Google Music Beta

[vansmack]

No sense further littering up my thread with this, so it should probably have it's own thread for the musicphile's out there:

http://music.google.com/about/

Sign up for the beta there and watch the video.

Here's the app while you wait for your invitation:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.music&feature=search_result

Got 20,000 songs you'd like to store in the cloud for free?

http://music.google.com/music/usernotinvited?u=0

Google to Launch Music service at I/O

[sweetcell]

is this where i can expect your views on the copyright implications of this service?  didn't see anything in TSTYNTK...  i know, it's an annoying question, but i can't see how any of these cloud services aren't going to be shut down by a court injunction. 

[vansmack]

is this where i can expect your views on the copyright implications of this service?  didn't see anything in TSTYNTK...  i know, it's an annoying question, but i can't see how any of these cloud services aren't going to be shut down by a court injunction. 

Google is negotiations with the music companies, but I believe that's for attaching a music store to the service.

I don't agree with the notion that Google providing me with a storage locker for songs I already own is a violation of copyright.  I like the amount of money Amazon/Google/Apple could put together to mount a defense of this service against the record companies, as opposed to say an mp3.com...

[vansmack]

My favorite line so far:

"The music service will be free "at least while it's in beta," so here's hoping for a Gmail-style development trajectory."

[vansmack]

Google is negotiations with the music companies, but I believe that's for attaching a music store to the service.

Check that.  Here's what they wanted to do - combine my collection with a Spotify type arrangement.  Would have been awesome:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/google-music-launching-tuesday-label-187022

[Jaguar]

My favorite line so far:

"The music service will be free "at least while it's in beta," so here's hoping for a Gmail-style development trajectory."

Yeah, they know they need to cover their ass because they know what sharks the CRB, the RIAA and other such groups are like!

Is this the sort of thing that will allow others to listen to your files without sharing your password or being in the same room as you? Or is it essentially just another MP3 player via an online storage locker?

If it's just a personal online storage MP3 player, you should NOT have to pay royalties (but you can bet your sweet ass those groups mentioned above will try to force the issue somehow). If it does allow you share with the public, lots of them at once, than you can bet they eventually will make you cough up as much as they can get out of you and probably akin to what they are charging broadcasters.

[Justin Tonation]

Doesn't support ALAC or non-compressed formats. Supports FLAC but they're "transcoded" to MP3. Whether that means they're stored as MP3s or stored as FLACs then streamed as MP3s is not explained. If I rely on it as a cloud backup, would I be able to retrieve FLACs?

[vansmack]

Not surprisingly, you missed the joke Jag.

Gmail is still in "Beta" and has been for years.  Folks hope they keep this in beta for as many years as gmail so it remains free...

[Jaguar]

Not surprisingly, you missed the joke Jag.

Gmail is still in "Beta" and has been for years.  Folks hope they keep this in beta for as many years as gmail so it remains free...

Okay, that flew right over my head. I use Gmail but not interested in lots of the insider tech talk. That's what we have you around here for. 

BUT... what about that cloud thing? Assuming it gets out of Beta. Believe me, I'm sure that the CRB is already itching and and licking their slimy chops together trying to come up with some angle to suck off the expanded musical teat for all that they can suck out of it.

[vansmack]

Doesn't support ALAC or non-compressed formats. Supports FLAC but they're "transcoded" to MP3. Whether that means they're stored as MP3s or stored as FLACs then streamed as MP3s is not explained. If I rely on it as a cloud backup, would I be able to retrieve FLACs?

What you're asking for here is not a music service, but simply a storage service.  No one  would want to stream an ALAC file as it will necessarily have to be bit reduced given network limitations. 

There are plenty of other Cloud Storage providers that might be more in line with what you're looking for.  Google has been clear about this - this is a music service.

[vansmack]

Looks pretty easy so far...

http://www.androidcentral.com/first-look-google-music-beta

I haven't received my invite yet. :-(

[nkotb]

FINALLY got my invite, so the uploading begins.  I'm blown away by how easy this is...already tested out the Android app and it's working like a charm!  I hope they continue the push from iTunes; I've spent A LOT of time rating and making smart playlists, and since the help mentions that they don't grab from playlists yet, I'm optimistic. 

Did they already up the total number of songs?  Can't tell or not, but it seems to let me upload 35k.

[vansmack]

Did they already up the total number of songs?  Can't tell or not, but it seems to let me upload 35k.

I think that was just an advertised number then.  I thought my dev rights allowed me to upload my 44K songs, but it looks like they haven't blocked anybody (yet).  I've been adding songs from my initial upload and it's still not telling me I have too many songs.

A couple of things that have caused problems for me.  (1) I didn't wipe my phone's SD card clean before I used Google Music, so now I have doubles of some stuff on my phone and there's no way of telling which is the local version and which is the online version.  That will be problematic on say a plane or in a tunnel on public transportation.  I recommend clearing your phone of your music first, then installing Google Music, and then transfer songs back to your phone, if you so desire, afterwards.  (2) I'm not exactly clear which version of IP tags Google Music is using, but it doesn't seem to be consistent (or maybe it's my collection, but I've spent years trying to rectify this), however, the ability to edit from the cloud as made this a non-factor.  Amazon should take note.

[vansmack]

(1) I didn't wipe my phone's SD card clean before I used Google Music, so now I have doubles of some stuff on my phone and there's no way of telling which is the local version and which is the online version.  That will be problematic on say a plane or in a tunnel on public transportation.  I recommend clearing your phone of your music first, then installing Google Music, and then transfer songs back to your phone, if you so desire, afterwards.

Problem one fixed with Google Music 3.0.1 for Android.

"Google released the first update to their new Music app today bringing it up to version 3.0.1.  In this rendition, the ability to delete songs stored on the SD card was added and it brought about some bug fixes as well."

[vansmack]

Did they already up the total number of songs?  Can't tell or not, but it seems to let me upload 35k.

I ended up getting past 20K songs and then my Db was parred back to 20K.  You?

Still loving this BTW...