MP3Tunes And Roku Team Up To Bring Your Music Out Of The iTunes Library
Let's face it. There's plenty of folks out there that love iTunes, but don't have an iPod, or some other iDevice. Not that there's a problem playing your iTunes library somewhere else, considering all of the music is now DRM-free, but there's still that desire to get that music to as many places as possible. So how about your TV? Well, if you've got a Roku Box, then you'll soon be free and clear to enjoy all of your music right from your TV.
In a deal inked today, Roku is teaming up with MP3Tunes. The latter company is designed to provide people with a secure cloud-based location for their music, with the ability to also listen to music in an "unlimited" capacity. The site gives customers the ability to sync their music to the cloud, so that they can later enjoy it from any web browser, as well as a large variety of mobile products, and home entertainment devices. That last bit is the most important part, as the Roku Box definitely fits in there.
You will be able to access 10GB of storage for absolutely no charge, just as long as you can stand the ads that they've installed. But if you want to pay to get rid of them, or you just need more storage up there in the ethereal, then you'll be able to start paying your way all the way up to 200GB of storage. We love options, especially those that let us pick and choose where we play our music, but we're not sure how excited to get our iTunes library on our TV. We'll probably have to give it a shot before we can make a final judgment.
Press Release
MP3tunes and Roku Partner To Bring Personal iTunes Music Collection To TVs
An Industry First: No PC or home server required to play iTunes music libraries on Home Entertainment Systems
San Diego, CA – For the first time, music lovers can play their personal iTunes music collection on their TV without a home server. Roku, the market leader in streaming entertainment devices has added expanded support for personal music collections with the addition of MP3tunes. Available now on all Roku players, the MP3tunes channel connects securely to a customer's personal music stored online in their MP3tunes Locker. After a few simple steps to connect and sync music to a web-based locker, any Roku becomes a rich music player.
"Now customers can get their music library to their TV without the complexity or cost of a home server," said Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3tunes. "For less than $100, iTunes users or any music enthusiast can turn a TV into a home stereo and take advantage of the best speakers in their house."
Roku customers can find the free MP3tunes channel in the Roku channel store. By adding this channel to their Roku, customers can access their song libraries and playlists which have historically been available only on their PC in iTunes or portable players which they sync. The MP3tunes channel defaults to a one-click shuffle mode, which immediately plays a random mix of music along with a visual display of accompanying cover art. Customers may choose to browse their music and select artists, albums or playlists to hear.
All Roku customers receive 10GB of free storage space for their music which, on average, will store music libraries up to 2,500 songs. Additional storage for larger music collections is available with MP3tunes premium locker accounts up to 200GBs. For a limited time, customers may also buy a Roku player with a $20 discount and get a free MP3tunes Premium Locker. See www.mp3tunes.com/rokubundle for more information.
"Roku customers are increasingly taking advantage of streaming music services, and now with MP3tunes we are giving them access to their full iTunes music library right on the TV," said Jim Funk, vice president of business development for Roku, Inc. "In addition to being a terrific video player with support for Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and a whole host of other great sports and entertainment content, the Roku player is also a gateway to rich audio entertainment thanks to MP3tunes."
By choosing Roku as its first launch partner in the home entertainment category, MP3tunes joins major streaming services like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Amazon Video On Demand (Nasdaq: AMZN), MLB.TV, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship®. The Roku digital video player joins a growing family of devices that play music from a secure MP3tunes locker including Apple iPhone, iTouch, Google Android and Logitech radios. MP3tunes' unique open music API (www.mp3tunes.com/api) allows any net aware device for car, home, mobile to play a personal music collection.
A video tour of the service can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mp3tunes#p/u/6/ctn4Dx0IGPE