Google Unifies Media, Apps Into Google Play 146
eldavojohn writes "Google has just announced Google Play to merge their existing solutions for music, movies, books and apps in the new cloud based storage system promising that you will never have to worry about losing or moving them across devices ever again. You'll be able to store 20,000 songs for free. The region breakdown is: 'In the U.S., music, movies, books and Android apps are available in Google Play. In Canada and the U.K., we'll offer movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; and in Japan, movies and apps. Everywhere else, Google Play will be the new home for Android apps.'"
Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Funny)
Seems like it might infringe on the idea behind iTunes, or App Store, or something.
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Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Google Music has been out before Apple's equivalent cloud offering. And they had a web interface to Android market long before iOS got one.
This thing is really just an aggregation of existing Google cloud services under a single brand.
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Something, yes. Obviously, the cloud - that is, another computer connected to your computer over a network - was invented by Apple. I'm surprised Google has the front to try and rip them off so blatantly. This will not end well.
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What everyone is forgetting, is that iCloud is the same as many other services long before it. Bah, even Ubuntu One was there first.
Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Actually, the "cloud" experience on Android was there long before Apple. Buy an Android phone, insert your google account, and a few moments later you have all your contacts, calendars and apps.
Thats funny because the original iPhone did that too
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Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Informative)
really? a windows user with an iPhone would have all their contacts synced with the iPhone?
As of iOS 2.0, yes. Using either CalDav+IMAP or Exchange ActiveSync you could sync your calendar and email fine with an original iPhone in 2008.
Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:4, Interesting)
so.. after Android than? And with additional 3rd party programs?
For certain values of fine.
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Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, but that's hardly the same thing. It did that by getting them from the corresponding apps on your Mac when you synced the phone. It didn't pull them out of thin air, which is what "Cloud" is all about. It also didn't work unless you had a Mac. You used to need a computer to make your smartphone work. Now the Smarthphone IS the computer--or it least it can be if you're the minimalist sort.
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SHENANIGANS!
The original iphone 2G required you to connect it to itunes to
#1) activate (couldn't get past lock screen without initial itunes activation)
#2) sync contacts/calendar/photos/music etc. etc.
The cloud functionality for ios came MUCH later (measured in years)!
In contrast, my first android handset pretty much *never* touched a computer USB port.
Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Until recently the iPhone required iTunes in order to sync your contacts/calendar/apps. Android devices have never required a computer in order to sync this stuff.
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That's pretty amazing since the original iPhone didn't have apps at all. The apple app store its self didn't exist until mid 2008.
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Thats funny because the original iPhone did that too
no, pre-icloud the iphone only sync'd local resources ... your photos in iphoto, your contacts in address book, etc.
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The world is divided in two categories: those with a loaded gun and those who dig. You dig.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly?
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yes, also they use computers, and apple use computers..so the are clearly copying apple.
sheeesh.
Re:Will Apple file a lawsuit? (Score:5, Informative)
No, they sued Amazon for trademark infringement when Amazon opened the Android Appstore, claiming that "App Store" was trademarked by Apple, and complaining that Amazon's use of the mark was infringing.
There was no patent on "having an electronic store." There was no suit over "having an electronic store." It was a trademark dispute, in which Apple basically said "They should have to call it something else without using the phrase "App Store." Amazon went live with their Android Appstore anyway, and Microsoft has also filed a challenge on the trademark, claiming it was too generic to be a legitimate trademark.
The most recent I've heard, a few months back, the case is still working it's way through the federal courts.
Silly lawsuit? Probably. But the USPTO granted them the trademark in the first place, so I'm inclined to believe that the USPTO deserves a fair share of the blame for the waste of the lawsuit, also.
Why store songs? (Score:1)
When I get almost the entire catalog via Pandora or Spotify?
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Yay! (Score:5, Funny)
At last, somewhere to store all my pirated music and movies!!!!!
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Just use archive.org for that. It may take half a year for new files to show up, though.
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And get caught!
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Exactly! That's why I'm planning to buy 20000 copies of Madonna's Like a Virgin at a discount price of 15000 USD and store them in my Google account. That way, since elsewhere a song costs 99 cent each, I'll save 4800 bucks. A bargain, if you ask me.
I don't want my cloud provider to know type of med (Score:2, Informative)
I don't want my cloud provider to know type of media that's on there - if they know they'll pull it down at request or in case of apps possibly if the publisher just doesn't renew.
also a little birdie told me thet bitcasa beta is open.
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Re:I don't want my cloud provider to know type of (Score:5, Insightful)
If security, confidentiality, and permanent ownership of the stuff stored are such overriding concerns, then it's likely that a cloud service isn't for you, and you should avoid using one.
