Could Google Music be the nail in iTunes coffin?
There is no doubt that Apple and iTunes have changed the way we consume music. But for me the experience hasn't been without frustration.
The ability to only sync with one computer and the confusing nature of the process has left me with steam coming out of my ears at times. I have lost libraries of music, struggled to get back previous purchases, battled to get album covers and generally not enjoyed the experience.
I have noticed however that they are making a concerted effort to take on board customer feedback, with more personalised email responses and the addition of the "purchased" section amongst other things.
But today as I read about new Google Music, I wonder how many punters there are like me who would happily move to a more open music experience.
Google announced that it is opening its Music service (essentially a Music Store to rival iTunes available in the Android Marketplace) to everyone (although it isn't available in Australia yet) for free for up to 20,000 songs. Tracks will be available on the Android marketplace, adding a catalogue of millions of songs.
Image source: https://music.google.com/music/listen
Google + will play a big role in making the experience "social" and recommendations will also form an important part of the model with the system recommending tunes from your favourite artists and suggestions from your friends (via Google +), Google also has a staff of music critics who will be giving reviews and recommendations. I like the line they use in their promo video “Sharing is caring, and caring is awesome”.
Interestingly, users will be able to put iTunes music into their music lockers, and the Music Manager is even supposed to retain users’ playlists and ratings. ITunes in the Cloud charges you for non-iTunes songs. They are also heavily pushing their “no syncing, no wires” approach which definitely taps into my prior frustrations with Apple.
Google actually released the first iteration of the service as an unfinished beta in May to about a million people in the U.S by invitation only. That version allowed you to upload your digital songs for online storage and allowed playback on computers and Android devices. Testers were streaming music on average 2.5 hours every day (source: Washington Post).
To take the Google Music tour click here
It will be interesting to see what this new Beta version offers and how it compares to iTunes, I will definitely be trying to out (when it comes to Australia) and it adds further weight to my consideration to switch to an Android device.
Android is rapidly gaining market share of Smartphone sales in Australia which will be crucial to the take up of services such as Google Music when it launches here:
By Coops (@coops)
