Sony confirmed widespread Internet rumors on Friday by announcing that PlayStation Portable owners will soon have access to the company's cloud-based music service.

Music Unlimited, powered by Qriocity, is a Web-based library of more than 7 million songs from major and independent labels from around the world. The service comes in two flavors: basic and premium. The basic service is set up similar to a satellite radio station where it offers a commercial-free, uninterrupted music stream from a variety of channels, genres and artists. Like Pandora (News - Alert), the service "learns" what type of music the user likes and tailors the catalog accordingly.

"By studying users’ listening habits and incorporating their preferences, Music Unlimited delivers dozens of personalized music channels uniquely tailored to their tastes," Brandon Stander, director of marketing, PlayStation Network, noted in a blog post.

The premium service, on the other hand, enables users to search the entire database of music, create playlists and play songs on demand. It also gives users access to a number of premium channels that aren't offered to basic subscribers.

While the news is certainly good for PSP owners, there are two catches. First, the portable device can only access the music database through a Wi-Fi connection, meaning 3G database surfing is out. Furthermore, the handheld console will need to have the latest firmware update installed for it to run the service.

Music Unlimited already streams content to a number of other Sony devices, including newer network-enabled BRAVIA TVs, Blu-Ray Disc players, Blu-Ray Disc Home Theatre systems, PlayStation 3 consoles and VAIO laptops. Users can synchronize their music across all of these devices without needing to manage or transfer music files.

PSP users with a PlayStation Network ID can sign up for the digital music service as soon as April 14. The basic service will cost $3.99 per month while the premium offering is priced at $9.99 per month. Users can try out the premium service for free for 30 days by clicking here.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee