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James Martin/CNET
Sony and Spotify have teamed up for PlayStation Music, which replaces Music Unlimited and will allow gamers to give their button-bashing a soundtrack with their Spotify tunes.
Music Unlimited will close on March 29, after which the new service will launch some time this spring.
Sony’s on-demand music-streaming service, initially known as Qriocity, was launched in 2010 in the UK and Ireland, eventually expanding to a total of 19 countries. It went through a couple of different forms and integrations into Sony’s wider online media networks until, it seems, Sony finally threw its hands up and decided to make music streaming someone else’s problem.
Third-party streaming services, such as Spotify and Rdio, have proved more popular than services offered by hardware manufacturers, with Nokia’s Ovi one of the casualties back in 2011. Sony is unusual among the big tech and media brands in that it produces both hardware — TVs, consoles and so on — and content, thanks to its movie studio and record label. But that hasn’t guaranteed success. If Sony, which has a record label and a distribution network, can’t make a go of it, that just shows how hard the music game is these days.
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The new service PlayStation Music will allow you to use and manage your Spotify tracks and playlists on your console. You’ll be able to link your Spotify and PlayStation Network accounts, allowing you to pay for Spotify through your PSN wallet. It will work for the PlayStation 3 and PS4 consoles, and PS4 owners can listen to their Spotify tuneage while playing games.
Nearly all of the countries enjoying Music Unlimited will benefit from the new service. Those of you paying for Music Unlimited will get this next month free, and you’ll also be offered a free Spotify trial.
The new PS Music service will be available in 41 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK, for Sony’s PlayStation games consoles and Xperia smartphones and tablets. Here’s the full list of countries that will be covered in the new service: Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and USA.
