Sony said today it will introduce its Music Unlimited cloud music service in North America in the coming months.

Music streaming services have got a lot of attention in recent months as a force that could make music downloads obsolete. Apple recognized the threat when it bought music streaming service LaLa. Spotify serves music streams in Europe, but it has apparently been stymied because of complex talks with copyright holders.

Sony is in a different position because it owns the rights to a huge library of music. The Music Unlimited service will be available to users on Sony connected devices such as its Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players, Vaio PCs and PlayStation 3 consoles. Music Unlimited will be available on music.qriocity.com when it is available.

The service has already launched in the United Kingdom. The service has more than 6 million tracks available, including the complete collection of Elvis Presley hits, said Kaz Hirai, Sony&'s top executive for networked products. Sony has designed Music Unlimited to enable social discovery. Users can &''like&'' or &''dislike&'' a song. Once they do that enough, the system can make recommendations to them about songs they might like.

Next Story: Slacker&'s mobile radio to go premium with unlimited song access Previous Story: Sony doubles down on 3D experiences across the home

Print Email Twitter Facebook Google Buzz LinkedIn Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Delicious Google More&8230'

Companies: Sony

Companies: Sony

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters. Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.