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Google To Take On iTunes?
An anonymous reader writes 'Multiple sources say Google is preparing to launch Google Audio. According to people familiar with the matter, Google has been securing content from record companies. Is Google about to go head-to-head with Apple's iTunes?'
I'd be thrilled if Google could do a music player analogue of Picasa. I've always hated iPhoto, and Picasa is great. A similar product to displace iTunes would be incredibly welcome (and yes, I've tried Songbird; maybe someday, but it's not there yet).
To reign is to serve.
I think they're talking about iTMS here, not just the iTunes player.
This, if true, will only hasten the divide between the two tech darlings Google and Apple.
Apple has a vested interest in maintaining their defacto monopoly on online music sales though their vertical product pipeline. The Zune is no real threat, as Microsoft does not have the mindshare. Google, with Android, have significant clout, and potentially enough mass to unseat Apple from the head of the online music sales table.
Apple has done very well with the iPhone, but if history is our guide, they did very well with the original Macintosh. Fast-forward a few years to now, and the story is being repeated. Apple is dominant with their iPhone platform, but Steve Jobs is too obsessed with removing buttons from mice to loosen his grip on the brand. This has help Apple survive, but it ultimatly leads to Apple's cyclical demise.
Anyway, Google launching a music app will cause Apple to remove Google maps, and Youtube integration from their products. In the end, Google (openness) will win over the closed Apple system. Yes, the Apple devices will be pretty, but the Google stuff will work well enough, be less expensive, and have 95%+ of market share. (Its like we've seen that before somewhere....)
--sig fault--
The Wall Street Journal's story says that the plan will allow people to buy FROM iTunes and Amazon. According to this version, Google is just providing a link to the music providers when it comes to the purchase. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487423504899680.html If you're not a WSJ subscriber, copy the first sentence of the article and Google it. The link from there will allow you to read the whole thing.
According to TechCrunch, it's a music search with the option to do limited streaming. So you can search for music, preview them, then either use those services to buy or use iTunes/Amazon to buy it.
> "According to people familiar with the matter"
Which in today's terms means 'we made this whole thing up' just to fill a gap in the so-called news...
I hope it's not a crappy knock-off, like when they launched Google Video.
Even the goodwill of their name couldn't save that horrible site.
No wonder a couple months later they bought YouTube.
This time maybe they'll buy Lala.com.
If you want a good browser-based iTunes store, that's it.
Is Google about to go head to head with iTunes? No, but they are about to go head-to-head with Amazon.
Unless Google abuses its dominant market position through anti-competitive actions, they should be allowed to do whatever they please. Antitrust laws protect the consumer from companies that abuse a monopoly position. Merely having a monopoly is not illegal.
Google audio (BETA)
Lyric Search: Carry a laser down the road that I must travel
Did you mean: Kyrie eleison down the road that I must travel?
Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
Yep, it's about a music store.
It makes sense for Google to have a content store for their Android phones, and it's clear Apple doesn't want to play nice with competitors (Palm Pre, anyone?). I just hope Google do it so well that they frighten Apple into dropping prices and restrictions.
It's a market that's begging for a little real competition.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
A story is posted about Google apparently engaging in some healthy (and frankly long needed) competition against Apple/Amazon, and the tags we get are 'donoevil,' 'queuethefanbois,' and 'fuckgoogle.' At least someone came along and put a ! in front of the last one but the tag being there at all is an artifact of seriously unconstructive vitriol. This is a story about Google expanding into new markets, not about Google doing anything wrong. These tags must be here accidentally at best and as flamebait at the worst.
Exactly, Google attained it's search monopoly naturally. Natural monopolies occur when there is no competition or one product is so superior that other competitors cannot come close to matching it. This is what happened with Google but they should still be monitored for abuse. Thus far google has maintained it's dominant market position naturally.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I put forward that you cannot survive a year without touching/using a google technology. If you truely believe google tech is mediocre.. go a year without google search/mail/reader/youtube/maps/docs/books/code/chrome/images/news/android and of course.. no clicking google ads.
Search engine? There were plenty of search engines before Google came along
Agreed, but why did google become so popular? It was great and very minimal. We didn't want "web portals" filled with ads, news, and junk.. just a simple place to find sites from. Was that innovative? heck no.. was it very intelligent? yes.
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Prices may drop, but Apple's philosophy from the beginning was "the store is here for iPod owners, since the other stores were all Microsoft's bitches and we won't pay for a WMA DRM license". In other words, Apple is still very much tied to the hardware, and isn't likely to give it up soon.
On the one hand, the iTunes Store turns a modest income, but it's peanuts compared to the income that the computers, iPods and iPhones generate. Apple might actually be happy to have the iTunes Store become irrelevant if it means people buy more iPods.
The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
This is not the funny you're looking for.
