Slashdot Mirror
Google Play Rolls Out Family Sharing (usatoday.com)
Google on Wednesday announced a new Google Play feature dubbed Family Library that allows up to 6 people to share apps, movies, books purchases. It will roll out to people in the next 48 hours in 12 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the U.K., and the United States) and requires people to sign up and add family members (you can add your friends as family member). The announcement is mostly in line with a CNET report from earlier this month. USA Today reports: The feature will allow users to share apps, games, movies, TV shows or books from Google Play on Android devices. Movies, TV shows and books can be shared on iOS platforms and the Web. After a user signs up for the Family Library, the person adds up to five family members and decides on the credit card that will be used for the families purchases. Eunice Kim, head of families for Google Play said a unique feature of Google Play compared to other family sharing initiatives is that family members can also choose to pay with their personal credit card or with gift cards. The same user who organized the family can control who below the age of 18 needs permission to purchase content.The feature is strikingly similar to an option in Apple's App Store that does the same thing.
Now you can make Google's analytics even more money by volunteering information that children are legally forbidden from providing themselves!
This way the customers very reliably identify their most strong social and familial connections.
No thanks.
I just have the same account on all the family devices and it seems to have worked well so far. How does this offer any difference?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Dad just downloaded Anal Action 3, and Mom is enjoying the interactive 50 Shades of Grey app. Would you like to see what else your parents did, or continue with your purchase of $1000 worth of Pokemon-Go coins on Dads credit card?
I agree that daveime's suggested viewing for dad does appear to be in the horror genre.
The link to the feature in the article and summary give me a "not found" from google, and all searching I can do turns up the same thing, or articles from google pointing me to non-existent menu settings in the play store app on my phone.
Wow, you mean basic features are similar to one another? I hear that Android phones also have touch screens and apps! Hmmmmmmm.
I'm not sure who had it first, but Amazon has had "Amazon Household" including "Family Library" for quite some time.
This isn't really copying; it's just addressing some awful limitations that get imposed on everyone.
They can't simply allow you to share your music (for example) with anyone and everyone, or they won't be allowed to sell music anymore.
If they allow you to share with a small group, it may be enough to curb massive external sharing, especially for movies. The fewer people use things like torrents and such, the less value they'll have, and they may be able to control that smaller set of the population to at least keep it smallish.
I'm not saying I agree with any of that, but it's their only real shot. There's no way I'm going to pay full price to "buy" a movie on itunes or google play or amazon video, and then not be able to loan it to a friend. It's bad enough that there is no resale.
Prior art: My YMCA has a family membership plan, so does my insurance company. Spotify does, too. Amazon has it. So did the mom and pop video store we used to rent videos from when I was a kid. Parents could set up an account and then you could ride your bike to the video store with a few bucks and rent a movie without having to hassle mom and dad to go with you.
Just like Google Fi and Google Music (family plan), gapps accounts can't use it.
It seemed like such a good idea back then.