Sony Launches Music Unlimited for iPhone

On Friday, Sony released an iPhone application to access its streaming Music Unlimited service in an effort to expand its online platforms to devices from rival manufacturers.

Music Unlimited has thus far been running on the Sony's own Android, PlayStation 3 and Vita, as well as home theater mediums such as Bravia TVs. On Friday it will finally be made available to iOS users, except for the iPad. According to digitaltrends.com an iPad app is in the works. The Music Unlimited app is free to download, and can be used up to 30 days without a subscription.

Whereas Spotify offers users a basic plan to stream music for free with ads and restrictions, Music Unlimited offers two paid subscription plans - one for $9.99 per month and the other for $3.99. The more expensive plan offers users the opportunity to listen to Sony's entire 15 million track library without any restrictions. The $3.99 plan limits users to predetermined channels, which can be skipped without restrictions. To listen to individual tracks, a user must own the track and sync it with Sony's catalogue in Music Unlimited.

Music Unlimited does lack on-demand playback, the ability to create a library of songs or album, the ability to create playlists, and access to editorially created premium channels, charts, and new releases.

Spotify is currently offered in 15 countries while Music Unlimited offers its services in 14. Music Unlimited is offered in Canada and Italy, two countries where Spotify is not available. Samsung, one of Sony's major competitors, has expressed its intention to compete with Spotify and Sony after Samsung's purchase of Mspot.

Spotify recently announced its launch in Australia and is the dominant service in the music-streaming business. Spotify offers an advertising-based model that provides users with free access to millions of songs from their computers. Spotify also has subscription services that enable customers access to music across different platforms, on and offline.