Korean smartphone titan Samsung has jumped into the crowded music streaming market with a radio service called Milk Music.
Samsung said that it felt like it had to intervene to solve "common problems" in the industry, like ads, interruptions, long setup processes and songs that play too frequently. Its solution? A radio app with no ads.
The interface is dominated by a huge dial. Running your finger around the edge changes the genre, nine of which are displayed at any one time along with a pair of other options. 'Spotlight' offers news albums and exclusive content, and 'My Stations' lets you start a new station based on an artist, song or genre.
Users are permitted to skip six songs per hour, which is the same number as with Last.fm, iTunes Radio or Pandora. You can also choose whether you prefer songs to be obscure or popular, or old or new.
It's powered by Slacker Radio, a company that's been trying to get its own radio service off the ground for years -- initially using a dedicated hardware device. Today the company aims more at mobile devices, and the partnership with Samsung should help it stay afloat.
Most notable is that the Milk Music service is both free and free of advertising. Ads may show up in the future, but there are no details as to how or when. It's only available on Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Note phones in the United States, and device owners that qualify will be able to find it in the Google Play Store.
Will it succeed? Against competition from Beats Music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple, it's hard to be optimistic.
Korean smartphone titan Samsung has jumped into the crowded music streaming market with a radio service called Milk Music.
Samsung said that it felt like it had to intervene to solve "common problems" in the industry, like ads, interruptions, long setup processes and songs that play too frequently. Its solution? A radio app with no ads.
The interface is dominated by a huge dial. Running your finger around the edge changes the genre, nine of which are displayed at any one time along with a pair of other options. 'Spotlight' offers news albums and exclusive content, and 'My Stations' lets you start a new station based on an artist, song or genre.
Users are permitted to skip six songs per hour, which is the same number as with Last.fm, iTunes Radio or Pandora. You can also choose whether you prefer songs to be obscure or popular, or old or new.
It's powered by Slacker Radio, a company that's been trying to get its own radio service off the ground for years -- initially using a dedicated hardware device. Today the company aims more at mobile devices, and the partnership with Samsung should help it stay afloat.
Most notable is that the Milk Music service is both free and free of advertising. Ads may show up in the future, but there are no details as to how or when. It's only available on Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Note phones in the United States, and device owners that qualify will be able to find it in the Google Play Store.
Will it succeed? Against competition from Beats Music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple, it's hard to be optimistic.
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