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Google Music The Internet

Google Working To Launch Music Store Soon 66

Posted by Soulskill from the everybody's-doing-it dept.
afabbro writes with news that Google is working to follow up its cloud music service with an MP3 store capable of competing with Amazon and Apple. The NY Times reports that "According to numerous music executives, Google is eager to open the store in the next several weeks," but it's unclear "whether Google would be able to close the necessary deals with labels and music publishers in time to open a full-service store." The Wall Street Journal confirms in its own (paywalled) report that negotiations with Warner, Universal, and Sony are still a long way from resulting a deal.
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Google Working To Launch Music Store Soon More

Google Working To Launch Music Store Soon

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  • Shouldn't they just team up with ubuntu and build a proper shop, as opposed to just adding to the confusion out there? http://xkcd.com/927/ [xkcd.com]

    • Shouldn't they just team up with ubuntu and build a proper shop, as opposed to just adding to the confusion out there?

      What motivation would Google have to team up with Ubuntu? Setting aside servers - since they're irrelevant to this discussion - Linux (of all flavors) has only a tiny piece of the desktop user market. I realize that group is probably disproportionately represented here on Slashdot... but I assume Google is looking to compete in the wider world.

  • So who are they going to buy? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 15, 2011 @08:38AM (#37723426)

    Any guesses as to which company they buy and just relabel it as google music?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google [wikipedia.org]

  • It won't be a complete competitor with iToons unless it requires you to install the Google Music Player, the Google Video Player, and grabs all the file associations in your system.

    • Re:Will it take over your system? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by plover ( 150551 ) * on Saturday October 15, 2011 @09:24AM (#37723598) Homepage Journal

      gTewns also needs to alter the GUI to follow some other platform's specs, including non-standard key bindings and unlabeled controls. It should store all of its settings in a hidden folder somewhere on your drive that you won't accidentally find. It should take copies of your existing music files, rename them to random characters, and stick them in a different folder so you can double your backup space requirements. It should also upload periodic updates to your Android phone, just in case it got accidentally hacked. For that matter, it should install a tool to update itself that helps fill the system tray with extra useless icons, and that tool should always reinstall itself just in case you accidentally disabled it.

    • I've never used itunes but that sounds terrible. Why would anyone use itunes if that is the case?

      • I've never used itunes but that sounds terrible. Why would anyone use itunes if that is the case?

        Because it's the only reliable way to interface with all those iThings people apparently want to have.

        • ah I didn't think about that. I have never bought any media player, tablet, or phone that I couldn't simply mount as a mass storage device.
        • No it's not. My iPod works just fine on Linux where iTunes isn't available.

          • And what happens when there's an iOS update? What happens when you get a new ipod every year?

            People who keep up with buying all the iStuff as soon as they come out won't have to deal with 3rd party software.

          • Re:Will it take over your system? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by the_other_chewey ( 1119125 ) on Saturday October 15, 2011 @11:04AM (#37724188)
            I knew someone would object and bring up gtkpod/libgpod. I had a paragraph
            about that in my reply's first draft, but replaced all of it with the word "reliable".

            Yes, libgpod works well on the devices it supports.

            It took ages (close to two years) for gtkpod to support the 5th gen nano, for example.
            The 6th gen nano is still unsupported today, nearly 14 months after its launch.

            So, go on, tell people they have to wait for over a year if they want to use their shiny
            new iThing without iTunes. Good luck.
      • Because it's not terrible. People are just, once again, using rhetoric with irrational hatred of a product.

        iTunes is fine.

    • It won't be a complete competitor with iToons unless it requires you to install the Google Music Player, the Google Video Player, and grabs all the file associations in your system.

      Lets not forget automatically loading programs on startup even though you specifically disabled them. OOO and also constantly pestering you to download the latest version of your worthless browser every time there is an update. Yeah @$%#%$^ you Apple.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by aitan ( 948581 )

        It won't be a complete competitor with iToons unless it requires you to install the Google Music Player, the Google Video Player, and grabs all the file associations in your system.

        Lets not forget automatically loading programs on startup even though you specifically disabled them. OOO and also constantly pestering you to download the latest version of your worthless browser every time there is an update. Yeah @$%#%$^ you Apple.

