I just bought a Sony Mp3 player the other day. My ipod had gone bust and I wanted to try something different -also, I might get an iPhone one day (but probably a Galaxy with Android).
It was just coincidental that I saw in the local music rag that Sony has just launched a new streaming service for Australia -which is needed here because I don’t think we can get Spotify or other services like Mog.
I hope it’s successful -the article talks about how it could be a competitor to the ‘dominant’ iTunes. However it’s a streaming service that’s linked up to Sony internet devices that allows the user access to 6 million tracks for $13 Aus dollars (about $12 us) per month. Later it’ll be accessible to certain mobiles as well apparently. And Sony seems to have a fighting chance because, like iTunes, they have a hardware connection and the rights to the majors.
The article goes on to talk about illegal downloading though -with that in mind neither iTunes nor Sony have any dominance or leverage. When I walked into one shop enquiring about mp3 players, I asked if they could play itunes files (mpegs or aacs…) and the guy in the shop just laughed. He referred to some pirate software that converts any file in existence including serial numbers and suggested I get what I want off pirate bay. iTunes doesn’t come across cool nowadays, it comes across naive…
So, I’d like to try the Sony’s “Music Limited” one day but it’s still not practical, even though I bought their mp3 player. And while I’ll still buy CD’s, iTunes tracks or borrow from the library, I think the rest of the tech-savvy population is taking whatever they want straight off the internet.
I will say that I am enjoying the Sony player – to be honest I think it sounds better than the ipod but that could be my imagination (though I wasn’t impressed with the ipod when I first listened to it.) It has noise reduction headphones which means I can hear everything in a track from the bass to the triangle ding at the end of the chorus even when I’m on a bus or train. For me, that’s made a huge difference because I spend an hour each way travelling to work.
However, it’s not as easy to use as the ipod in navigating round the files, but that’s a minor issue for me. Overall thumbs up for the Sony!
Struggling Muso 