Desperate to compete with Apple, Sony has chosen the same day that Apple is launching a new range of iPods and their Ping music social networking service to launch a new movie and music download offering.
Having lost the Walkman market to Apple, Sony timed their announcement to coincide with the Apple media event in San Francisco.
The cloud-based service, called Qriocity, will be available on PlayStation 3s, Bravia TVs, Blu-Ray players and Sony’s personal computers.
Initially it will offer movies. Music will be added at the end of the year.
Sony’s online services platform Qriocity has offered video-on-demand in the US since April this year but will now be available in other Countries. Sony Australia who last year saw sales fall $201 Million is not saying when the service will be available in Australia.
The Music Unlimited service, due at the end of the year, will give users access to millions of songs.
“Via Qriocity, Sony will deliver a variety of digital entertainment content and services… including video, music, game applications and e-books over time,” said Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe.
It is not the first time that Sony has tried to break into the digital music market.
In 2004 it launched an online music download service in the US, called Connect.This failed to excite consumers and was killed off in 2007.
