On the PS4's lack of music....

senor_flojo

PSLS Level: Bronze
Something I just thought to consider (over-edited copypasta from a disqus post I wrote):

If I want a broken Battlefield 4 experience, or to revisit best-of's from the previous generation, I use my PS4. If I want to play games, listen to music, or watch a Bluray, be it 3D or otherwise, I use my PS3. In regards to music, I stick with the last-gen system for a number of reasons: the PS3 has a surprisingly nice sorting system for music collections, I've grown attached to the background visualizations, and I love how easy it is to back-up new CD's I've bought over the years. Yes, someone still buys CD's! I have exactly 205 unique artists/bands, many of them comprising of full discographies. Somewhere in the ballpark of 14,000 songs. Even if I could transfer my music to my PS4, I wouldn't due to the sheer magnitude of the project, but I doubt this is a problem everyone has. In fact, most people seem to have the opposite problem, that they funded their PS4 by selling their PS3. Here's where I find the argument a problem because they perceive that audio is necessary on what essentially is a fairly dedicated device (Bluray movies and Apps aside).

Something to remember is that early PS3 models included SACD support, a format that was eventually dropped because of cost and due to the lack of consumer demand. Perhaps Sony--yes, the company who ushered us nearly all things audio for roughly half a century--noticed a trend in music-listening habits, which have gone mobile. Thanks, Apple! Suddenly, people don't buy albums; they buy songs. When you consider that most people use iPods or a phone for music, be it purchases off iTunes, or streaming via Pandora or some other similar service, I can see a growing argument against MP3/CD support. Sometimes I feel that nobody really uses MP3 anymore, outside of broke-ass pirates. But even most of them moved on to FLAC or some other lossless format.

Something I wonder about MP3 on PS4 is if the system can playback music at 44.1/88.2/176.4 kHz vs. 48 kHz. You know, since the PS4 doesn't even play CD's. Considering video games and film use 48 kHz sampling, whereas CD's run off 44.1/88.2/176.4 kHz, perhaps there could very well be some technological issue that might eventually be worked around on the firmware, but would take away resources at a time when other things take higher priority--you know, like games. But then again, I'm not entirely familiar with sound processing on a current-gen video game console so I could be completely wrong.

But consider this evidence: using 48 kHz sampling on PS3, it's clearly less taxing on the system because songs start up immediately and you can access the XMB during song playback. On 44.1etc kHz, there is a slight delay prior to playback and you must stop the song before accessing the XMB.

Sure, you might say you can up-sample 44.1 kHz files to 48 kHz, considering that's an option on the PS3, and then you can play your music that way. Do me a favor, and listen to music on your PS3 in 48 kHz, and then in 44.1 kHz. If you have good equipment, music will sound brighter and fuller. If you can't hear a difference, just stick to listening to music on your phone.

But if you really want to be hardcore, you can simply buy an audio receiver with network functionality, and then set up a NAS to share all of your music straight off the network, no transferring required. And suddenly it doesn't matter if PS4 plays music.
 
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To be honest, I never really used my PS3 to play music outside of when I played Wipeout on it. I honestly haven't even checked it out on the PS4. All my music is on my phone so I just play it from my phone when I want to listen. However sometimes I play a YouTube video for my daughter on my PS3.
 
Am I the only person who uses Music Unlimited (when it works)?
Sony had sent me a free code for it when I bought Rock Band Blitz, but I didn't redeem it in time.

Not too interested in listening to music off of my TV when I have a bomb ass headset for my PC, but I'm still kind of upset I didn't get to try the service. Is it any good? Ad free, I hope
 
Am I the only person who uses Music Unlimited (when it works)?

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Sony had sent me a free code for it when I bought Rock Band Blitz, but I didn't redeem it in time.

Not too interested in listening to music off of my TV when I have a bomb ass headset for my PC, but I'm still kind of upset I didn't get to try the service. Is it any good? Ad free, I hope
Completely ad free. Works on PS3 app. Works as background music for your games on PS4. Works on Vita, smartphones, pc, and tablets too. There is a LOT of music on there. I haven't run into too many things that didn't exist there.
 
Completely ad free. Works on PS3 app. Works as background music for your games on PS4. Works on Vita, smartphones, pc, and tablets too. There is a LOT of music on there. I haven't run into too many things that didn't exist there.
Doesn't sound that bad, actually. Might give it a shot if Sony is ever courteous enough to send me another free trial.

The only time I've used music on my console is for in game music. Like in WWE games with custom soundtracks for entrances.
I like being given the option to listen to music for some games. Granted, I'll always prefer a quality OST over anything else, but sometimes the option can really change an experience. For example, Killzone 2 supported custom tracks for the online multiplayer, and nothing gets me more pumped to kill some ISA scum than listening to a death and thrash metal (especially since some of those custom matches could literally go on for hours). While my experience with that game was merely "enhanced" by the option, Skate 3 and the SSX reboot were made significantly better just by introducing this option. I found both games to have lackluster soundtracks (the latter being downright horrid), but my custom playlist consisting of choice tracks from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and SSX games really brought me back to my teenage years during the height of the "extreme sports" video game fad.
 
Completely ad free. Works on PS3 app. Works as background music for your games on PS4. Works on Vita, smartphones, pc, and tablets too. There is a LOT of music on there. I haven't run into too many things that didn't exist there.
Are new releases added the day they are released? How much a month? I've always been curious about the service.
 
Are new releases added the day they are released? How much a month? I've always been curious about the service.
Yes. New releases are uploaded on Tuesdays, typically around 3-4am EST (I waited for the update one morning at work). The service is generally good, but it seems to be "undergoing maintenance" a lot when you listen on your PS4. Sometimes I just exit and try again a few minutes later.

On your smartphone (and maybe tablet? I haven't tried) and Vita, you can sync your playlists that are designated for "Offline Mode" and listen to them without being connected to the Internet, though you still have to use the Music Unlimited app to hear them. That is the only way to use Music Unlimited as background music for Vita.
 
Apparently my free code to Music Unlimited that came with my PS4 didn't apply to me because I had previously subscribed to the service in the past. I argued that I couldn't experience it on PS4 the way they meant for it to be. But that didn't matter, the code is still useless.

Anyway, I don't really care about the music features. I get gaming consoles to play games. And more often than not I want to hear the audio from the game, not a song. If ever I want to play music, I have about dozen other devices that already can do that. Just no sense in a console having the feature in my eyes.
 
Anyway, I don't really care about the music features. I get gaming consoles to play games. And more often than not I want to hear the audio from the game, not a song. If ever I want to play music, I have about dozen other devices that already can do that. Just no sense in a console having the feature in my eyes.
I know you're not a trophy guy, but I really appreciate my death metal when I'm grinding kills on Dynasty Warriors.

In all honesty, though, I rarely use it on my PS4. It doesn't work well enough all the time. I have a 52mbps dl / ~40mbps ul connection at home via PS4, but Sony's servers are often busy or having maintenance (maybe 2/5 of the time?) when I want to try to use the service. I primarily use Music Unlimited on my smart phone when I'm at work. It almost always works that way!
 

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