Another announcement that got largely overlooked during Sony’s fruitful GamesCom 2013 press conference last week revolved around the improvements that the manufacturer’s making to its Music Unlimited application. While the service has garnered some popularity on the PlayStation 3 and Vita, it’s always been hindered by the hardware limitations of the respective devices. Fortunately, the platform holder’s aiming to employ the added horsepower of the PlayStation 4 to elevate the experience.
For starters, the application will be built into the next generation console’s operating system, allowing you to access the service’s enormous music library wherever you are in the console. Even better, you’ll be able to control your music using the PlayStation button, and even stream songs while you’re playing games or doing other things. That’s a game changer right there, because on existing platforms you're forced to boot up the software separately.
The interface will also be snappier on the new system, and will presumably employ the added inputs of the DualShock 4, such as the touchpad. It all sounds rather promising, and will be ready in time for launch. Furthermore, if you’ve already got an existing subscription, it will carry forward to the next generation console. Is this something that you’re planning to use more of in the future? Broadcast your thoughts in the comments section below.
[source blog.eu.playstation.com]
Comments 17
That's cool and all but it will actually work on where I live? In Portugal I have barelly seen these functions work which is sad, dunno about the rest of Europe though
If I can stream Dragonforce while playing Shadow Fall, then I'll be all over this.
Edit: I'm not really a fan of bright colors, but I'm loving the background in that pic.
@Lelouch Yes, you can: https://music.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/artist/a886ad0edf7c4dd3a8e6e224c4bbb1b8/Dragonforce
AC/DC + Destiny is going to be my new plan for next gen
I enjoy Music Unlimited. It has a pretty strong library and it's easy to set up playlists. It really works well on my smartphone, especially now that I can download songs to play offline (with a check in to verify my subscription). That said, channels based off of a song or artist are horrible. I'll put in an artist like Mumford and Sons and will get songs from artists ranging from Slipknot to R. Kelly. It's all over the place. Not nearly as on point as Pandora in that regard.
Listen Slayer while play 1886, hshshshshs.
@Lelouch How about some Blind Guardian or some Hammerfall while playing Killzone? Actually Slayer or Exodus might be better for Killzone..lol Yeah I might look into this since you can stream while playing. I had the trial for music unlimited but never used it because I just don't turn on my PS3 to just play songs. I have my other devices for that. I was unaware that there was an APP for smartphones so that's big one for me. If it has a similar library to Spotify then I might convert over to that because I use Spotify and Pandora in my car all the time.
@PMasterTy9 Out of all those bands, Slayer is the only one I've heard of. As for Dragonforce, I find their music is perfect for almost any game - especially Inside the Winter Storm and Heartbreak Armageddon.
I just downloaded the mobile app and I have to say that it looks great. It has a pretty large catalog that spans every genre, I've even managed to find a few Japanese songs in there. I wish I could subscribe, but I don't have a credit card, so that won't happen anytime soon.
@Lelouch Well if you are a fan of Metal and if you like Dragonforce, I think you will like Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, and Rhapsody of Fire. Check them out and let me know what you think. I am definitely going to give Music Unlimited another try for sure.
meh, been using Spotify more because its easily more accessible. I also just plug my phone into my mp3 port on my astro headset and I can listen to anything I want now. Also I don't like that sony hasn't made an official windows program for music unlimited because it doesn't even work here at work.....which is a huge reason why I use Spotify.
@ViciousDS I love Spotify as well and I use it all the time. Sony might not have a desktop program but have you tried playing music from the Music Unlimited site itself? It works fine on my PC and I am just skimming through their library and I am surprised how much they do have.
@PMasterTy9 yes, but like I said there website uses something my workplace doesn't like because I hit play and it doesn't load the song lol.
Maybe when everything goes to html5 next year I'll have no problems at all. Man i can't wait because flash is such garbage.
@ViciousDS Ah, I see. You are being blocked or it's a browser issue. The thing with flash is that is has to be coded correctly that's why some sites work great with flash and why some sites often crash flash. HTML5 is great, well the sites that do use it.
I have no idea what music unlimited is. When I tried it, it said that it is not available in my country. This is no surprise since Video Store and Playstation Mobile are not available here as well.
I don't get why it is so hard to have their services available in the whole Europe. They are losing customers. There are some countries that don't even have the Game store.
@lacerz Thank you! I've been saying that since day 1 of their "radio stations", and I've never heard anyone agree with me. No confirmation from Sony (obviously) and no other customers agreeing with me. It's made me feel crazy. The radio stations based on artists are absolutely horrid. Whatever algorithm they are using is completely useless, and it doesn't factor in your "likes" and "dislikes" at all. Music Unlimited is unbelievably bad at choosing songs for you, which is a very important part of a music service to me, because I want variety but I want the music to actually be good.
If anybody is interested, my suspicion is that Pandora has a patent on the algorithm that chooses music for you based on songs you've liked and disliked, and factors in other users with similar taste and their preferences as well. This is why Music Unlimited, Spotify, and every other service I've tried pales in comparison to Pandora when it comes to choosing music. I'd love to have this confirmed. If this is true and I was Pandora I would be shouting it loud. If it isn't true then Sony needs to fix their radio stations fast because they are a joke. Please choose my music based on the preferences of similar users. Please don't play a song that I've said I disliked. Maybe it would be a good idea to weight the alogorithm to play more popular music first.
@get2sammyb Hey Sammy, will you or any of the Push Square team be going to PAX Prime this year?
While I think this and the Xbox Music thing is cool. I hope both let other music apps use this background features since I don't suscribe to either. (though I do a have music uploaded to xbox music.)
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