RealNetworks Unifi Plans to Simplify Personal Media For A Price

RealNetworks, once known for its music player and video streaming software, understands that many people have personal files scattered across various places and devices. To help the situation, and to earn a little revenue too, the company unveiled a new service called Unifi at CES 2011.

Technically in public preview, but expected to launch in early 2011, Unifi is meant to gather all media files such as music, photos, and video that may live on cell phones, laptops, or social media sites. Once rounded up, these files are then pulled into one central library which is linked to a Unifi account. Users can then access them for playback no matter on which device they reside, or what device they chose to use. A free app will allow media access on iOS and Android, while PC and Macs rely on a purely Web interface. Of course all gadgets in question must be powered up and connected to the Internet for access.

An interesting feature is the ability for Unifi to push files up to the cloud for storage, providing access anytime and anywhere. Of course this is the heart of RealNetwork’s business model. According to the company, 2GB of cloud storage is free but anything above that will cost  an as yet undetermined fee. Pricing though will be tiered by amount of storage space. It will be interesting to see what customers will make of Unifi and if it will find traction in the market. Only time will tell, but we’ll certainly watch this service as it develops.