I want is not there. The android app is good, and the iOS app is not too bad, either.
One subscription allows you to authorize three (I think) devices for offline playback. Also, they don't seem to care when more than one device is streaming from the same SEN account.
My girlfriend and I can both use it at the same time, and both of our phones can save music to be played offline.

As for a subscription, I'm not decided if I will pay for it yet.

[ABizzel1]

Agreed it's actually a cool service, when I used it . The problem has always IMO been the pricing.

The value I place on music is less than what I place on movies, so a $10/mo. subscription music service just doesn't do it for me compared to a $10/mo. video service.

I guess it's because most radio music sucks nowadays, a lot of the music I listen to comes from unsigned artist, and I'm a part time audio engineer so I get to make music for a living.

They need to make it $10 - $15/mo. for the music and video unlimited and instead of buying and renting let people stream. When I watch a movie I'm done, unless it become a favorite (then I buy it), so give people the option to do both. That would be a service I could subscribe to nothing less.

I know there are some free movies, songs, and TV shows, but they need to bring streaming to the forefront of the service and allow you to buy and keep your favorite movies. Renting films are a thing of the pass unless you're Redbox ($1 is a great price).

Sony Unlimited:

$10 - $15 per month.
Stream millions of albums, or buy them
Stream thousands of movies / videos / TV shows, or buy them

(Advertisements help pay for service)

[Thehyph]

Yep. The problem IS the pricing. Unfortunately, it's one of the better music services available in Canada. Licensing has always been a problem here, and it shows with the lack of Pandora, Spotify, Google Music, and others.

[Bundi]

For a price
$5 a month in addition to ps plus? Lol not a great deal Sony.

[SirBradders]

for $60 a year to access to all the latest tunes your actually saving yourself potentially thousands if your heavy into music. If you want to be cheeky you could get some good recording and converting software and put 2 and 2 together ;-).

Im not heavy into music so i won't be buying it but it does seem a great service when i trialled it for free a year ago.

[Bundi]

Or, these console makers could let me plug in my flash drive and play my own music from there instead of removing the feature to funnel me towards their subscription service. -__-

Edit: yoshi didn't confirm anything. It was just some nameless sony rep who said it will be there. Until higher management says so, I'm sceptical.

[SirBradders]

I totally agree but my comment is based on a service they are providing.
Im almost certain yoshi has already stated they are allowing it in the 2nd update so there shouldn't be a worry there.

[Baka-akaB]

I agree that it should always be there , in the first place , but it seems it will in an update so , in the mean time , i'm calm .

[Nitrowolf2]

honestly I say wait till December or their Christmas Sale to subscribe. Last year I got it for $12 for the whole eyar casue of their sale

[mcstorm]

It depends how you look at it. I pay £8.99 a month for xbox music pass but that is used on my xbox, Surface RT, My Lumia 1020 my other half's Lumia 925 and a Zune we still have. We spent a lot on music in the past but having a music pass that works with all your devices it is a far better deal than spending £10 per album.

[Bundi]

Here is how I look at it, my xbox 360 and ps3 both play audio cd and mp3s. I expect my upgraded next gen consoles to at the very least be able to do the same so that I can play my own paid for music without paying anyone monthly/yearly.

[mcstorm]

@Bundi I agree with that but what I am saying is that paying £8.99 a month is worth throwing out all my cd's as I have access to all this music on my Xbox, Surface, Phone and MP3 Player. Its each to there own but I would often buy 3 Albums a month where with a subscription service I can have more or less any album/song I want synced across all the devices I use.

[stavrami]

boooooo this means people's shitty choice in music being forced on me through there mic while online gaming :-/

[Baka-akaB]

You can't prevent people from being idiots , that's a not a reason to refuse features .

People can still tune up some radio or music from their phones for the same if not worse effect

[stavrami]

i think you misunderstand i have not refused anything other than listening to other peoples music THAT IS NOT A ADDED FEATURE

[SirBradders]

Mute them a holes.

[stavrami]

yea i know but this can be a nuisance if u are playing a mp game that switches players at the end of the round, but you are right still at least they can be blocked

[PR_FROM_OHIO]

WOW this is a pretty cool feature!

