Xiaomi is the latest entry into the value added service segment in India with its newly launched Mi Music and Mi Video. The Chinese carrier launched the online streaming services in India on May 2, but it will be limited to Xiaomi phones. Xiaomi hasn't clarified whether they would expand Mi Music and Mi Video to other devices in the future.
Mi Music is being powered by Hungama, and will offer over a crore free tracks in 13 local languages. The Mi Music service will set you back a meagre Rs 899 per year. Like most other music streaming services, the Mi Music also allows you to download tracks and play them offline at your own convenience.
While the Mi Music is readily available for download, the Mi Video app will be available to users from next week.
The Mi video app will bring together an aggregation of a variety of content partners such as Hungama Play, SonyLiv and Voot. Other content players such as Sun NXT, ALT Balaji, Zee5, Viu and TVF are expected to made available on the Mi Video app soon. Although Xiaomi hasn't announced any specific subscription plan yet for the video service, premium content on the Xiaomi Mi Video could be charged on an a la carte basis.
Xiaomi is currently running both the services on a beta version, with the final upgrades to hit the markets in mid-May. Xiaomi claims its library has content worth over five lakh hours, with 80 per cent of the content available for free. The latest offerings from Xiaomi will pit it directly against other streaming services like Google Music, Saavn and the likes. To further enrich user experience, Xiaomi Mi Music will also feature Dynamic Lyrics, a feature that will highlight the lyrics of the song that's being played. Xiaomi expects this will give its users a karaoke-like experience.
Keeping up to the latest smart technologies, the Xiaomi Mi Video can be cast to a smartTV with DLNA or Miracast. The Mi Video app will support formats such as AVI, MP$, MOV, MKV, MKA, MPEG and M2TS.
Picture-in-picture and other personalised features such as genre filters for both the Mi Video and Mi Music will be made available over time. Xiaomi said it would work on adding extra features to the music and video apps after getting feedback from its users. With the content of both Mi Music and Mi Video restricted to Xiaomi devices, it will be interesting to see how the Chinese smartphone maker will stand up to its more open-ended global counterparts.