Google Music Beta

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

vansmack wrote:
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

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. 

sweetcell wrote:
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…

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 wrote:
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

vansmack wrote:
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.

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?

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…

vansmack wrote:
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.

beetsnotbeats wrote:
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.

Looks pretty easy so far…

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

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

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.

nkotb wrote:
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 wrote:
(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."

nkotb wrote:
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…

Still going for now…it's been slow going as I was out of town for a few days.  Just about to pass 10k, but my upload says it's good for 34,917 (which is less than the total number of songs I have).  We'll see, I guess…

Still not sure how it'll handle changes/adds/deletes from iTunes, since that's still my primary database, but so far, I'm digging it too.

vansmack wrote:

nkotb wrote:
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…

vansmack wrote:
Still loving this BTW…

i'm not "getting it", and i think it's for the same reason as why i don't need a 80 GB ipod - i don't need access to all my music at all times in all places.  my foray into mobile digital music started, and continues, on an ipod nano with 8 GB.  i'm used to limiting what music i have with me at any time.  i'm typically listening to a few new albums, have a few in my to-be-listened-to queue, and a few old-timers that i dug up (typically EDM music to run/work out to).  when i sync my ipod, i have to remove music in order to add new stuff so i'm used to being cut off from part of my music collection while on the go.  for me, limiting what i have access to helps to ensure that i get around to listening to everything at least once.  

maybe if i start using my phone as a secondary listening device it'll all make sense.  or if i'm at a party and i want to pull up a tune.

nkotb wrote:
Still going for now…it's been slow going as I was out of town for a few days.  Just about to pass 10k, but my upload says it's good for 34,917 (which is less than the total number of songs I have).  We'll see, I guess…

I guess we'll find out soon.

So I was originally good for 44K songs.  I didn't notice, but after I started, I got a new warning on my Music Manager that said that I was over the limit of 20K songs, but it kept uploading.  I thought I was over 20K, but I wasn't (Music Manager froze on my server while I was in Vegas).  It says now I'm at 19590 songs so I'll see in a little while.

OOPS:  I just deleted a book on CD that had uploaded.  That removed 422 tracks so we're going to have to wait a little longer to see what happens at 20K.  Rookie move…

sweetcell wrote:
i'm not "getting it", and i think it's for the same reason as why i don't need a 80 GB ipod - i don't need access to all my music at all times in all places.

Playlists, playlists playlists…..

One place to unify all playlists across all my devices.  Make a change on my phone, it shows up on my computer when I get to work.  Listen to music at work all day, thumbs up a song or two, it's reflected on my Dev phone that I use with my stereo.  This by far has been the biggest benefit to me for Google Music.

And on the making sure I listen to new stuff at least once - I have a playlist called "New Albums."  Now that is synced across all my devices too.  It's brilliant.

sweetcell wrote:
maybe if i start using my phone as a secondary listening device it'll all make sense. 

And what's your primary listening device?