Sony Qriocity Music Streaming Service - Review
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Sony has launched Qriocity, its online streaming music subscription service. At launch, Qriocity is only available on Sony network Blu-ray players, Bravia TVs, Blu-ray home theater systems, Playstation3 and on computers.
Still, it looks like Qriocity will be a strong contender among music online streaming services such as Pandora, Napster and Rhapsody, making it another a great way to access and listen to music on your home theater system.
After reading this review, check out the Sony Qriocity Website for more details on their 30 day free trial.
Pros and Cons of Sony Qriocity
Pros
Premium service:
Cons
Qriocity Channels Are Like Pandora Stations But Offer More Freedom
Qriocity is like a cross between Pandora and Napster. As with Pandora, users can choose from a number of Qriocity channels based upon their mood, the genre of music, or the era the music was released. The premium Qriocity subscription adds top-100 lists from every genre — Latin, Jazz, Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop, New Age — to the variety of other playlists available. Like Napster, users can simply choose to listen to any song or album and add it to their own playlists.
It also features Sony's "SenseMe"™ channels so you can choose music to suit how you feel or want to feel. In the SenseMe category, music is grouped by different moods — from Relax and Emotional, to Energize and Dance — and by times of day — Morning, Daytime, Evening, Night and Midnight. The Midnight channel plays soft jazz — think John Klemmer and Al Jarreau — to accompany late-night sips of brandy next to the fire.
Like Pandora, Qriocity allows you to give Like/Dislike feedback on songs; in this way, it can learn what type of music you like to hear on the various channels, playing music that is better tailored to your tastes. Note that unlike Pandora, if you dislike a song, you will never hear it again on any channel unless you add it to your library.
Unlike Pandora, with a premium account, you can skip around the music playlist as much as you like. You can replay a song, skip back a couple of songs, or skip to the next song. Album cover art is displayed in a carousel so you can see what has been played before and what music is coming up next, so that you can click around to your heart's content.
Qriocity Library is Your Virtual Music Collection
While listening to channels, if you like a song, you can add it to your library. Your Qriocity library is your virtual music collection. I imagine it as my virtual rack of CDs living online in the cloud. I prefer this virtual collection of music, as it doesn't require CD racks in my living room.
There were times when listening to a channel that I'd hear an artist I liked, but not the song. It was easy to search for the artist and album I heard, then add the songs I wanted from that album to my library.
If you prefer to pick the specific songs and albums you want to hear — as you can on Napster — there are millions of tracks to choose from. The Qriocity music collection includes recordings from the four major labels, as well as many key independent labels. The Beatles, and a few other artists, are not licensed for streaming through Qriocity. I searched and found artists from Jonathan Coulton to Vince Guaraldi to Portland jazz musician Patrick Lamb, to the most recent hits and Grammy winners.
Once found, you can add the album or song to your library. The premium service allows you to create playlists form the songs in your library.
While you can listen to your playlists on your Bravia TV or Sony network Blu-ray player, you must create playlists on your computer. When listening to Qriocity on your web browser, it is easy to add a song to a playlist, as a "+playlist" button is always available. Also, you can hover over the cover art of an album or song and bring up icons for play: “+” for add to library or playlist, “i” for album info, and a link to get right to it.
A unique feature available on Qriocity is Music Sync. Music Sync lets you add the songs that are on your computer to your Qriocity music library. Music Sync does not actually upload your music to your Qriocity library. Instead, it uses the Gracenote music information service to determine what songs are on your computer, then searches the Qriocity catalog for the matching songs and adds it to your library by finding them in the Qriocity catalog.
Music Sync will find MP3, AAC, HE-AAC, and WAV formats. It will only add music that is legally licensed, in other words music that you downloaded from a CD or purchased from a music website and that doesn't have copyright protection.
Proceed to Page 2:Tips and Recommendations
Visit Their Website
Visit Their Website
Sony has launched Qriocity, its online streaming music subscription service. At launch, Qriocity is only available on Sony network Blu-ray players, Bravia TVs, Blu-ray home theater systems, Playstation3 and on computers.
Still, it looks like Qriocity will be a strong contender among music online streaming services such as Pandora, Napster and Rhapsody, making it another a great way to access and listen to music on your home theater system.
After reading this review, check out the Sony Qriocity Website for more details on their 30 day free trial.
