Music on PlayStation 3

If you're a music lover, check out the many ways you can keep your ears happy with PS3.

PlayStation 3 is the world's most powerful games system, and there's a lot more to it than that – it's also a fantastic multimedia player. With Blu-ray Disc and DVD movie playback, PlayTV, the Photo Gallery and a Flash-compatible Internet Browser, all of your entertainment needs are catered for. Here's a look at how you can use it to enjoy your favourite music.

Building a collection

You can save audio files onto your PS3 system's hard drive in various formats, including MP3 and WMA. You can also listen to CDs and import them into your collection, which is found under Music on the PS3 Home Menu (XMB), or stream music from your PC and other compatible devices, using the Media Server feature.

It's easy to browse your music collection once it's saved to your hard drive. You can sort files by name, artist, genre or date added, and you can create playlists of your favourites or build a soundtrack for a party. For added style, you can choose one of the beautiful Visual Players to appear on your TV as the sounds keep coming, or alternatively, create a Photo Gallery or activate Life With PlayStation and catch up on news and weather from around the world. If you're having a party, you could even set up a digital camera and play a Slideshow of the evening as it happens while your music plays in the background.

Tunes and games

Certain games, such as WipEout HD, LittleBigPlanet and more, support custom soundtracks, so you can listen to the music saved onto your hard drive while you're piloting your anti-gravity ship or creating a masterpiece.

If you enjoyed the music from Linger in Shadows, Pain, PixelJunk Eden or PixelJunk Monsters, you can download their soundtracks from PlayStation Store. Movement is also worth checking out; the video series, available for free from PlayStation Store, follows Spencer and Martin as they take a camper van around Europe in search of the hottest unsigned bands.

Videos when you want them

PS3 users will have free access to thousands of free music videos from June 2009, with VidZone*. The free application, downloadable from PlayStation Store, lets you watch, pause and rewind all of your favourite videos, and with regular updates, it's always bang up to date. The videos are of superb quality, and as they are streaming, there's no waiting around for downloads. You can even create playlists from the huge array of videos.

If listening is too passive for your tastes, then belt out your favourite song with SingStar. The hit series has been livening parties since 2004, and as a result, there are plenty of songs to get your mouth around, whether that's on one of the Blu-ray Disc releases, a PlayStation 2 DVD, which are compatible with PS3 providing you own a PS3 version of SingStar and the latest software update, or from the SingStore, which now has over 1,000 tracks available for download. Using a PlayStation Eye USB Camera, you can upload your performances to My SingStar Online and singstargame.com, or rate the videos added by the community and leave comments.

* VidZone is currently available only in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Australia.

Rock and roll star

For those proficient in air guitar, saucepan drums and broomstick bass, the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games will help you live out your rock and roll fantasies. They come with guitar, bass and drum peripherals, as well as a microphone, so you and your friends can get together and bounce around your living room like The Who.

Whatever your musical persuasion, you'll find plenty of options on your PS3 system to keep the good vibrations coming. If you require further details on any of the features mentioned here, the relevant Support section of eu.playstation.com offers in-depth guides to everything your system has to offer.