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Google Launches Free, Legal Music Downloads in China

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the still-the-underdog-somewhere dept.

Wired is reporting that Google has a launched a new music download service in China to better compete with the leading search company there, Baidu.com. Offering some 350,000 songs, a number set to rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.1 million in the coming months, the library includes both Chinese and foreign artists signed by Sony Music, EMI, and Universal Music. Proponents of the new service are also hoping it will combat illegal music downloads simply by offering higher quality songs for download. There are no immediate plans to expand this service beyond China.

23 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Legal? and in....China? by pilgrim23 · · Score: 5, Funny

    hummm that does seem a somewhat...DIFFERENT business model...

    --
    - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  2. Proxy anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like a perfect way for the US to download high quality music with nothing more than a simple proxy.

    1. Re:Proxy anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      And to think, all this time, they've been trying to get outside of the firewall. Now we want in!

    2. Re:Proxy anyone? by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Funny

      These are right in the Unicode database.

      apt-get install unicode-data
      zgrep 'kDefinition.*blonde' /usr/share/unicode/Unihan.txt.bz2
      zgrep 'kDefinition.*slut' /usr/share/unicode/Unihan.txt.bz2

      The fun thing is, it's easier to search by meaning than by pronouciation or by how the character looks...

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  3. Link? by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone have a link to this so I can start the downloading?

    Or do I need a Chinese proxy first?

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Link? by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Informative

      You will need a Chinese proxy.

      I can read just enough Chinese to know which is the download link, but what songs I get is the luck of the draw.

    2. Re:Link? by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Funny

      Shall we call it Chinese Roulette instead of Russian Roulette?

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    3. Re:Link? by sakdoctor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ok, there's also a flash based youtube/winamp-like player so you can preview very quickly.

      Then there is a right click context menu for downloading mp3s. The ones I got were all 192kbps.

      Best fucking music download site ever! Roll out world wide please.

  4. Positive Reinforcement by Ahnteis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So let me get this straight -- massive piracy leads to free, legal downloads? I'm going to start installing p2p clients on every computer I'm asked to fix!

    1. Re:Positive Reinforcement by francium+de+neobie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just do it like the bankers - if everyone is a pirate, you're "too big to be prosecuted".

  5. So... by whisper_jeff · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, the key is to pirate songs so much that the labels have no choice but to offer legal, high quality downloads for free. Ok. Not what I expected but I'm willing to do my part...

    1. Re:So... by punkr0x · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You also have to ignore google for a while so they feel it necessary to lure you back with free songs.

  6. Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now... by geekmux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, let me get this straight. In order to stop the ever-growing black market of illegal music downloading and distribution, Google chooses to open up shop for free?

    So, if I start a massive wave of downloading pirated Microsoft software, when do I get my free copy of Office?

    The Chili Peppers had it right all along I guess...

    1. Re:Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now... by Samschnooks · · Score: 3, Funny
      Exactly! As a matter of fact, put all your CDs, DVDs, and other copyrighted material on-line for free and advertise it. That's the best way to break the system.

      Stick it to the man!

  7. New business plan by Yetihehe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Give music away for free 2. ?? 3. ???

    --
    Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
    1. Re:New business plan by Camann · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's better than what they had before: 1.??? 2.??? 3.???

      --
      I can't believe you don't know what a Hasemalphaginnojinglanaporphomism is.
    2. Re:New business plan by homesnatch · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sure, they lose money on every sale, but they'll make it up in volume!

    3. Re:New business plan by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not new at all. Google's business plan has always been:
      1) Create content that people want online.
      2) Give content away for free.
      3) Charge advertisers for ads delivered alongside content.
      4) Profit!
      As their profit is measured in the billions, offhand I would say this is a pretty good business plan.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  8. Re:How do you compete with free? by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    I agree, free and higher quality isn't enough. The music sounds better knowing that you've obtained it illegally. Just like how food tastes better knowing that you'll be dining and dashing. It's the adrenaline rush that males all the difference.

  9. Trying to Compete by hax0r_this · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would assume that Google is paying a small price for every download. From the sound of things they might recover a small portion of their costs in ad revenue, but the real goal is to offer a compelling service to capture more of the massive Chinese advertising market.

    Chinese Internet users now make up something like half of all internet users, and Google is currently losing to Baidu in that market. Thats a HUGE market to be losing in. So even if Google sees a net loss on offering music downloads, if they can become to Chinese internet users what they are to internet users in the rest of the world they just nearly doubled their ad viewers. Sure, an ad view in China is probably worth a little less, but with billions of viewers it hardly matters.

  10. Re:Proxy anyone? Until... by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    '"Born in the USA" will likely get binned...'

    Have you listened to the lyrics?

    Like, REALLY listened to the lyrics?

    I'm not just talking Republican National Convention playing the chorus over and over. Seriously. Born in the USA is not a shining example of feel-good patriotism. It's an ironic intervention against an America that's forgotten its defenders.

  11. Re:Proxy anyone? Until... by DittoBox · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA' Lyrics:

    Born down in a dead man's town
    The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
    You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
    'Til you spend half your life just covering up

    [chorus:]
    Born in the U.S.A.
    Born in the U.S.A.
    Born in the U.S.A.
    Born in the U.S.A.

    I got in a little hometown jam
    And so they put a rifle in my hands
    Sent me off to Vietnam
    To go and kill the yellow man

    [chorus]

    Come back home to the refinery
    Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
    I go down to see the V.A. man
    He said "Son don't you understand"

    [chorus]

    I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
    Fighting off the Viet Cong
    They're still there, he's all gone
    He had a little girl in Saigon
    I got a picture of him in her arms

    Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
    Out by the gas fires of the refinery
    I'm ten years down the road
    Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

    I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
    Born in the U.S.A.
    I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
    Born in the U.S.A.

    --
    Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
  12. we have both kinds, country AND western! by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny

    the library includes both Chinese and foreign artists

    But ... but ... but Chinese artists ARE foreign!!