        Google is already quite good at pushing their browser as a side-install along with many unrelated products even of third party companies and you'll be lucky if you can get through the day without visiting some sites (as long as you're not using AdBlock Plus) and being offered to speed at greater speed thanks to Chrome.

        And it will inject another plugin into Firefox just in case you did found out how to remove the previous one.

    • It installs everything it needs to perform all the functionality you need for your purchases. But if it has taken over your file associations then you probably did something wrong. I never had that problem when I've had to use iTunes.

  • HA! Just kidding. We all know the answer to that one.

    PSA: Avoid Google Apps at all costs.

  • Seriously unless the music is DRM free and just plain old quality MP3s then forget it. I'd be too concerned they'll shut it down in a year or two.

  • A small trend I've noticed is that Google seems to struggle in the areas of music and TV a lot more than say... Apple. Why is that? Is it because they attempt to approach the licensing and royalties in a completely different way? Or is it that Apple, keen to sell hardware, are willing to take such a small slice of money per song / movie / TV show that the studios and labels are taking near 100% of the receipts?

    Google TV seems to have gone nowhere. I can't see why, since it works very nicely on paper. App

    • A small trend I've noticed is that Google seems to struggle in the areas of music and TV a lot more than say... Apple. Why is that?

      Because Apple has a successful 10 year history in music starting with the iPod and iTunes in 2001. [wikipedia.org] The iPod sold well, and two years later in 2003 the iTunes Store was born. [wikipedia.org] The music industry had watched mp3 players grow in popularity since the Rio 300 in 1998 [wikipedia.org] and were eager to find any way to finally make some money from digital music rather than watch it be stolen and shared with software like Napster [wikipedia.org] so they were more than happy to put their content on iTunes. Recording industry really didn't have a

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        The music industry had watched mp3 players grow in popularity since the Rio 300 in 1998 and were eager to find any way to finally make some money from digital music rather than watch it be stolen and shared with software like Napster so they were more than happy to put their content on iTunes.

        Actually, the music industry was very worried about Apple moreso than music. Steve Jobs had to actually play the "limited Mac marketshare" card to reassure the music execs. Of course, Jobs then opened it up to Windows

  • Seriously give those that are in their mid 30's or older and who don't have time to explore 100's of sites to find new and fresh music and nice easy way of previewing and buying music.

  • We don't need another MP3 store, what we need is a mainstream site that offers lossless downloads of new music. In this internet age I shouldn't have to order the CD in order to get lossless audio, I should be able to download FLAC files of a new release direct from a legal content provider.

    • I agree with the sibling AC's suggestion of bandcamp, many of my favorite modern indie acts put their stuff on bandcamp and make FLAC downloads available.

      I haven't used https://www.hdtracks.com/ [hdtracks.com] ; they seem to focus on classic reissues and jazz/classical/opera/etc. (They also have a lot of above-CD-quality FLACs)

      Nevertheless, more FLAC availability would be good.

  • Probably US-only (Score:3)

    by JohnnyBGod ( 1088549 ) on Saturday October 15, 2011 @11:40AM (#37724424)

    It's probably US-only, so I'm unable to care.

  • Google typical user is not used to pay for any services or software, this will follow last google products trend, an epic fail.
    • Considering Google has something like 90 percent market share in most countries, are saying 90 percent of people dont pay for things? I'd say your post is an epoc fail.

  • How many music services do we need? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by msobkow ( 48369 ) on Sunday October 16, 2011 @12:09AM (#37728408) Homepage Journal

    All these different music services, competing for the same catalogues of music, trying to get exclusives whenever they can.

    At what point is the market deemed "saturated"?

    And what good are all these services when they're only available in certain regions of the world (primarily US and UK.)? What about everyone else? Is Apple the only one who can negotiate international sales and streaming rights?

  • It's called The Pirate Bay.

    And it carries movies, books, games, pretty much anything that can be digitized.

    Oh ya, I can't beat the price.

    The more money people spend keeping the music & movie industry going, the more crappy laws and stupid ass DRM shit we are going to get.

    Bankrupt them, and we won't have to listen to them anymore.

  • "afabbro writes with news that Google is working to follow up its cloud music service with an MP3 store capable of competing with Amazon and Apple and Ubuntu One."

    FTFY. I use Ubuntu One more than I use the other two.

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