The first link (sponsored) on the search page for "web browser" is "Try Google's New Browser." The first link (non-sponsored) on the search page for "photo manager" is "Picasa 3: Free download from Google."
I'm sure there are many more, and I'm kind of disturbed. I think that the sponsored links are probably more dangerous for Google than the non-sponsored ones as long as the algorithm used to decide the non-sposored links is fair.
No matter what, these results sure show the dominance of Google.
Put identity in the browser.
If you think about it and read the reports, it seems as if this is exactly what Google is doing: sticking to search. The difference is that this time it's about searching for songs to download and/or purchase.
Its all ok to be dominant in a market. Whats not legal is to use it to squash competition like Microsoft does. In short, actions that promote a monopoly is ok, actions that denote competition isnt. If Google would stop indexing competitors services, refuse to run their ads or make sure their browser wouldnt work with Googles services then it would be illegal. Google has a really long way to go before they are even near average market etics and even longer path to become as evil as Microsoft is.
HTTP/1.1 400
Here in Sweden 1 in 5 of the population has a Spotify account. I think Google would do themselves a service by coughing up a huge sum of money and buying Spotify which already has pretty much all music you would want, android, ipod, apple, pc applications, high quality ogg vorbis streams and a very loyal user base.
Spotify is the next big thing, the US just hasn't seen it yet, their business model is great, and their software works really well.
Spotify may not be for sale, but Google has deep pockets and a link up would knock out MS and Apple easily I think.
Another example of "Sensational headlines sells", before this ./ post even went live more details became available that in fact this is about adding music to the search results and that the songs found can be played through iLike, last.fm, lala, etc.. and offer 'Click to buy' links to iTunes and Amazon.
So no, Google is not taking on iTunes or Amazon, in fact it will help sell their music.
That doesn't mean however this isn't a very nifty feature :)
Screenshots and more info are available at:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/google-to-partner-with-ilike-and-lala-for-new-music-service/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/google-music-service-the-screenshots/
I'm sure they would, but I can't imagine a scenario where the iTunes Store's irrelevancy could possibly drive more iPod sales.
I thought the iTunes Music Stores predated Microsoft's Plays For Sure program.
Wikipedia seems to agree with me, as their iTunes history page states that iTunes Store support was added to iTunes in 2003, while Plays For Sure started in 2004.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Profits on the iTunes store are decent (iTunes store revenue was $1.018 billion in Apple's fourth quarter.. this also includes licensing fees for iPod/iPhone accessories from third parties, they don't break it down any more), but also irrelevant. The existence of the tightly coupled iTunes store and iTunes player drives the sales of the very, very, very successful iPhone ($2.3 billion in the fourth quarter) and somewhat less successful, these days, iPod (apparently, people are buying iPhones instead... only 10.2 million iPhones sold that quarter, versus nearly 7.4 way more profitable iPhones).
Apple won the MP3 player market by delivering content, back when no one else had brokered any reasonable deal to do similarly with their player. Most still haven't done as well, though with DRM dead (for music, anyway), this matters much less than it once did. But take away the iTunes store, and then Apple's competing on a very even basis with everyone else. Sales would suffer, soon enough.
To really be successful against Apple, this kind of online point-of-sales won't hurt at all... there are plenty of users who can figure out other ways to download, sync, and install apps or music, but enough who can't, or simply don't want to be bothered.
Now, invent the mechanism, but make it non-exclusive, and you really have something. If I can shop for Android apps (and other stuff, like music and video.. might as well, once I'm there, eh) at the Google Store, the Verizon Store, the Amazon Store... well, then we've fixed one of the fundamental problems with Apple's model -- no competition. As a computer savvy person, I know I can get music from Amazon or a CD just as easily as from the iTunes store, but you need some knowledge for that.. most users take the easy way out. So Apple doesn't really have to compete with Amazon on prices for music. And it's way more complex for video or apps. Thus, no incentive to lower prices... they have a captive market. There's a big potential in retaining that ease of use, but also adding the market competition inherent in non-virtual consumer products.
-Dave Haynie
I like the fuel economy of Deisel fuel, but my car requires gasoline!!! I'm tired of those restrictive car manufactures telling me what my engine must use and how I can and can't use my own products!
Yes, you do sound as retarded as that statement.
You are using an OS that doesn't show up on the radar as more than a large duck, sorry if they don't support it, you knew they didn't when you bought the thing.
I'm so super pissed that iTunes doesn't run on the OS I wrote, those bastards are restricting my ability to use my devices and using their monopoly in the music player market to crush BitStreamOS!@$!@$ I know its not technically a monopoly or any whever even near it, but I'm going to talk out my ass anyway!@$
Do you realize how retarded these statements sound to anyone outside of your head?
Android will replace the iPhone I'm sure ... just like the Pre or the Storm or whatever the 'iPhone killer' was last week. You just don't get it. Apple does, hence why they own the music player market.
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