Samsung takes on iTunes Radio with its new Milk Music radio service

Samsung today announced Milk Music, a new radio streaming service for its Galaxy smartphone owners. Powered by Slacker, the music service offers 200 ad-free music stations for Galaxy customers to enjoy. It enters a crowded streaming music marketplace that is dominated by big names such as Rdio, Spotify, Pandora and Apple’s own iTunes Radio. Milk Music is powered by Slacker Radio, which provides a library containing millions of tracks from all the major music labels. The service allows users to create personal stations based on artists or songs. It also has a feedback system that allows users to rate a song to improve its music recommendation engine.

“Milk Music introduces a fresh approach to music that reflects our innovation leadership and our focus on creating best-in-class consumer experiences,” said Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Telecommunications America and Samsung Electronics North America Headquarters. “We’re offering consumers amazing, rich music experiences built around what matters most to them and their lifestyle.”  

    The Milk Music app has a slick interface with a central dial to navigate between station genres. Users can dial in their favorite genres and view sub-genres as they slowly move around the dial wheel. As they switch from station to station, the location in a song is remembered, making it easy for users to jump between songs and not miss a note.

Milk music brings a music streaming service to Galaxy customers that is similar to iTunes Radio on the iPhone. Both services stream music to your smartphone and allow their users to create stations based on their favorite artists. While Apple runs its own service, Milk Music is powered by Slacker, which means there is no overhead and no licensing hassles for Samsung.  Milk Music is free and without ads, while iTunes Radio offers a free option with embedded iAds. iTunes Radio is available without ads for all iOS owners who pay $25 a year for iTunes Match.

What do you think of Samsung’s new streaming music service? Let us know in the comments.