Sony, who is no stranger to the entertainment industry, with music division Sony/BMG and film division Sony Pictures, is once again looking to expand their digital footprint. Having launched the now-defunct Qriocity service in 2010 which would be renamed to Sony Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited in 2011, the company has done their best to stay aggressive and offer both services on and in as many devices and countries as possible. Music Unlimited is Sony’s response to iTunes and Pandora by allowing owners to subscribe to a catalog of over 10 million songs which can now be accessed on a vast array of devices like Sony tablets, Sony Xperia smartphones, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Bravia televisions, Blu-ray players and many non-Sony Android smartphones. Within an eventual expansion to iOS devices, which includes iPhones and iPads, Sony’s been quite aggressive with their device rollout which now includes hundreds of millions of devices which are capable of accessing Sony’s music service. With so many capable devices, where does this put Music Unlimited’s availability in different countries?

With today’s announcement, Sony is officially bring Music Unlimited to Canada. The subscription service is available in a basic $3.99/month plan which grants you access to all the music while a premium $9.99/month plan allows you to create playlists, access premium channels like “Top Charts by Artists, Songs, or Albums each week” and My Library which allows you to “add any song or album from the catalogue to your personal library for easier access” for offline playback. With the inclusion of Canada, Music Unlimited is now available in 14 countries which include:

• United States
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Australia
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Spain
• United Kingdom

Though many countries might still be missing from that list, this is quite the aggressive rollout from Sony. It should also be taken into consideration that, oftentimes, the lack of availability in a country does not mean Sony’s lack of interest in a particular market. Instead, the obstacles that face most companies are country laws and legal requirements which differ between different countries. Complicating matters further is legal ownership of music where different companies have might have ownership of a song in different territories.

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“Consumers around the world are craving a digital music service that provides access to their favorite music anytime, anywhere in the most simple and convenient way,” said Tim Schaaff, President of Sony Network Entertainment. “Today, the Music Unlimited service reaches more countries than any other digital music subscription service, and we’ll continue to roll out the service in new territories and add new features and devices.”

“Achieving this milestone of 14 countries reinforces our commitment to bringing the Music Unlimited service to a very wide audience who can enjoy an all-access pass to millions of songs in the home or on the go through the devices that are most convenient to them,” Schaaff continued.

Through a single account, users can sign in and access the Music Unlimited service on numerous connected devices including any PC, Android mobile devices including Sony Tablet, and Sony Xperia handsets, all 2010, 2011, 2012, and future models of Sony BRAVIA HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, and Blu-ray Disc Home Theatre Systems, as well as PlayStation3 (PS3), PSP (PlayStation Portable), PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), and Sony Walkman.

Music Unlimited Features
With Basic and Premium monthly subscription plans (2), the Music Unlimited service offers a breadth of content and easy music discovery features.

The Music Unlimited Basic plan provides ultimate convenience to enjoy your owned music and ad-free radio Channels at a value price. Use Music Sync (3) to match songs and playlists from a PC to your personal cloud library and access across all enabled devices. Channels are categorized by genre, era and mood.
The Music Unlimited Premium plan is ideal for music lovers who want full control of the entire Music Unlimited collection, including premium channels and on demand access to millions of songs in the catalog. New subscribers are welcome to try 30 days free of the Premium plan and can visit www.MUnlimited.com for further details.

Among the latest features for both plans and available on the Music Unlimited PS3, the PS Vita system, and PC applications, “My Channels,” gives users ultimate control by building custom radio stations based on their favorite artists. Simply type in the name of the artist and a new station is populated with songs from that artist and others similar in style.

By studying users’ listening habits, incorporating their ‘like/dislike’ song ratings, analyzing their existing music collections and more, the Music Unlimited service adapts to users’ music preferences and constantly tailors music channels to offer the most compatible and enjoyable list of songs. The more a user listens, the more uniquely personalized the music channels become.

Additional information about Sony Entertainment Network can be found by visiting: blog.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com,www.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com, www.facebook.com/sonyentertainment, and www.twitter.com/sonyentnet.
(1) Number of tracks available from this catalog varies by country and may be less.
(2) Basic subscription is $3.99, 3.99 pounds Sterling, euro 3.99, AU$4.99, CAD$3.99, NZ$5.99, DK 49.00, FI 3.99, NO 49.00 and SE 49.00 per month; Premium subscription is $9.99, 9.99 pounds, euro 9.99, AU$12.99, CAD$9.99, NZ$13.99, DK 89.00, FI 9.99, NO 89.00 and SE 89.00 per month.
(3) Music Sync requires that music content exists in the catalog. Copy protected content is not supported.
BRAVIA, VAIO, Walkman, and “Sony Tablet” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Corporation
Blu-ray Disc is a trademark of the Blu-ray Disc Association
“PlayStation” and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Xperia is a trademark of Sony Mobile Communication.
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Discuss:

Have you used Sony’s Music Unlimited service in the past? If so, what are your thoughts?