To compete with Apple’s iTunes Radio, Samsung has developed its own ad-free radio service called Milk Music.
Milk Music uses the Slacker Radio service to provide its catalog of 13 million songs and over 200 stations. It runs exclusively in Samsung Galaxy lines, such as Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II.
One of Milk Music’s unique features is its circular tuning dial. “It is instant. It is literally like the old terrestrial FM dial,” says Daren Tsui of Samsung Media Solutions. “You turn it and hear it (a new station or song). We think that is going to allow you to discover music in a more organic, natural way. I’m using my ears to discover rather than a bunch of metadata.”
It also has a feature called “Spotlight,” which allows continuous play of curated music selections, and “My Station,” where users can make their own personal stations containing their favorite songs.
In order to use the service, users must be on a Wi-Fi or cellular network. The service is currently free and users do not even have to sign in to start listening. It has no traditional ads, but users are limited to skipping a maximum of 6 songs per hour. At this time, the service is only available in the U.S.
