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Google Music Goes Live With Google+ Integration
angry tapir writes "Google Music, the company's cloud-based online music service, is now available to all users in the US and includes song and album sales, as well as an integration with the Google+ social networking site. Introduced in test form and by invitation only in May as a cloud-based song storage and playback service, Google Music will also let users buy albums and songs from all major music labels, except Warner."
*Sigh*. Yet another fantastic music service not available in my country.
Your entire collection of music available, browser based (no installation needed), no ads, unlimited streaming, mobile access on android and iphone with offline listening, and it's FREE!
Because spotify costs money (I either have to pay a monthly fee, or I have to buy a copy of windows or a mac or so). They say this is because they haven't figured out how to display ads on linux yet. Oh and you can't store music locally on linux. This doesn't doesn't sound like the type of software I'm psyched to pay for. Oh even though I might be paying for a "premium" account. It would be unsupported...
Have you used it? iTunes requires a horribly bloated app installed on your computer and clunky syncing of music between said computer and your iOS device. Google music needs none of this (with the exception of a small app to upload your music you already have to the cloud). I have all 12,500 songs in my collection available to me wherever I am, no need to pick and choose what music to take with me. It was Google took us to the post PC world that Jobs kept pontificating about.
iTunes requires a horribly bloated app installed on your computer and clunky syncing of music between said computer and your iOS device.
No, currently you download music anywhere and all your devices have access to that music at once, wherever they are... you see all the playlists from any device, if a song is not stored locally then you can simply ask to download it.
Some of that is made better with Match, since it will upload and store for you songs not in iTunes.
I'm not sure Google's music offering could really be more pleasant to use than this... It's great that they have this as an alternative but they are just basically barley keeping up with Apple at this point. Do they even have the same deal where they will make any of your ripped songs available over the cloud also?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Last I checked, pirating music was way easier than buying it legitimately and no one cares which country you are in. Could the music industry, just perhaps, stop being a joke?
Spotify, Amazon mp3, Google music; all not available in Australia. iTunes charging so much that it's usually cheaper to buy the physical CD from America and have it shipped across the friggin' ocean. Well, at least there's Grooveshark ... until SOPA closes it down.
Yes, in fact they will. Artists can upload their own music and sell it.
Your entire collection of music available, browser based (no installation needed), no ads, unlimited streaming, mobile access on android and iphone with offline listening, and it's FREE!
Umm, didn't you already have the ability to sync your music files to your phone? How many gigs of music do you really need to carry around? How much is just packrat/hoarding mentality? ("omg, what if I want to listen to my Englebert Humperdinck albums while taking a long walk alone on the beach, even though I live in Wyoming?") If you're a luddite and have an iPod instead of an Android phone, is there any benefit at all to letting Google scan your hard drive?
Google Music requires me to install a program that scans my hard drive looking for music, and it seems to keep a list online somewhere of the music I have. Is this not asking for trouble? Is this not asking for abuse by the RIAA's goon squads? Is this not going to open the door at least to the possibility of a major abuse of privacy with legal and financial implications? "Don't be Evil" isn't reassuring enough for that kind of risk, especially when the only benefit from the risk is the convenience of sharing music with an Android phone (which I don't have).
Why are you so against this? It seems like the logical conclusion of my data being every I want it to be without me having to worry about it.
Because:
a) there's an army of barbarian lawyers at the gates screaming that it's not my data;
b) the logical conclusion of my data being where I want it to be doesn't need to include Google or anyone else having a copy of my data: while that's a possible conclusion, it's not the only possible conclusion, but rather one that guarantees a loss of privacy;
c) it's linked to all of Google's other information about me, and this is being compiled at a time when Google is expressly attempting to build identity verification into their services.
That would be a success, but it's actually $0.99 - $1.29 per song.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You should register with the Pirate Bay. They offer free accounts, no bandwidth limit restrictions, no geolocation restrictions, they have a wide variety of musical genres and selections to choose from and you can even download music from Warner Brothers, no questions asked and no premium service fees required. And best of all, none of the multimillionaire executives of the RIAA are getting rich off of this service.
Register today for the best Internet based music service in the industry:
https://thepiratebay.org/register
A lot of people have missed one of the most important things about this announcement. Indie musicians, without a label, can sign up, sell their music, and keep 70% of the sales revenue.
For years, we've bemoaned the RIAA and the giant labels for screwing artists out of their fair share. They're parasites controlling the distribution channels and deciding what pop-artist of the year they'll be pushing down our throats. Artists are lucky to get into the double digit percentage of sales revenue for their music, instead of pennies for a $20 disk.
If a talented indie artist or band can put their music on Google Music and get comparable exposure to the artists pushed and promoted by the large labels, it will drastically change the dynamics of the artist/label relationship. Evaluation of music by merit instead of marketing might. There will be a viable way to make a living without signing over one's soul and rights to a label.
This cuts out the traditional middle men in the music production process, and that's what terrifies the RIAA.
Google has the money to buy out the major labels, but instead of doing that, they made a very shrewd strategic decision to instead use the advances in technology to democratize music distribution. That's big, and that shouldn't be underestimated.
Now get on with your Google hate - that's the flavor of the month here on slashdot these days
Wait. What?
Seriously?
What Slashdot are you reading?...
Yeah, just like those silly paranoid students that thought their universities might release their personal info in response to RIAA/MPAA demands -- oh wait...
Seriously, consider it this way:
1. Google wants people's real-life name, cellphone number, in some cases they've demanded a driver's license or state ID; they freely hand over information when any government agency in the US (and many other countries) requests
2. The RIAA has a reputation for going overboard in identifying, harassing & prosecuting anyone that may have downloaded illicit copies of songs, not particularly caring that they've repeatedly been caught targeting obviously innocent people
3. Our government currently favors the "rights" or well-being of corporations far more than citizens (innocent or not)
So when Google offers to host personal libraries bound to hold plenty of files (some of which are illegally downloaded or could only be obtained by illegally circumventing DRM), you figure the RIAA won't take advantage of it, Google won't hand the named member's personal info over, and the government won't play along? You should revise your signature, most people with a real cognitive impairment would know better...
Apathy Sucks, Nobody for President!
Google Music doesn't even work outside US, which is incredibly stupid as it is your own collection of music, not some streaming service.
I'm German, living in Germany and guess what?
I have Google Music on my Android phone... AND IT IS WORKING!!!
The web interface too.
Sure, I probably can not buy music via Google Music, but I don't need to. There are enough channels to get my music from.
Oh, and Spotify isn't available everywhere as well. And you seem to need a Facebook account, which I don't have nor want.