Re:I don't want my cloud provider to know type of (Score:5, Informative)
Then go with a zero-knowledge provider like SpiderOak [spideroak.com]. All of the data is encrypted on their servers. Your password is encrypted before it even leaves your computer. (If you lose your password, your recovery option is "I'm fucked".)
Moreover, even if the feds came knocking on their door, all they could say is that you have x gigs of data on this particular server. The company can't even view your files, no matter how much they (or law enforcement, or a court) might want to.
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Then go with a zero-knowledge provider like SpiderOak [spideroak.com]. All of the data is encrypted on their servers. Your password is encrypted before it even leaves your computer. (If you lose your password, your recovery option is "I'm fucked".)
Moreover, even if the feds came knocking on their door, all they could say is that you have x gigs of data on this particular server. The company can't even view your files, no matter how much they (or law enforcement, or a court) might want to.
Unfortunately many countries [wikipedia.org] have laws under which you can be forced to give up your encryption keys to law enforcement. God only knows how the US has resisted implementing laws like this so far, although I don't see this situation lasting long considering how the government lately seems hell bent on eliminating the human rights of its citizens.
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And every country has a guy willing to wield a lead pipe.
Habeas corpus (Score:2)
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Wouldn't it be simpler to securely delete the data? Then there's nothing to decrypt.
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it's still miles away from being auto-profiled for lawsuit based on the mp3's you have.
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Re:I don't want my cloud provider to know type of (Score:5, Insightful)
Then don't use cloud-based services. That's the route I take -- I just don't use them. I do use an Android phone and apparently will be using the cloud for apps, but that's all.
If you want cloud services, then use encryption -- but understand, if you're truly concerned, that encryption will not guarantee that your stuff stays private. All public key encryption is breakable without difficulty to someone who has access to a large sampling of your encrypted data and lots of CPU cycles to throw at the problem. Such as cloud providers do.
Re:I don't want my cloud provider to know type of (Score:4, Interesting)
For what values of lots?
Also, why are you using public-key cryptography for this?
Some background (Score:5, Informative)
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All my stuff in the cloud... (Score:4, Insightful)
...until I wake up one day and it's not.
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I have moved a lot to the cloud.
I recently set up a computer.
Install Steam,
get games,
install Chrome
Done.
No buying software,. no installing office like tools, no looking for game disks, no copying over music, no duplicating the file structure.
Easy, peasy.
If you back up now, then you can back up your docs from the cloud. If you don't back up now, then stop being an idiot and do so.
*Any browser, but I use chrome.
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Routinely back everything you store in the cloud locally. Problem solved.
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...until it RIAANS?
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That's a lot of failure modes, I'm starting to think local storage really is more hassle than it's worth.
WHY? (Score:5, Insightful)
USA: Music, Movies, Books, Apps
CAN: Movies, Books, Apps
UK: Movies, Books, Apps
Au: Books, Apps
Japan: Movies, Apps
Um, does this not seem odd? Only the US can store Music in Google Cloud? Is this because the RIAA can sue people there? Why the mashup of various media in various places. I wonder does this have more to do with law in the country in question, or the county of origin? Considering the stellar privacy stuff lately, I think I would rather figure out how to host my own server to take my stuff anywhere I like.
Oh and Books? Really? I mean you can fit like what a million on a micro SD card these days. Hell even music, unless you have a 20,000 song library, you can fit more music than you could ever really want on a 16GB smartphone... 32GB even more.
Video is intriguing. I can just imagine what is going to be uploaded there.
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Each of these industries are entrenched in more than a hundred years of business law and protect their regional fiefdoms viciously. They do so because they all know the internet makes them completely obsolete. They know that without the anchor of a physical pretense some small company anywhere in the world can beat them.
Re:WHY? (Score:4, Informative)
Each of these industries are entrenched in more than a hundred years of business law and protect their regional fiefdoms viciously. They do so because they all know the internet makes them completely obsolete. They know that without the anchor of a physical pretense some small company anywhere in the world can beat them.
Yet, with Apple, you can do all of this and more with iCloud + iTunes Match in 19+ countries. What it means is that Apple figured out there is no winning against the MAFIAA, and have paid their cut. Google is slowly starting to get with the program.
It's unfortunate, but it does appear that the media industry is going to win vs. the internet by balkanizing or eliminating it entirely.
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> I wonder does this have more to do with law in the country in question, or the county of origin?
> Considering the stellar privacy stuff lately, I think I would rather figure out how to host my own server
> to take my stuff anywhere I like.
I'm guessing it's to do with licensing.
Oh, and some of us have much, much more music than will even begin to fit onto a 32GB `smartphone`.
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Oh, and some of us have much, much more music than will even begin to fit onto a 32GB `smartphone`.
