VidZone launches on PSN today

By Robert Purchese Published 11 June, 2009

Free music video service for PS3.

Sony has reminded us that PS3 music service VidZone launches today, after promising as much last week during E3.

Now you definitely know.

VidZone, remember, is the free online music video service where all the latest songs from all the latest stars can be watched on your telly, a bit like MTV.

VidZone is on-demand, though, and the videos can be paused and rewound and stuffed into playlists. Those playlists can be put together on PSP remotely, too.

Sony promises thousands of songs at launch, including stuff from Britney Spears, Tori Amos and Fatboy Slim. Welcome to 1999!

Still, there's enough in there to last three weeks even when you're watching every day, all day.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (35) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • woodnotes #1 3 years ago

    My gf will like this.

  • Widge #2 3 years ago

    Nice, I will show this to the madam tonight... and then to her parents with a "hah, you paid for Apple TV" type flair.

  • patch #3 3 years ago

    Those playlists can be put together on PSP remotely, too. So, will this be easy to do, or am I going to spend all night working out how to get things portable?

  • Beano #4 3 years ago

    Whill this be available in all EU countries or only a select few ?

  • woodnotes #5 3 years ago

    @Widge: Someone has bought an Apple TV? :o

  • Widge #6 3 years ago

    Yes. If its got Apple on it, then they buy it.

    In fact last time I was round, they did the grand showcase: "You can have music, and then your photos on! And HD films...."

    Someone turned to me and said "Does your thing do that?", to which I replied with a very loud and bland "YES". Be interesting to have them bob on round with free music videos on the go. "So how much do they cost on iTunes again?".

  • Miths #7 3 years ago

    "Britney Spears, Tori Amos and Fatboy Slim. Welcome to 1999!"

    Hey, I take offense to (parts of) that comment - around a third of my music collection is Tori Amos :p. And the new studio album released last month is great.

    Anyway, I'm also looking forward to seeing whether this will actually be available for all or most of Europe or if it's a UK only thing, which wouldn't surprise me at all when we're talking about licensing deals with the music industry (and the same goes for movies).
    Well, whether the rest of us get this new feature or not it's probably rather doubtful I'll be using it much anyway.

  • jjolley #8 3 years ago

    It's around £1.50 or something like that and it's really not worth it. As a mac user myself I think Itunes can get very expensive if you're not careful.

  • jerrymanu #9 3 years ago

    This looks pretty sweet. I'm assuming it'll only be Sony's own back catalog? Also, to query what Beano asks above, will it be available in all territories and how will the PSP element work? Is it a download type thing or a stream type thing? If its the former there'll be all sorts of flack going iTunes / apples way!

  • jjolley #10 3 years ago

    as I understand it, the vidzone is an application that you download to your ps3 machine. I'm guessing it's similar to pandora. It'll be interesting to try it, my partner's going to love it for sure.

  • jjolley #11 3 years ago

    It'll be interesting to read eurogamer's take on the system. At least then if they give it 3/10 we can blame the music! Seriously, looking forward to the EG review of this and i'm hoping we get a headsup on when it's actually available for download and how we go about getting it.

  • Doctor_What #12 3 years ago

    Good addition. We'll probably use it in my house.

  • Goffee #13 3 years ago

    Um, why can't you download videos direct to PSP? What with its VIDEOS tab in the XMB, too much of a conceptual leap?

    We don't all have/want PS3s...

  • pompeystallion #14 3 years ago

    @jjolley.... Its FREE! FREE MUSIC!! and over 10,000 of them!

    According to other sites, its downloaded from the PS Store today and will sit under the Music Icon on the XMB.

    Looking at the images, there are Sony and Universal artists and the promo video on playstation.com uses Dizzy Rascal who is an Indie label (I think!).

    @jerrymanu.... The PSP element is remote play according to gamespot UK

  • rhubarbandcustard #15 3 years ago

    itunes music videos cost £1.89 on the UK store.

    £1.89!!!

  • jerrymanu #16 3 years ago

    Thanks pompeystallion. Wow! If this all works out it's massive. FREE music! Although i'm still not sure about the full terms. Once you DL VidZone does the media get DL'ed as well or do you just stream it to the PS3 on a per song basis. Therefore you never really "own" the music just borrow it. And if this is the case, whats the buffering / compression going to be like? You tube vids on the PS3 browser although functional are small and do require some buffering.

  • jjolley #17 3 years ago

    at pompeystallion:
    Thanks for the info. My partner will love this for sure as she's a big home fan and we did see the video in the bowling area.

    And to the guy regarding Itunes, you're right, makes me think of the Kathryne Tate show for some reason - the sketch with the couple whining about things and the guy turns round and says "robbing bastards!"

    It's true though, Apple do over charge for there Itunes vids. I can't really complain about they're accessibility though as i'm writing this on a mac with VoiceOver and that's included in every system.

