Thirty years ago, Apple wanted to be just like Sony. That hasn’t been true in a long time, and Sony is still trying to play catch up. Here’s the latest attempt:
Sony on Wednesday launched a new streaming music subscription service which it hopes will take on Apple’s iTunes by offering a different approach to digital music sales.
“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” is a cloud-based digital music service. Unlike iTunes, users do not purchase and download tracks. Instead, they stream them.
The service is not available on portable devices, meaning users can’t take their music on the go. The service debuted Wednesday in Ireland and the U.K., and will launch in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and New Zealand in 2011.
Kazuo Hirai, executive vice president of Sony, said the initial focus of the product is to enhance the appeal of Sony products versus competitors like Apple and Microsoft, according to The Associated Press. But he said “over time” the service would need to “stand on its own.”
So Music Unlimited is just like every other failed subscription service, only you can’t stick it in your portable.
This has “win” written all over it.
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