At the end of September Beats by Dr Dre parted ways with HTC to give HTC a desperately needed cash injection following their financial woes.
The split with HTC doesn’t seem to have done Beats any harm though, because now Google Play Music All Access, Spotify, iTunes Radio, Rdio and JB Hifi have a new competitor: Beats Music. Beats President and COO Luke Wood recently told The Next Web in an interview that “Beats Music” will be available within the next few months in the United States. The service will immediately be available via both Android and iOS apps, later on a Windows desktop based program similar to the one that Spotify currently have available.
According to the interview the service will be heavily focussed on playlists because according to Wood:
We’re going to focus really heavily on playlists, because that’s how we consume music and that’s how most people consume music.
With the focus being on personalisation, customisation and learning what you like to listen to …
rather than forcing users to search blindly for new tracks or artists that they might like
It’s unclear how exactly the playlist setup will be accomplished in the early stages, or how the service will build your profile. The description leaves us with the distinct impression that it’ll be something like iTunes Genius and the like, which predict music you’ll like based on what you’ve listened to and bought before.
With this in mind, it’ll probably be a good idea not to let your kids use the service otherwise you may end up with some really odd (and frankly unwanted) tracks in your playlists that are generated for you. Anyone with kids will know exactly what I mean…
Are you happy with one of the current streaming services, or will you give Beats Audio a go? Is there room in the market for yet another music streaming provider?
Funny, i always thought that Beats had some involvement with MOG?