  • RockIsSponge #18 3 years ago

    It'll be like 'The Box - music TV you control', but without other plebs selecting tunes you hate. Good stuff, I just hope Sony continue to support it with up-to-date stuff.

  • jjolley #19 3 years ago

    at jerrymanu:

    There is a good youtube demo of the system taken from Gamespot Uk at [link url=http://in.truveo.com/vidzone-ps3-handson/id/473828716 ]http://in .truveo.com/vidzone-ps3-handson...[/link]

    I hope the link works as i'd used VoiceOver to copy from the Safari address bar and pasted. If that's not how it should be done then folks let me know.

    From listening to it though, the system seems quite flexible. Streaming only but I do understand why. They're also not working in HD yet witch for us brits anyway isn't a problem as many ISPs are funny about bandwidth.

  • danathjo #20 3 years ago

    link worked perfectly jjolley, cheers

    looks like a great addition to the PS3....will be heaps good for parties

  • jjolley #21 3 years ago

    at danathjo:
    Yeah it'll be really good for finding new bands also. I'm guessing this is the beginning for the ps3 and online music services. Perhaps they'l build this directly into home with virtual stereo systems or tv sets? If they did that, my partner's going to go mad on it. My psn ID is jrjolley, and if you see a female in home with that name, it's my partner. As an aside, if she enjoys it then fair enough. Home's never going to be accessible for me so she may as well use my profile and enjoy the function.

  • SAH1977 #22 3 years ago

    This is a really usefull service, it'll be great for discovering new music.

    I'd be lost without my PS3 now, not only for games and Blu-ray movies but internet browsing, music and digital photos.
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/09 @ 12:16

  • RustyBullet #23 3 years ago

    @SAH1977 you should be a sales person dude. Im sold....NOT. I want GAMES.

  • pompeystallion #24 3 years ago

    [link url=http://blog.eu.playstation.com/200 9/06/11/vidzone-lands-on-playstation3-today/
    ]http://bl og.eu.playstation.com/2009/06/1...[/link]


    Sweeeet!

  • Cuke #25 3 years ago

    Without wishing to sound like a killjoy, I'd much prefer something like Spotify on the PS3. I mean who actually sits down to watch music videos these days? I'm much rather just have streaming audio I can feed around the house without the loading delays that will no doubt screw up this for people without mega fast broadband....

    Me thinks I'll carry on using a laptop and Spotify for all my music needs...

  • laudy #26 3 years ago

    isn't a games console for playing games on?

    the boys at sony should dtop trying to be all things to all men and sort their software out.

  • danathjo #27 3 years ago

    @jjolley
    cool, my psn is the same as my EG name...and if you see a female danathjo in home, that's just me pretending to be a woman X)

  • Jaybles #28 3 years ago

    If this is being released in only certain European countries, that would imply that the European PSN store is broken up into different territories.
    If that is the case why does the UK have to wait for translations etc. for all of Europe before content is released.
    Surely it could be on par with the US PSN store?

  • Jaybles #29 3 years ago

    @cuke

    For people like me it will get alot of use.

    My 40" tv and PS3 are in my lounge.
    It will be good to have a custom playlist of good music videos to play at parties and gatherings etc.

  • Miths #30 3 years ago

    From the blog:

    "VidZone will be available for free download from PlayStation Store in UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia"

    Well, it's around six countries more than I had expected :), but that still doesn't mean that I'm not feeling shafted for not living in one of them.
    I wonder if this will work by setting up a UK PSN account or if they will be using more effective methods of blocking "fake" accounts like the movie whateveritscalled store on the US PSN.

  • septimus #31 3 years ago

    Sounds good. Nice feature that my wife will certainly appreciate.

  • callum9999 #32 3 years ago

    Goffee - I'd guess you cant download them to your PSP because that would be ridiculously expensive for Sony. Bearing in mind on iTunes videos are around £1.89(?), if millions of people were downloading hundreds of videos, Sony would go broke in no time.

  • Wildsleven #33 3 years ago

    great addition for ps3, ALMOST no loading time for music at all, its super cool, i swear!

  • rare_uk #34 3 years ago

    Yay maybe I can get rid of my Virginmedia TV sub now, as I only kept it for the music-on-demand - for the kids. Will have to check out how good it is.

  • Vouzamo #35 3 years ago

    After trying Vidzone last night, I must say that I am rather impressed. The search found all but one song that I was looking for although I didn't pick anything exceptionally rare or unusual. Controls are simple and video can be viewed full screen if you press the select button with the control bar appearing periodically for advertising but this isn't too intrusive. The application does exactly what you would want and best of all it is free. Ideal for creating a playlist for a house party or just to put some music on when you are about the home. Yet to try the remote play feature but very happy with the offerings so far. Well done Sony, thanks for the freebie.