Samsung's new iTunes-fighting music app lets customers stream music, as well as matching music catalogues to Samsung's own library of 'choons.
The new bit of software, humbly dubbed Samsung Music Hub, lets you stream unlimited tracks from Samsung's library of 19 million songs, so long as you splash out £10 per month for the premium version.
Forking over a monthly tenner also lets you upload your own music to the service, just like iTunes Match. Tracks you own that are already in Samsung's library aren't uploaded -- Samsung just streams you its own copy instead. You can upload up to 100GB of unmatched music, which will likely be plenty, even for avid collectors.
If you opt for the free version you get a much more basic service -- listen to 30-second previews of songs, then buy them if you fancy.
A recommendation radio service is also on board, and you can access your tunes through a web browser at musichub.com. Handy.
Music Hub is more expensive than iTunes Match, which costs £22 per year. Apple's offering doesn't let you stream music you don't already own though, so if you want to listen to a broader array of tunes, Samsung's offering (or rival Spotify) might be better.
The app will only be available to Samsung Galaxy S3 owners for now. Don't fret if you own a different Samsung blower though, as it's indicated the app is destined for other mobiles, as well as Samsung tellies.
The Korean company's senior vice president TJ Kang told the Telegraph it hopes to craft an iOS version too, so iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners can take advantage of the service. We'll see if Samsung's able to slip that one through Apple's tight approval process.
Would you use Samsung's music service? Tune up in the comments, or on our melodious Facebook wall.
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Comments 2
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anonymous 29 May, 2012 13:04
But only stream 500mb of music due to data restrictions.
The providers need to sort out unlimited data before anything like this will work.
anonymous 29 May, 2012 16:44
I'm pretty unhappy with my Galaxy S after having had it for only 6 months it's full of bugs, lags a lot, crashes, and other things, so I would like to stick to Nexus devices in the future, and I probably will get one at the end of the year depending if the price drops enough, BUT, the stuff Samsung are doing with the S3 is probably going to keep me tied to them in the future (i.e. when the S3 drops to an affordable price as it becomes an 'old' phone (I'm done with contracts after this expires late next year, I'd rather wait for phones to get to a year old, drop in price by 50%, and buy them sim-free).
Connectivity with other devices in the home and day to day life is essential for all new computer based tech I think. I use Deezer at the moment and like it, but if I could pay £10 per month and have Music Hub on my phone and on my TV (I've never owned a hifi and suspect I never will), and, I assume, my computer (if I bought a Samsung), I would gladly stay with Samsung.
On this topic though, will Google Music ever come to the UK? With iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, and now Music Hub, I suspect that if they don't get it released here soon it will be too late, which is a shame, as it looks like a brilliant service, and I was very excited about it when it was released in the US. It should revolutionise the music industry, but somehow it looks like it won't. I don't know if this is due to brand loyalty to other long established services, or because Google have a lot to learn about advertising. Shame.