Southwest Airlines has upgraded the IFE offer on its wi-fi-enabled aircraft through a deal with Beats Music, a music service that is intended to combine a curated music experience with the best technology.
Customers accessing Beats Music onboard through their personal devices can listen to wide-ranging music programming in pop, rock, country, and other genres to hear new artists and songs, which are selected by ‘curators’. Access to the service is free of charge, and for those unsure what they would like to listen to, or who want to try something new, there is a function called ‘The Sentence’, which offers a continuous playlist, customized according to four questions about location, activity, surroundings and musical preference.
The technology behind the service was developed by Global Eagle Entertainment, whose technical teams developed solution to securely stream music inflight using encrypted HTTP Live Streaming.
