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Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud

thewebblogger writes "In a move that more resembles 'me too' behavior rather than a well planned release, Best Buy has announced their own music cloud service, called simply Best Buy Music Cloud. The functionality is not complete yet; iOS / Android applications are not available at this point, and the only part that works is the Web Player. The premium version will cost $3.99/month and you'll have to upload your own music. iTunes is mandatory."

27 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. But...I already have my own music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    What is the fucking point?

    1. Re:But...I already have my own music by hsjserver · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes but for only $3.99 a month they could own your music!

  2. Best Buy + iTunes? by DogDude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow. That's like a shit sandwich. The worst retailer with the worst music software. Where do I sign up?

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    1. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Funny

      Same place you register to vote, I'd guess.

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    2. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by retchdog · · Score: 2

      apart from not recognizing non-ipods (but a third-party utility adds MSC support), itunes is the best music software i've ever used. it absolutely kills rhythmbox, banshee and amarok, sad to say. i base this on not crashing; fast search/limiting and playlist creation; actually editing track information on the mp3 and not storing it in a parallel database in a ~/.directory (rhythmbox); and not requiring fucking SQL (amarok).

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    3. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by DeadlyMind · · Score: 2

      Media Monkey is so much better. Fuck iTunes.

    4. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Does the use of SQL(by default, transparently handled by a built-in SQLite implementation, optionally usable against a separate SQL backend for higher performance or multiple-computer-access setups) really bother you that much? More to the point, how is that different from iTunes' metadata storage, except for the whole "being comparatively standard" and "being optionally compatible with more powerful backend databases" stuff?

    5. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by gmhowell · · Score: 2

      Same place you register to vote, I'd guess.

      But I don't want the shit sandwich that Best Buy is offering. I'd prefer a giant douche.

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    6. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by geminidomino · · Score: 2

      I'd prefer a giant douche.

      My friend, allow me to introduce you to iCloud.

    7. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by Darkness404 · · Score: 2

      If you are using iTunes on anything other than OS-X, it sucks. First off, it is slower than crap, the store barely works (why does it take longer to "process" a media file than it does to download it online) and is generally a pain to work with.

      On Windows FooBar2000 kicks the crap out of iTunes. On Linux, both rhythmbox and amarok work just fine for me and VLC is king for playing single files.

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    8. Re:Best Buy + iTunes? by pandrijeczko · · Score: 2

      iTunes is totally unintuitive, trying to work out how to do selective sync-ing and how to backup & restore settings is a nightmare. Plus it automatically restricts how many PCs you can install it on.

      I can't comment on Amarok but Banshee kills it stone dead - I can install it on what machines I like, backing up the settings and database is straightforward, plus copying music over to devices (which can be converted on the fly from, say, FLAC to MP3) is a doddle.

      My missus gave me her iPod Touch when she went to iPhone, I use an Android phone for music but use the Touch mostly for audio books. MediaMonkey blows iTunes totally out of the water for sync-ing the Touch.

      I suggest you actually try them before commenting.

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  3. Re:It makes perfect sense by SomePgmr · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are various good arguments for "cloud storage", but this service exemplifies none of them.

  4. Business strategy by Albanach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This sounds a lot like a way to add on a $3.99 recurring charge to new PC sales for Best Buy. I'd expect to see them pushing this heavily in store with new computer sales, and a lot of folk buying it then never using it. Allow cancelling only by telephone and only after waiting 20 minutes in a phone queue and that should keep their retention rate nice and high.

  5. Oh well, Kharma to burn by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    but I'll say this: Zune is iTunes without the bloat. The hardware might be a joke (Brown? Sign me Up!) but the software is fast, stable as a rock, and doesn't get between me and my music. I really can't explain it. It's just a pity Microsoft flubbed the hardware so bad.

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  6. Dead on Arrival! by bogaboga · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have an ill feeling that Best Buy's service will be dead on arrival. They made its death even more certain buy requiring iTunes.

    This poses the question, 'Why should one abandon Apple/iTunes/iCloud for this seemingly [half baked] product?'

    1. Re:Dead on Arrival! by c0lo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Zombie on arrival. It will be included in the crapware installed on every computer the "innocent" people buy from them and the opt-out will be painful.

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  7. Re:Kinda silly by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Client/server" is some 70's academic hippie crap. We prefer to think of it as the "Consumer/Premium Content Provider" model. In the near future, we have high hopes for the "Serf/Lord" model. -RIAA

  8. Re:Didn't MP3.com get sued into oblivion for this? by larry+bagina · · Score: 2

    Not exactly.

