For the past few months, Sony Electronics with help from Sony/BMG, the music label division of Sony have been rolling their Qriocity service across Europe. The service dubbed as Music Unlimited gives the user access to over 6 million song that they can stream to Qriocity enabled devices like Sony Blu-ray Players, Bravia Televisions, as well as their PlayStation 3 and PSP systems. The service first debuted in the UK and Ireland in December but has sense expanded to France, Germany, Italy and Spain with €3.99 a month giving you access to listen to it as a stream; while €9.99 upgrades to a premium plan that lets you select and sort your music with playlist functionality via Artist, Genre, Decade and more. On top of that. users can synchronize their own music to the Qriocity data base and have access to it from anywhere as well. Think of it like Pandora but with much more functionality. This service is expected to come to mobile devices, as well as North America in the future. Having had a chance to use the service at CES 2011, I will be writing about my own personal time with it shortly.

Hit the jump for a official press release.

 Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™’ Expands to Global Markets

TOKYO and CANNES, France, Jan. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Corporation (“Sony”) announces the immediate availability of “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™,” in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

http://www.qmusic.com

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™,” which debuted in the U.K. and Ireland in December 2010, is a new, cloud-based, digital music service which gives music lovers access at any time to a constantly growing catalogue of millions of songs from major labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as leading independent labels and major publishers worldwide.

Users can play music any time through “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” on a wide variety of Internet-connected Sony devices including Sony’s 2010 and 2011 models of network-enabled BRAVIA® TV, Blu-ray Disc™ player, Blu-ray Disc Home Theater system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system as well as VAIO and other personal computers. All existing PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems in these countries will have access to the service. It will also become available on a wide range of Sony’s portable devices, as well as on Sony and third-party Android-based mobile devices and other portable devices.

“‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ will not only enhance customers’ Sony devices by unifying their music experiences and content, but will further open up access, create music discovery opportunities and spawn new listening possibilities for customers,” said Kazuo Hirai, President of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. “We will continue to develop services ‘powered by Qriocity,’ in order to provide a greater value proposition to our customers around the world.”

“‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ represents the next step in the digital music experience, providing consumers with a dynamic and innovative way to enjoy their music library wherever they are in the world and across a number of integrated devices,” stated Rob Wells, President of Global Digital Business for Universal Music Group. “We’re delighted to be partnering with them and welcome their progressive approach.”

“Sony Music is pleased to be partnering with Sony Corp. to further grow the reach of our rich catalog of artists in the global digital marketplace,” said Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business, U.S. Sales and Corporate Strategy, Sony Music Entertainment. “With its support for a significant and continuously expanding platform of Sony Internet connected devices, including televisions, gaming systems, portable players and phones, ‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity,’ offers fans in multiple territories around the world an innovative and extensive new cloud based solution for accessing premium digital music in virtually any room in the home, as well as on-the-go.”

“Well designed for distribution via Sony’s vast footprint of connected hardware, ‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ is an exciting new service for consumers that provides an important new outlet for our artists,” said Michael Nash, Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development, Warner Music Group. “The service can help broaden the audience for digital music by reaching those fans primarily enjoying music through living-room technology such as TVs, Blu-ray players and PlayStation 3 consoles. ‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ serves as a showcase for the innovative integration of content offerings with hardware platforms.”

“‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ offers our artists a powerful new platform to reach their fans across multiple devices,” said Mark Piibe, Executive Vice President, Global Business Development, EMI Music. “As the service expands its reach internationally, more and more consumers now have the opportunity to enjoy their favorite tracks and discover new music from our great artists.”

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” Features
With Basic (3.99 Euros) and Premium (9.99 Euros) monthly subscription plans, “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” offers breadth of content and easy music discovery features cited as most important by music enthusiasts.

The Basic plan works as an infinite ad-free radio station and subscribers can listen to dozens of personalized channels – categorized by genre, era as well as mood through SensMe™ (*1) – without the requirement to download or manage their music files. Additionally, the Premium subscription plan offers a one-time 30 day Premium free trial enabling users to listen in full to every song on demand, create personal playlists of favorites, and gain access to premium Top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits.”

By studying users’ listening habits, incorporating their ‘like/dislike’ song ratings, analyzing their existing music collections and more, “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” adapts to users’ music preferences and constantly tailors music channels to offer the most compatible and enjoyable list of songs. Therefore, the more you listen, the more uniquely personalized your music channels become.

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” is the next extension of services ‘powered by Qriocity.’ Sony debuted “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity™,” a premium video streaming service, in the U.S. in April 2010 and expanded the service to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. in November 2010. It will also become available in Japan on January 26. Through “Video on Demand powered by Qriocity” customers can instantly rent from a growing library of thousands of Hollywood blockbuster movies across Sony’s 2010 and 2011 models of network-enabled BRAVIA TV, Blu-ray Disc player and Blu-ray Disc Home Theater system.

(*1) SensMe™ is Sony’s proprietary 12 Tone Analysis technology to evaluate music tracks
“Qriocity™” is a trademark of Sony Corporation

“PlayStation®” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.