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Google Music Downloads To Go Ahead Without Sony Or Warner
An anonymous reader writes "Google has sent out press invitations to an event on Wednesday where it's expected they'll unveil their long-rumored Google Music download service. CNET reports that while Google already has an agreement in place with Universal, talks with Sony and Warner Music Group are still in progress, and won't be finished by the time Google Music launches. 'The negotiations between Google and the labels by and large have not gone well for either side. The labels are eager for a serious iTunes competitor to emerge and believe Google has the technological know-how, money, and Internet presence to give iTunes a run for its money. ... Yet, the company is once again launching a major part of its music service without acquiring licenses and this may serve to widen the rift between the company and some of the labels. '"
Please Google, finish and polish what you start before releasing them!
That would be the swedish thing they could do.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The music industry consists of musicians and they won't deal with google unless they want to.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The difference is that Microsoft stays with something until they dominate the industry. The original XBox lost money from beginning to end. Now Microsoft's game operation is profitable, and they and Nintendo are on top, Sony is in trouble and Sega is forgotten.
The trouble is that XBOX is still on the balance sheet as a net operating loss because of the billions of dollars they sunk into it. All they've accomplished is to stop losing money year over year. They're still in a giant hole compared with having put the same money in US treasury bonds or whatever else you like. And there is every indication that going forward, mobile devices will become faster and start replacing consoles as gaming devices for ever more resource intensive games, which creates a serious question as to whether they will ever even make back their initial investment.
They gained 4% market share in search last year, and are now at 30%.
Bing's market share is attributable almost entirely to it being the default search engine in Internet Explorer. And Internet Explorer's market share has been on a slow decline for about a decade with no indication of stopping. Incidentally, what does it say about Bing that it's the default in Internet Explorer but has lower market share than Internet Explorer does?
The free stuff doesn't count.
The free stuff produces ad revenue. Is ad revenue somehow not money?