Google Launches Free, Legal Music Downloads in China 141
Wired is reporting that Google has a launched a new music download service in China to better compete with the leading search company there, Baidu.com. Offering some 350,000 songs, a number set to rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.1 million in the coming months, the library includes both Chinese and foreign artists signed by Sony Music, EMI, and Universal Music. Proponents of the new service are also hoping it will combat illegal music downloads simply by offering higher quality songs for download. There are no immediate plans to expand this service beyond China.
Proxy anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like a perfect way for the US to download high quality music with nothing more than a simple proxy.
Surprised! (Score:2, Insightful)
Positive Reinforcement (Score:5, Insightful)
So let me get this straight -- massive piracy leads to free, legal downloads? I'm going to start installing p2p clients on every computer I'm asked to fix!
Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now... (Score:4, Insightful)
So, let me get this straight. In order to stop the ever-growing black market of illegal music downloading and distribution, Google chooses to open up shop for free?
So, if I start a massive wave of downloading pirated Microsoft software, when do I get my free copy of Office?
The Chili Peppers had it right all along I guess...
New business plan (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Positive Reinforcement (Score:5, Insightful)
Trying to Compete (Score:4, Insightful)
Chinese Internet users now make up something like half of all internet users, and Google is currently losing to Baidu in that market. Thats a HUGE market to be losing in. So even if Google sees a net loss on offering music downloads, if they can become to Chinese internet users what they are to internet users in the rest of the world they just nearly doubled their ad viewers. Sure, an ad view in China is probably worth a little less, but with billions of viewers it hardly matters.
Re:Proxy anyone? Until... (Score:1, Insightful)
The US starts trying to use Google as a VOA (Voice of America) megaphone, then then Chinese ban ALL songs not provided with 100% faithful lyrics sheets, so as to screen out pseudo-anti-Chinese-Government songs, or songs that over-sell the greatness of the USA. Songs like "Born in the USA" will likely get binned (but, for all i know it is available for years...). I imagine Prince's (the artist formerly known as Prince, formerly known NOT as Prince, then formerly now formally known as Prince) "Erotic City" (We can FUCK until the dawn, making love til cherry's gone...) will be binned, unless not yet censored.
Yeh, i can just see Google getting paid (and bending over for the money) the USA VOA machine, cuz, business is business. I hope "do no wrong" applies to not pumping a megaphonic pathway into another country's borders. Locals should HUNT for, not be blasted BY content they don't want nor don't need.
Re:Proxy anyone? Until... (Score:5, Insightful)
'"Born in the USA" will likely get binned...'
Have you listened to the lyrics?
Like, REALLY listened to the lyrics?
I'm not just talking Republican National Convention playing the chorus over and over. Seriously. Born in the USA is not a shining example of feel-good patriotism. It's an ironic intervention against an America that's forgotten its defenders.
Re:New business plan (Score:2, Insightful)
1) Create content that people want online.
Google never has created any content. They make money off of content created by others. An excellent business plan, as long as you have the near-monopoly needed to make it work.
Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:New Orleans vs. Fargo (Score:3, Insightful)
So what's the difference?
The hurricane?
Re:Here's an Idea: (Score:2, Insightful)
The very act of converting from analog to digital is EXTREMELY lossy when you consider the fact that an infinite amount of precision is lost in the process in exchange for long term stability.
Actually, no [wikipedia.org].
Re:Proxy anyone? Until... (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmm, that sounds exactly like the type of anti-US song that other nations would want their citizens to hear about the US. Any song that makes the US in general sound like a worse place to live than a third world country or about the same as that won't be on any other nations' banned list.