You know that awesome Music Unlimited service everyone uses? What?! You don’t use it? Well its ok, it seems not many folks are using the service either as Sony will be discontinuing support as of 29th March, 2015.
Yes, Spotify have “Exclusively” (you keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means) partnered with Sony, which is hard as I don’t know how it can be exclusive as its on many other devices. So its console exclusively meaning Microsoft and Nintendo wont have Spotify. Anyway, two thumbs up to Sony for giving me my best music streaming service and not having me use Music Unlimited.
I actually do not know a single person subscribed to Music Unlimited, which is a shame as Music Unlimited is actually a good service as it gives you additional benefits to standard music subscriptions. Not only does it support almost all mobile devices, PC, Mac, and the web, as we are used to with other current competitors, but also can be used with Sony’s PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita, Bravia TV’s, and Blu-Ray Players/ Home Theater systems. Don’t think you will be missing any of the benefits of being able to play your music while gaming. The new PlayStation Music powered by Spotify will allow you to play your music on all devices on PS4, PS3, as well as Xperia smartphones and tablets. One disappointing piece of news which seems to be avoided at the moment is the availability of the service for PS Vita and PlayStation TV.
If you use your PS Vita or PlayStation TV for listening to music and are wondering why you have not been mentioned, I am quite sceptical at the moment to why you have been left out and here is why:
On the positive side I am sure Sony is currently working on future support, whether it may or may not be beneficial for PlayStation Music to be ported to these device,s and are trying to not waste resources. Sony may want to concentrate on the most popular consoles and to help speed up the release timescale. Once released, we may see Sony announce a further update to bring PlayStation Music to the rest of the unannounced devices down the line. But, on the negative side we see Sony’s lack of confidence with Vita devices and we are still unsure of the near future. It’s great we are still seeing support, but how long will this last. Another distressing issue is with the recent announcement that Vita apps; Near, Maps and YouTube will be discontinued and will receive no further support. Not that I don’t agree with this as I don’t see Near as being used by really anyone these days, plus who would use YouTube and Maps on a portable gaming device when it is most likely you have a smartphone or tablet which you would rather use these apps on. I am more worried that Sony may use this thought pattern with the new PlayStation Music service.
Currently Spotify has been quite the contempt for smart TV’s and media streaming devices and is keeping its availability at a minimum. Only offering support to the major install base. I’m shocked that Spotify haven’t included a “cast screen” option for Google’s Chromecast. I am shocked but also very, very happy with this partnership as a Spotify app has been requested for quite some time, even back in the PS3 days, and this may just be even better than what we could have hoped for.
If concerned with using Spotify’s free streaming with advertisements, dont be. A Sony representative replied on the forums confirming ad-supported option will remain available with PlayStation Music:
PlayStation Music will be coming Spring 2015 and Sony states more info should be released shortly. See response from Sony representative for release regions on launch:
If you have an active PlayStation Music subscription, as of February 28th, 2015, you will receive a free access until the service closes on March 31st, 2015.