Pros and Cons of Sony Qriocity
Pros
- It has music channels for every mood, era, music genre
- It has a Like/Dislike button to direct and customize your channels
- You can add songs or albums to your Qriocity music library for easy access
- It discovers and matches licensed music on your PC using the "music sync" feature, so all of your favorite music is available in your Qriocity library
- It offers parental control for subordinate accounts
- It has an easy-to-use album cover carousel
- It is easy to add to the playlist or library
- It features a huge music collection
Premium service:
- Playlists can be created and can include any song or album in the Qriocity music collection
- You can skip forward in channels
- You can choose a previously played song in a channel
- You can choose from any song or album to add to your music library
Cons
- There is a slight buffering delay when you click "play"
- It is currently only available on Sony devices
- Its Music Sync only works with PCs and not Mac
- Subordinate accounts can't add to the music library or be used to create their own playlists
- There are no Beatles songs or albums
Qriocity Channels Are Like Pandora Stations But Offer More Freedom
Qriocity is like a cross between Pandora and Napster. As with Pandora, users can choose from a number of Qriocity channels based upon their mood, the genre of music, or the era the music was released. The premium Qriocity subscription adds top-100 lists from every genre — Latin, Jazz, Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop, New Age — to the variety of other playlists available. Like Napster, users can simply choose to listen to any song or album and add it to their own playlists.
It also features Sony's "SenseMe"™ channels so you can choose music to suit how you feel or want to feel. In the SenseMe category, music is grouped by different moods — from Relax and Emotional, to Energize and Dance — and by times of day — Morning, Daytime, Evening, Night and Midnight. The Midnight channel plays soft jazz — think John Klemmer and Al Jarreau — to accompany late-night sips of brandy next to the fire.
Like Pandora, Qriocity allows you to give Like/Dislike feedback on songs; in this way, it can learn what type of music you like to hear on the various channels, playing music that is better tailored to your tastes. Note that unlike Pandora, if you dislike a song, you will never hear it again on any channel unless you add it to your library.
Unlike Pandora, with a premium account, you can skip around the music playlist as much as you like. You can replay a song, skip back a couple of songs, or skip to the next song. Album cover art is displayed in a carousel so you can see what has been played before and what music is coming up next, so that you can click around to your heart's content.
Qriocity Library is Your Virtual Music Collection
While listening to channels, if you like a song, you can add it to your library. Your Qriocity library is your virtual music collection. I imagine it as my virtual rack of CDs living online in the cloud. I prefer this virtual collection of music, as it doesn't require CD racks in my living room.
There were times when listening to a channel that I'd hear an artist I liked, but not the song. It was easy to search for the artist and album I heard, then add the songs I wanted from that album to my library.
If you prefer to pick the specific songs and albums you want to hear — as you can on Napster — there are millions of tracks to choose from. The Qriocity music collection includes recordings from the four major labels, as well as many key independent labels. The Beatles, and a few other artists, are not licensed for streaming through Qriocity. I searched and found artists from Jonathan Coulton to Vince Guaraldi to Portland jazz musician Patrick Lamb, to the most recent hits and Grammy winners.
Once found, you can add the album or song to your library. The premium service allows you to create playlists form the songs in your library.
While you can listen to your playlists on your Bravia TV or Sony network Blu-ray player, you must create playlists on your computer. When listening to Qriocity on your web browser, it is easy to add a song to a playlist, as a "+playlist" button is always available. Also, you can hover over the cover art of an album or song and bring up icons for play: “+” for add to library or playlist, “i” for album info, and a link to get right to it.
Sync Your PC Music Collection With Your Qriocity Virtual Library
A unique feature available on Qriocity is Music Sync. Music Sync lets you add the songs that are on your computer to your Qriocity music library. Music Sync does not actually upload your music to your Qriocity library. Instead, it uses the Gracenote music information service to determine what songs are on your computer, then searches the Qriocity catalog for the matching songs and adds it to your library by finding them in the Qriocity catalog.
Music Sync will find MP3, AAC, HE-AAC, and WAV formats. It will only add music that is legally licensed, in other words music that you downloaded from a CD or purchased from a music website and that doesn't have copyright protection.
Proceed to Page 2:Tips and Recommendations
Visit Their Website
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