Google To Take On iTunes?

What about the player? by scottblascocomposer · 2009-10-21 15:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

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).

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To reign is to serve.

Re:What about the player? by slifox · 2009-10-21 16:19 · Score: 5, Interesting

Music Player Daemon (mpd) has the right idea: separate the playing backend and the user interface. The result is an easily-interfaceable (many, many clients for all platforms, web, etc) and reliable player that rarely (never for me) crashes, and will continue to play even if X dies (which makes repairing X a little more enjoyable).

My favorite client is QMPDClient, which is cross-platform and has a good user interface for easily switching between the Library view (3-section Artist/Album/Songs), the Directories view (which shows the Music directory as a folder tree), and the Playlist view (for saving or loading playlists). The directory view is the big selling point for me, because I have my music folder well organized by genre, artist, album, but not necessarily well organized as far as ID3 tags go.

Here's a screenshot: http://dump.bitcheese.net/images/batidij/qmpdclient-win32.png

It's definitely worth a try...

MPD: http://mpd.wikia.com/
QMPDClient: http://bitcheese.net/wiki/QMPDClient
Other MPD Clients: http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Clients
Re:What about the player? by N1AK · 2009-10-21 21:10 · Score: 4, Interesting

Picasa is one of the few pieces of software that impresses me, and continues to impress me more with each revision. From the way it imports and sorts, through the quality of its automated colour/light fixing to features like face recognition, online gallery integration and tagging it makes organising 'home' photos a pleasent experience rather than a task.

Maybe better software exists, and it probably isn't as useful to serious photographers but everyone I've shown it to from Grandparents to early teens have become loyal users.

Re:Google did a few years ago... by ajdlinux · 2009-10-21 15:58 · Score: 4, Insightful

I think they're talking about iTMS here, not just the iTunes player.

Its a Fractal by NETHED · 2009-10-21 16:03 · Score: 4, Interesting

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....)

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--sig fault--

Re:Its a Fractal by GaryPatterson · 2009-10-21 16:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

Apple has done very well with the iPhone, but if history is our guide, they did very well with the original Macintosh.
Not any version of history I've seen. The Mac struggled for a while before finding a niche in desktop publishing, where it languished while PC-compatible machines caught up, overtook it and took over the world. The desktop metaphor took over the computing world, but mostly through Windows.
History is no guide, unless you believe the players have learnt nothing from it.
Steve Jobs is too obsessed with removing buttons from mice
Like many commentators, you've missed the point. He is focused on quality, and the vision he has for Apple seems to include removing anything that detracts from that goal. I can't say if he's 'obsessed' as I don't personally know the man.
Back on topic - competition is great. Now that Apple have pushed back the limits on music purchasing and pushed DRM off the table (aided greatly by Amazon), players like Google can step up and provide a music ecosystem similar to iTunes. Hopefully Google will include new features that draw users towards their product, stimulating Apple to work harder to compete.
I hope Google produce something amazing.
Re:Its a Fractal by X0563511 · 2009-10-21 16:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

Either way, Apple hates being tied to vendors,
Which is funny to me, as they seem to have no problem tying people to them.

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For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Re:Its a Fractal by mjwx · 2009-10-21 17:34 · Score: 4, Interesting

Apple iPhone released in 2007, in the midst of the current recession.

The recession didn't start in 2007, it started in late 2008. For Australia the height hit in feb/mar 2009 and is practically over now.

2007 was when economies were booming.

As for you GP post I agree, it will be Apple's pathological need for control that will be its downfall, it's all happened before. Google is positioning itself to take advantage of Apple's fall, especially since most of Google's ties to Apple have been severed.

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Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Re:Its a Fractal by Itninja · 2009-10-21 18:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

They have no such monopoly. You can buy music all over the place, without DRM.
Well, you can buy music all over the place. But for the vast, vast majority of online music buyers when they think 'I want to buy a song', they think 'iTunes'. Apple (and other independent research firms) put their online music market share at something like 80%. That's certainly not a monopoly in the legal sense, but it is in the practical sense.

