PlayStation's Spotify Team Up: 3rd Party App Dominance

In the gaming universe, things are changing. While we'll likely never reach a point where it'll be the manufacturers of hardware or the developers of software that take full control of the console ecosystem, today you can mark one up for the latter. Instead of working with their own Music Unlimited system, Sony has decided to team up with Spotify – to great effect. Today Sony not only ends their Music Unlimited system completely across all PlayStation hardware, it begins 30 days of free use of Spotify. Sony is so confident in this team-up, they're tossing out the old and giving the new away for free.

That's if you had an active subscription to Music Unlimited before the cut-off date, of course. A cool 30-days of free use isn't unheard of in the Spotify ecosystem, either. Since Spotify launched internationally – and in the United States specifically – they've been drawing in new users with short periods of free time.

Now as Spotify keeps their subscription costs device-agnostic, users who were brought onboard in the past can continue their experience here on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. This service is also launching on Xperia smartphones and tablets – not that you'd have been unable to access Spotify there before, but here it's part of the PlayStation Music ecosystem.

Here you're also getting the unique ability to keep your music running while you're playing video games.

Want to have Ace of Base's "The Sign" on while you're playing Final Fantasy Type-0 HD? By all means, make it happen!

Don't expect to be able to change the track or the playlist once you're in the game though – switching back to your Spotify music requires that you quit the game before you re-enter.

Worry not, though, this is just the beginning. Hopefully controls will expand in the near future.

Let us know if you're using Spotify through PlayStation Music now, and head to the timeline below for additional Spotify bits and pieces.