Sony Wants to Replace iTunes

Kiss goodbye to logging into your PlayStation Network account because come Wednesday, you'll be logging into your new Sony Entertainment Network account. The name change is merely cosmetic, but it signals a new era for Sony — one that's deliberately focused on the user experience.

The change takes place effectively on February 8. Existing PSN users won't have to do anything and their accounts won't break. The name will just be different, but what a difference the name makes.

After news broke out that Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer would be handing the company baton over to Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, in June, the man's wasted no time in trying to restructure Sony.

Wayne Gretzky is quoted as saying the famous "skate to where the puck will be, not where it is" line. The new Sony's doing exactly that.

Under Hirai's leadership, Sony was able to position the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 to not only be the company's most successful products, but also create an ecosystem of connected hardware and software.

That network was the PSN — a content delivery system that gave users access to tons of games, music and video. The next level is taking the success of PSN and merging it with the rest of Sony's crop of digital content.

By renaming PSN to SEN, Sony's putting its foot down and telling consumers that SEN is its response to iTunes. That was the message both Stringer and Hirai wanted CES 2012 attendees to take away from the show last month.

Sony is focusing its efforts on fusing its library of digital content with its hardware to create "complete packages" that work effortlessly with one another.

If all goes according to plan, we should be seeing a company pump out smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs and game consoles that deliver digital content with only one content account — total synergy.

One account for all your digital content. No hassles and no frustrations. No more forgotten passwords and no more multiple subscription fees.

Consumers are smarter today than they've ever been before. When shopping, they look at the ecosystem of digital content that each platform brings. It's the same reason why the Kindle Fire has managed to take off; people are in love with Amazon's content service.

Sony has a goldmine worth of games, music, e-books, and video. SEN is going to unify them all under one roof. Sony finally gets it. Good riddance to PSN. Give me SEN now and let me view my content on any Sony device, from anywhere. That is the future.

Via The Sixth Axis

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