Sony Hints At Withdrawing From iTunes

It was reported today in an Australian newspaper, The Age, that Sony has hinted at withdrawing from Apple's iTunes store. Sony has in the works an alternative to the iTunes platform called Music Unlimited that will allow music to be streamed to multiple devices including Sony TVs, PlayStation3 consoles, PSP portables, and Blu-Ray players.

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Michael Ephraim, said that, "Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold."

However, the Music Unlimited platform will likely be subscription-based since it is streaming music to users without them saving music to their own physical storage. Sony claims this to be a strength since users would have easier access to the music from multiple devices without having to transfer between them.

[Via The Age]