Samsung is the latest company to launch a new free and (theoretically) ad-free music service with its new "Milk Music" powered by Slacker.
With its latest Milk Music offering, Samsung is now going up against consecrated services such as Spotify and Pandora, as well as Apple's more recent iTunes Radio.
Milk Music is powered by Slacker and includes a comprehensive library of 13 million songs. It is available only via Google Play and only for Galaxy smartphones or tablets. The service will not work on any other Android device, it is Galaxy-exclusive.
In fact, it won't even work on all Galaxy devices, only "select" ones. According to Samsung, the app is "fully customizable" and offers over 200 stations to go with that 13 million song library.
"Milk Music introduces a fresh approach to music that reflects our innovation leadership and our focus on creating best-in-class consumer experiences," Gregory Lee, President and CEO of Samsung Telecommunications America and Samsung Electronics North America Headquarters, touted in the press release. "We're offering consumers amazing, rich music experiences built around what matters most to them and their lifestyle."
"With a growing music catalog of 200 genre-based and curated stations, and 13M songs, Milk Music connects people with the best music, whether it's a standby song or a new discovery, with significantly fewer repeats. In addition, the 'Spotlight' feature offers a continuous curated selection of songs and albums handpicked by music tastemakers and influencers. 'My Stations' allows you to create personal stations based on your favorite songs and albums, easily accessible on the dial, providing limitless listening options. Milk Music also allows you six song skips per hour per station."
The service is launching in the U.S. on Saturday, March 8, and will be available to owners of the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, as well as the new Galaxy S5, which is yet to hit retail. Samsung further boasted that it will soon provide unique music programming from emerging and top-selling artists, which will be exclusively available through Milk Music.
When it comes to the ad-free experience Samsung touted, however, there's a catch. The company may be promoting the service as completely free and without advertisements, but the Google Play page for the app mentions that this will only be valid for a limited time. The press release doesn't note this detail.
If you have one of the aforementioned Samsung Galaxy devices and are in the U.S., you can now head over to the Google Play store and download the app. If you already gave it a try, drop by our comment section below and let us know how it fares.
