IFA 2010 - Sony joins the media streaming party

Stuff.tv blank | 3 Sep 2010

Sony has unveiled its answer to iTunes by unveiling a new music and video streaming service

The media streaming market sure is getting busy. Sony has just outed a new cloud based music and video service and it has iTunes locked squarely in its sights. Called music Unlimited powered by Qriocity (pronounced 'curiosity', in case you were wondering), it wants to be your online, one-stop shop for all your music, which you'll be able to access via a range of Sony's devices - so, PlayStation 3, Bravia TVs, Blu-Ray players and Sony's range of computers and eventually other portable devices.

But to make it a fully-fledged iTunes rival, you'll be able to buy tracks through any of the aforementioned platforms too. And similarly to iTunes' Genius mode, you can discover new sounds based on personal tastes.

The new service joins Sony's Qriocity video-on-demand service, which is currently only available in the US, but will now be rolled out to the UK, Germany, France Spain and Italy, with hundreds of film titles and TV shows to choose from.

Sony's got its work cut out. With Apples's Airplay coming to the iOS4.2 update in November as well as the arrival of Apple TV in a month, both companies are sure to be locking horns in the not to distant future.

Both services will be rolled out overseas by the end of the year. No word on pricing yet, or Australian availability - and we were at a Sony product launch yesterday, where there was no mention of this - but we will bring you this as soon as it comes to hand.

Read the original article at stuff.tv.