    The BestBuy/Google model is to upload all your music. No different than if you copied the mp3 files to a drop box account or an external hard drive (though the RIAA may see it differently).

    The MP3.com model is to gracenote your CD and unlock access to their rip of it.

    The iTunes Match model is similar to the MP3.com model but you can upload songs they don't have and (more importantly) THE RECORD COMPANIES ALL AGREED TO IT BEFOREHAND.

    There's also the amazon model which is to similar to the mp3.com model, but only for mp3s you purchased on amazon. The RIAA may not like that.

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  9. Hmm ... by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

    Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud

    I thought something smelled funny.

  10. Re:In 10 years time people will be saying.. by mlts · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Bingo. A few years back, we had some decent choices for a MP3 player with a decent capacity, from the Zune, to many others. Drivers? Plug it in, it mounts as a USB flash drive, copy files, unmount, and call it done.

    Now, there are no real MP3 players with any capacity beyond like 6 gig, and the only MP3 player with 100+ gigs of capacity is the iPod Classic.

    Of course, like described above, there are the "portable media players", but if I want to watch video on my MP3 player, I would buy a Galaxy Tab, iPad, or an iPod Touch. There is a market niche for this type of device -- just audio and a high capacity HDD. I just hope Apple doesn't can their iPod Classic anytime soon.

  11. There IS an android client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the submitter would have gone to the site hosted by best buy they would have seen that there is already an android client. This can be confirmed by searching for it in the android market. I know people here love to hate on best buy but seriously get your facts straight.

  12. Re:What's the point? by Osgeld · · Score: 2

    its so normal people have an ftp account

  13. Sorry for stating the obvious here... by sootman · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... but it requires iTunes (same as iCloud) AND it's slower (you've got to upload all your music) AND it costs about twice as much ($47.88/year vs. $25) AND it comes from a (I'll be kind here) not especially well-regarded company, as opposed to one that scores very highly in just about every customer satisfaction rating there is?

    what
    the
    holy
    fuck?

    Seriously, I can't say anything else but "what are they thinking?!?" This is obviously nothing more than a blind money grab and I can't see it possibly working out for them. Or lasting very long. In the meantime, I'd recommend not buying any computers at Best Buy--I think they'll wire a car battery to your nuts with alligator clamps until you sign up for this.

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    1. Re:Sorry for stating the obvious here... by icebike · · Score: 2

      ... but it requires iTunes (same as iCloud) AND it's slower (you've got to upload all your music) AND it costs about twice as much ($47.88/year vs. $25) AND it comes from a (I'll be kind here) not especially well-regarded company, as opposed to one that scores very highly in just about every customer satisfaction rating there is?

      Ah, but on the other side of the coin,...

      If Apple, and Amazon, and Google, and Best Buy and who-ever-is-next can set up music cloud services it says the death grip
      of the music industry is essentially broken. The cat is out of the bag and they will never re-establish the level of control they
      once had.

      Uploading isn't all that bad with Amazon or Google. Chews up bandwidth, but its Step One. Step Two will follow
      soon. Then they will just SAMPLE your music files like Shazam, and make a database entry on their cloud saying yes, Sootman owns that
      song, add it to his cloud library, and let him download it to any device he wants.

      RIAA is having conniptions as we speak.

      So hooray for the lame cloud services breeding like rabbits. Too many for them to attack.

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  14. Re:In 10 years time people will be saying.. by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right, and in a day where flash memory is dirt cheap, accessing the web on a device is getting harder and harder to do (no more cell phone unlimited data, fewer unsecured wi-fi hotspots) and you can get streaming music for free (Pandora, Last.Fm, YouTube, Shoutcast, etc.), why does it make sense for you to pay $4 to access your own music?

    Perhaps 5 years ago "the cloud" might have made sense back when 2 GB SD cards were still $50-60, unsecured Wi-Fi was incredibly common and data plans were unlimited, but today with dirt cheap flash media prices with enough storage to hold lots of songs it really makes no sense.

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  15. Not really.. by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    there was a great reason. MP3.com was getting people to listen to music they liked, instead of top 40 crap. It was splintering the music market by connecting artists directly with their fans. One of the first things the record labels did when they got the domain was shut down anyone that was making a good living without a record contract. There were several bands that got taken off the site with no notice or reason. In the end, it's all about control of our pop culture. The grandparent said it best: "he same warmed over top 100 artists".

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  16. Re:So Basically.... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 2

    12 x $4 = $48 which gets close to the price of a portable USB drive that will last at least a year and you can store your music on, carry about with you and even use when there's no Internet connection.

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