[Bundi]

Seriously? Man being a single gaming machine owner robs you of some of the most basic features.
I cannot imagine getting excited about being able to do what a current gen console has been able to do for 7 years now...without the extra charge.

I do get excitable however when you try take away features so you can charge for them!

[Thomaticus]

I really feel that the ability to listen to music while gaming should be free.

[AusRogo]

Hmmmm id prefer to just copy my music over from cd/usb.. never used this service before, does it have much heavy metal or any metal at all? Metallica or anything? Think ill just wait for an mp3 patch if they ever do that..

[Bennibop]

Yes it does, I find it meets my Heavy Metal needs nicely.

[ilovefatgirls]

id like an option to drop my own stuff on aswell greedy yes i know -_-

[WeAreLegion]

We already know that. We were cpmplaining because we can't use our own music and good music apps won't be there at launch.

[JustPlay4]

I see this as the only problem ps4 has the lack of music support other then music unlimited but it not that big a deal to just hope the 2 update doesn't take to long

[DA_SHREDDER]

couldn't we just listen to pandora on the official pandora website whilst in game? There is in game web browser right?

[WeAreLegion]

Possibly. Hoping I can do that with Google Play Music.

[360ICE]

Oooooooooooooooooold news.

[the worst]

JUST PATCH MY MP3'S IN

[GryestOfBluSkies]

"Kirk explained that the Music Unlimited team did not have a hand in deciding whether or not the PS4 would support CD or MP3 playback."

for once im skeptical of what sony says here. when i first read that theres no mp3 support, my first thought was that they are trying to push music unlimited on us.

if this isnt a 'diabolical plot' as he puts it, then there should be no problem adding mp3 support in the next system update

[SirBradders]

Which they have already said they will do. I can see why there would be some skeptism there.

[nevin1]

I don't have a Vita but doesn't it allow you to use music while running any other application at the same time?

Just how exactly that's not in PS4 day 1. They clearly rather have people use the Music Unlimited.

[TheGrimReaper0011]

Yes
About 90% of the games allow you to play music in the background.
Example : LittleBigPlanet Vita. You cant listen to music during an actual level, but in menu's and while making a level, you can.
They said that in the second update, they will add MP3 support. Does that mean I can also use my own files as background music?
I dont wanna pay to listen to some music

[nevin1]

And if anything, that recently TuneIn app sounds more better?

[SquidBuck]

They still have no Metallica :(

[MrSwankSinatra]

i think it has everything to do with no support for CD's or MP3's. its just sony trying push their shitty music service the same way microsoft tried to push the zune. guarantee a year or two down the road they'll eventually patch in MP3 & CD support and discontinue music unlimited.

[MikeGdaGod]

two issues i have with the PS4:

1) not being able to create a playlist to play my own mp3's while gaming
2) not being able to hook up my external hdd to watch shows

they fix these things with an update and i'm good

[JRH7783]

I agree. I have a external hdd that uses usb 3.0 and doesn't work on the PS3 slim. I was looking forward to the PS4 having usb 3.0, but I guess i'll have to wait.

My PS3 has all of my music on it. I listen to it daily. I doubt Music Unlimited will have everything I listen too. A lot of mixtapes and things of that nature.

I hope this get patched quick. One thing about Sony is that if the consumer complains enough, they'll usually address the issue.

[MikeGdaGod]

i'm already paying for Sirius/XM satellite radio for car and web access, so i'm not paying for an additional music service. especially since Music Unlimited won't play half of the stuff i hear on satellite radio. (same lots of mixtapes and mixtape DJ shows...DJ WhooKid, Tony Touch, Superstar Jay, Kay Slay, Dj Drama, Sway...etc). now i play it through my ipad connected to my sound system when gaming.

you're right though, i'm sure Sony will enable mp3 playback and external hdd's especially with people asking for it, i'm not at all worried.

if they add a Sirius/XM app though....i'll sh!t bricks.

[XtraTrstrL]

Man, they're turning more and more into Microsoft. First, we will have a PS+ paywall for major online play. Then they are pushing the paid service Music Unlimited by not allowing us to play cds or transfer and/or stream our own music files to the hdd. Even with them mentioning they could end up patching it, it's still bad that they had it this way to begin with. It shows that greedy, moneygrubbing mentality where they are ready to nickle and dime you for everything you do on the console(basically Xbox Live's true nature).