On 15th September I posted a blog entry entitled Is Peter Bale's music streaming service actually Zune? where I pondered about a supposedly imminent release of a music service from MSN; Mr Bale is an Executive Director at MSN UK. My interest was heightened by mention of a music streaming service and I speculated that this may well have links with the newly launched Zune music streaming service in the US, this is what I had to say back then:

However, taken in context all of this is rather interesting given that Microsoft today launched a music streaming service under the guise of Zune:

Streaming Music, On Demand

Now as Zune Pass subscribers, not only can customers enjoy access to close to 6 million songs from the Zune Marketplace catalog for $14.99, the price of one CD a month, but they can also log into Zune.net and stream full albums and tracks through a computer's browser.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/sep09/09-15zunehdsoftwarepr.mspx

I wonder if this is the service that Mr Bale mentioned. Will the Zune streaming service be offered through MSN given Mr Bale's role in the company? Will this herald the introduction of the Zune service to the UK? (note that Mr Bale is head of MSN UK) Is this a portent to Zune devices being launched in the UK?

Well today MSN UK have launched that new music download-to-own service in beta at http://downloads.music.uk.msn.com/. One million DRM-free tracks are available from all the major music labels and are delivered through the MSN UK portal. Users can discover, play and download music as well as create their own playlists.   In addition to the download service MSN UK have also launched a limited music streaming service that will be trialled over the coming weeks with a select group of testers. 

I spoke to Mr Bale earlier today and he let me in on some interesting information about this streaming service, namely that it is built on the same platform that powers the Zune music streaming service in the US just as I speculated it may do back in September. He was quick to point out that this does not represent the launch of a UK or Europe wide Zune service however it is seen as testing the water so the portents for Zune launching outside the US are definitely better today than they were yesterday!

I'll have more information on the streaming service later but in the meantime go and check out the new download service at http://downloads.music.uk.msn.com/.  

- Jamie