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Google Launches Free Scan and Match Music Service to Compete With Apple and Amazon
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Well considering I got locked out of my itunes match account for 90 days because my wife wanted use the computer I might just cancel it and upload my music to google now.
So as a far as I gathered:
iTunes Match: 256kbps AAC, downloadable
Amazon: 256kbps MP3, downloadable (?)
Google Play: up to 320kbps streaming-only (?)
Or did I make a mistake there?
I'm not much interested in streaming but would rather download to store on HD and I prefer MP3 over vendor-specific formats (AAC). So should I go with Amazon?
iTunes Match: 256kbps AAC, downloadable
Amazon: 256kbps MP3, downloadable (?)
Google Play: up to 320kbps streaming-only (?)
Or did I make a mistake there?
I'm not much interested in streaming but would rather download to store on HD and I prefer MP3 over vendor-specific formats (AAC). So should I go with Amazon?
All you cheapos should pay for the music you acquire. Artists need to eat too you know.
I thought this was for us to upload music that we already paid for. Like stuff off of amazon and google, etc.
Yeah, Apple surely isn't trying to get you stuck in their ecosystem. I'll just take this movie I bought on itunes and watch it on my non-apple device now...
I switch back and forth between two iTunes accounts all the time and it doesn't lock me out of iTunes Match. Am I just getting lucky or is there something different about your setup.
I remember that there used to be a 90 rule about associating a computer with a particular account, but I didn't know if it still applied anymore, given that I switch back and forth all the time.
Maybe I'm just missing the critical piece of the puzzle through myopic lenses.
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Apple most definitely wants you as a customer. But Google is like a drug dealer; giving you things for free and then making money on your back with all of your data and information.
People willingly turn over every bit of their online privacy for free stuff. It amazes me.
I love my Mac Mini, but when it came to buying a tablet, I just couldn't justify Apple. $199 for a 16GB tablet and we're starting to get equally strong services, if not better in some instances. Plus, when it goes obsolete in a few years, I won't feel bad about letting it go.
Music match is just icing on the cake.
Music match is just icing on the cake.
Hmm, I wonder if it works any better than iTunes Match, which still has a lot of trouble recognizing many songs, even though they are present in the iTunes store.
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Actually, no. I think Google's entire business model revolves around selling customer information to advertisers. Apple's business model is quite different - they actually make money off the hardware they sell.
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Actually, no. I think Google's entire business model revolves around selling customer information to advertisers. Apple's business model is quite different - they actually make money off the hardware they sell.
So as a far as I gathered:
iTunes Match: 256kbps AAC, downloadable
Amazon: 256kbps MP3, downloadable (?)
Google Play: up to 320kbps streaming-only (?)
Or did I make a mistake there?
I'm not much interested in streaming but would rather download to store on HD and I prefer MP3 over vendor-specific formats (AAC). So should I go with Amazon?
iTunes Match matches songs that you have stored on your computer in bit-rates higher than 256kbps equally. So if you have all of your songs in ALAC then it will upload them in ALAC and if you stream those songs to your car-radio via iPhone you'll be hearing ALAC.
I tried to use Google's service, but it doesn't recognize Apple's formats. Most of my library is in Apple Lossless so I'd have to convert it all to MP3 to use Google. Maybe most of you are using MP3 instead of AAC, so it wouldn't be a problem, but it's a non-starter for me.
Oh yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you're saying here. I am considering moving my iPhone 5 to a Nexus 4. the iPhone is just not that great anymore, outside of the actual design of the device. iOS feels so backwards and constricting. Google's cloud services are amazing, whereas iCloud is just horrible for the most part. Sadly, I don't think a lot of Apple die hards realize how big the gulf between the two actually is.
Remember that if you are signed into ANY Google service on a computer, cell phone or tablet, then Google will keep specific records of every search you perform. When you are not signed in, they keep them for a limited time, then delete them. But when you are signed in, such as with GMail, GoogleDocs, GoogleMusic (whatever its called), YouTube, etc, then Google's policy is to track your searches and keep them on there servers under your account FOREVER.
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To clarify, Google keeps every search performed through Google ever, and always. But as far as associating that search with you, it's only permanently associated if the search is performed while you are "signed in" to Google. Listening to music stored in Google's cloud would definitely qualify as being signed in.
This is not ok with me. Just my $.02.
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To clarify, Google keeps every search performed through Google ever, and always. But as far as associating that search with you, it's only permanently associated if the search is performed while you are "signed in" to Google. Listening to music stored in Google's cloud would definitely qualify as being signed in.
This is not ok with me. Just my $.02.
I already had uploaded my 15K library; Maybe they will upgrade my music to 320 on the cloud.
EDIT: "If you’re a longtime Google Play Music user, you don’t need to re-upload your files to have them matched. In the next few months, we'll automatically match what we can of your existing library."
Maybe they will upgrade my music to 320 on the cloud.EDIT: "If you’re a longtime Google Play Music user, you don’t need to re-upload your files to have them matched. In the next few months, we'll automatically match what we can of your existing library."
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Personally, I think their products are superior and justifies a premium price. The challenge for Apple is staying one step ahead to keep justifying those premiums.
With Google's business model being to follow the leader, the question is, are you willing to wait years for Google to deliver "Apple-like" products like the iPhone and iPad or services like iTunes Match? For example, Android users are still waiting for an Apple TV like experience with the recently introduced AirPlay clone in JB, years after Apple introduced it.
I'm not sure I understood what you wrote. My experience is that when something isn't matched it will do the following:
1. If the bit rate is 320 or below, it will copy the file as is in the bit rate it is in.
2. If the bit rate is above 320 it will resample it at 256 on your machine and then transfer it as a 256K AAC file.
Maybe that's what you said, but all my Apple Lossless files that aren't matched are turned into 256k AAC, which is good because it still very often doesn't match one or more songs in an album.
It might not work for movies, but you can download your iTunes-match supplied .m4a files and stick them on to an Android device and play them with the native music player.
Apple don't love DRM. Even when they had it on music it was the most liberal DRM around (you could even burn those tracks to CD). Nobody offers DRM-free movies because the license holders (the movie studios) won't let them.
Apple really doesn't care if owners of other devices want to take their content with them - they're not going to make things more difficult for them, but they're not going to fight ridiculously hard to make it easy for people to leave their ecosystem. All that Apple cares about is that iOS users can buy and play music and movies quickly and simply.
I have several albums that do not play properly on my iPhone. They cut out halfway or start the next song in the middle of the current one.
Interestingly, it works fine between computers.
Superior how?
Nexus 4 is top notch, not that plastic crap like the S3.
Nexus 10 - great device, higher resolution screen than the iPad 3/4
Nexus 7 - $150 cheaper than the iPad Mini, feels great in the hand
Google Maps - hands down better than Apple Maps
And so on...if anybody can match Apple in quality, it's Google.
Not the best examples, but you get the point...plus their devices are cheaper than Apple.