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I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Re:Its a Fractal by Saint+Fnordius · 2009-10-21 18:51 · Score: 4, Interesting

I think the real reason Apple is so reluctant to allow apps on the iPhone is fear that one malicious app could destroy the ecosystem. That's why they first decided to not allow apps, at least not until they had the store set up.
I personally think Apple needs to have two delivery methods to the iPhone: the app store, where Apple can act as your gatekeeper, and through the developer environment, where you compile from source code and assume all responsibility for whatever bugs are in the software. Thus the only way to distribute outside of the app store would be to give away the source code. (The same thing goes for Android: either trust the app store tied to your phone or compile the code yourself)
Re:Its a Fractal by indiechild · 2009-10-21 20:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

You're totally missing the point, and if you ever entered the portable music player business you would crash and burn horribly.
People don't want flashy gadgets with a million and one features which are hard to use. iPods took over the market because they are easy to use, and buying or managing your music is an absolute snap.
Other competitors were free to do the same, but they never did, because they think just like you do: they totally dismiss the power of usability and ease of use. Most people in the world aren't Slashdot geeks.
User interaction design and usability doesn't just apply to portable music players, it applies to just about anything you interact with in everyday life. A lot of people are so used to mediocre engineering and design that they take these frustrations for granted. Apple is a company that spends their time addressing these issues and making things easier for the user, but sadly few other companies do.
Read "The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman sometime, it's a real eye opener.
Re:Its a Fractal by koiransuklaa · 2009-10-21 21:35 · Score: 3, Interesting

Probably not, but you are one of the 500 million people who are allowed to use amazon MP3 store. The rest of us can't.
Buying DRM-free music online is pretty damn hard without itunes here...
Re:Its a Fractal by Zebedeu · 2009-10-21 23:48 · Score: 3, Informative

(The same thing goes for Android: either trust the app store tied to your phone or compile the code yourself)
No, it doesn't. In Android I can load an .apk (android install package) from anywhere and install it on my device. The only caveat is that I must enable this functionality in some option menu, otherwise I get an error message suggesting me to enable said option if I want to install the application.

WSJ reports that it's NOT competition for iTunes by DavidinAla · 2009-10-21 16:09 · Score: 5, Informative

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.

It's a music search feature by tlhIngan · 2009-10-21 16:11 · Score: 5, Interesting

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.

eh.... by djupedal · 2009-10-21 16:18 · Score: 5, Funny

> "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...

Re:Antitrust by madpansy · 2009-10-21 16:36 · Score: 3, Informative

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.

A little sample of what's to come by clem · 2009-10-21 16:45 · Score: 5, Interesting

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?

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Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.

Re:A little sample of what's to come by Anonymous Coward · 2009-10-21 18:11 · Score: 5, Funny

Lyric Search: This song blows but'll still make millions.
Did you mean: Nickleback?

Re:Google did a few years ago... by ozmanjusri · 2009-10-21 16:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

they're talking about iTMS here, not just the iTunes player.

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.

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"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."

Re:Seriously - is Google innovative at all? by tibman · 2009-10-21 17:39 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.

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http://soylentnews.org/~tibman

Re:Google did a few years ago... by Saint+Fnordius · 2009-10-21 18:20 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.

Re:Why audio? by dougisfunny · 2009-10-21 18:26 · Score: 3, Funny

The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!

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This is not the funny you're looking for.

Re:Antitrust by Daengbo · 2009-10-21 18:57 · Score: 3, Insightful

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."

"Maps" -> Google Maps (sponsored and not)
"Documents" -> "Google Docs" (not sponsored)
"Videos" -> "Google Videos" + "YouTube" (not sponsored)
"e-mail" -> "Free Email from Google" (Sponsored)
"Blogs" -> "Blogger" (non-sponsored)
"Desktop search" -> "Google Desktop Search" (non-sponsored)

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.

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Put identity in the browser.

Spotify not ITunes will be the big competitor by orbitalia · 2009-10-21 19:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.

Sensational headlines vs reality by chabotc · 2009-10-21 21:37 · Score: 3, Informative

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/

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