Sony today launched its Connect electronic music download service to the Irish market, with some 600,000 songs available to download via the online store that will compete directly with Apple’s iTunes service.
As originally reported on siliconrepublic.com about a month ago, Connect will offer music from all major labels in addition to over 700 independent labels, with prices starting at 99 cents a track.
Songs are offered in the Atrac3 format, which is compatible with a large range of Sony devices including the Atrac CD Walkman, the recently launched range of Network Walkmans with flash memory, the Hi-MD Walkman, the soon to launch Network Walkman with hard disk the NW-HD5 (pictured), the Vaio Pocket Music Player, the latest generation of Atrac compatible e-Vehicle devices, as well as in the near future, the PlayStation Portable.
Users can manage their music files and transfer them to their devices using the SonicStage software, which can be downloaded directly from Connect (www.connect-europe.com). Users can also playback the content on their Windows computer with SonicStage and burn the content on Audio CDs.
“Connect is all about quality and choice in a networked world,” says Sushil Teji, general manager, Sony Ireland. “It allows consumers to enjoy music in more ways than ever before by offering a truly easy-to-use service with seamless connectivity to secure Sony portable audio devices. Now this experience can be enjoyed by music lovers across Ireland.”
By John Kennedy
