Samsung debuts its 3-in-1 Music Hub app for the Galaxy S3 [video review]

Samsung’s new Music Hub has just gone live in the US with the promise to let music lovers bring their music collection to the cloud, stream and purchase songs, and listen to personal radio. For the time being, the integrated music service is only available for the Galaxy S3 on AT&T and US Cellular, although the service is expected to cross over to Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon soon.

Subscribers of Music Hub will have access to millions of songs from major labels like Sony, EMI, Universal, and Warner, as well as select indie ones. Streaming is free and there are no ads, but you also have the option to purchase and download the songs to your device for offline listening.

Meanwhile, premium subscribers can save their music collection to Samsung’s cloud locker (up to 100GB of storage) and stream songs across registered devices. You can become a Premium member by paying a $9.99 monthly fee, though they do offer a free 30-day trial.

Samsung Music Hub Review

Android Authority’s own Clayton Ljungberg has posted the following video review of Samsung’s Music Hub app.

First things first, before you get to send your music collection to the cloud, you’ll need to install the Music Hub Uploaded desktop software, which works for both PCs and Macs. You can grab songs you have from iTunes, Windows Media Player, or from any folder on your computer.

The app features a tabbed interface where you can access each menu easily. The Now Playing screen has the usual album art view, thumbs up/down button, and player controls. A highlight is the recommendation feature, represented by a lightbulb, which will give out recommendations on songs based on your music collection and genre preferences. Upon clicking on the icon, you’ll get a list of similar songs to listen to that are available on Samsung’s music vault. You can easily add songs to the queue lists, whether they’re from your own collection or recommended ones.

Streaming from the cloud seems pretty fast, save for the few seconds of buffering in the beginning.  If you’re seeking to expand your musical horizon, you can browse and listen to the many, many songs that Samsung offers on its music catalog – as categorized by genre. Checking out what’s playing on the radio can also be done easily. For easy access, again, the radio section has been divided into genres. You can create your personals radio stations by choosing from the list of songs, and everything else will be handled by the Music Hub.

Audio purists who like their music to sound a certain way can make use of the built-in equalizer. Furthermore, you can choose between standard- or high-quality audio; the former is ideal when you’re traveling and don’t have too fast of an Internet connection.

And the verdict is: the Music Hub app is a solid starting point for Samsung with many great features that rival and even surpass its competitors. And things should only get better from here!  It definitely got Clayton’s seal of approval.

What about yours?

Posted in: News