Right, and we stream the files from home, where we don't have to worry about someone searching thru them on some public server, to see what we have that they can nail us to the wall with.
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when do you plan on listening to it all?
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Oh I do not doubt. So do I. However do I have a need or even want to carry around 32GB of music? Not really. Most of it is music I haven't used in ages.
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...
Video is intriguing. I can just imagine what is going to be uploaded there.
Not the generic "Video" it's "Movies" and it is Google's movie rental service. Near as I can tell there is no uploading, although you would think they would wrap YouTube in there somehow.
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Video is intriguing. I can just imagine what is going to be uploaded there.
Nothing since you only get access to video's you purchase/rent from Google.
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Um, does this not seem odd?
No, it's copyright law. "Odd" with copyright law would be "Appears to have some logic behind it other than greed."
And if things ever DO seem "odd" (in the sense that they make sense) with copyright law, be very afraid: they REALLY have you where they want you.
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As usual, we don't like the band after they go mainstream.
No, that's not it. It's that we're being asked to trust third parties with the bulk of our personal data. Running your own server is better because you only have to trust yourself (and it can be just as -- if not more -- easy-to-use as any commercial offering). It has nothing to do with popularity.
The problem with clouds (Score:4, Insightful)
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I thought the problem with clouds is precipitation.
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Dumb move. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Google Play" sounds like an environment for children. Why would people look there for serious applications?
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It makes more sense when you look at how individual services are named - it's "Google Play Music", "Google Play Movies" etc.
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"Google Play Books", Google Play Apps"... uh wait, that still sounds incredibly stupid.
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http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=durex+play&hl=en
Re:Dumb move. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm far past my 20s and love the name. And Google has one of the best privacy policies. read it.
Google plays too well with others to give the impression they think it's their playground.
SO stop projecting what ever pops into you head onto others.
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I have read it. That it's one of the best privacy policies around doesn't mean it's a good privacy policy. Personally, I chafe at it.
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You mean that Facebook (another company where you are the product) doesn't operate in a similar (but much worse regarding privacy) manner?
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RMS' ability to "make you want to snuggle up in bed with him."
He does have a teddy-bear-like allure, doesn't he?
Fisher Price? (Score:2)
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Play Store, sounds a lot like something that would come from a children's toy mfg. Not the image you want to brand on your serious apps. Should've kept it Market.
Ah, "Market Play", indeed.
play books? (Score:1)
Looks like RIM is going to have to find a new name for their tablet now that Google is using the "play" prefix.
This new Google Play thing even has a Play Books section!
First test (Score:5, Interesting)
I just tested the new Google Play apps. Here's what I found:
Google Play Books: This item cannot be installed in your device's coutry
Google Play Music: This item cannot be installed in your device's coutry
Google Play Movies: This item cannot be installed in your device's coutry
(German user)
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Again, all is broken, i am still waiting for my google voice in portugal..... google looks like my ex always changing the shitty furniture around the house to look the same in the end.
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Hello, fellow Portuguese guy!
Google Voice actually became available in Portugal a few months ago! Go give it a try!
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A little rhyme for the 'Play Store" (Score:2)
Vetted Apps (Score:3)
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It would actually be better if they would create a secured server in which only vetted apps are in it.
I suspect that this isn't so easy to do, based on the fact that nobody is doing this in a really effective way yet. Google does as good a job of it as anybody else.
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So, they still don't want my money... (Score:3, Interesting)
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"just because I live in Poland"
The highway between Germany and Russia is a country? (runs)
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Promises, promises (Score:3)
You know, until they shut down the service in 18 months because it isn't popular enough...
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Or arbitrarily block your account without giving you a reason beyond "ToS violation", and then a few days later, restore access, again without explanation.
I wish this stuff worked. I wish you could rely on it. It would make life so much easier ...until they blocked access to my account.
Great! (Score:1)
The only video I ever lost access to was from Goog (Score:3)
A few years ago I downloaded some test video from Google Video... doesn't work anymore since they shut things down.
So it's kind of amusing that Google is trying to solve a problem they themselves took part in at one point.
In contrast any video downloaded from iTunes still works - even if it's not in the store anymore.
However, given the nature of DRM video I still think of all DRM protected video as a rental. It might be a long term rental, it's great if it still works but I'm not silly enough to expect it always will. Until the video content providers managed to get their eyelids forced open Clockwork Orange style and made to see the same light the music industry saw, very little will change about online video as much as Google (or Apple) might claim you can access it "forever".
Here's to hoping whatever Apple comes up with un regards to a newer version of AppleTV is a step towards the video industry seeing that light.
How long... (Score:1)
How long will it be before civilians are no longer allowed to purchase/own storage media, I wonder. I mean, all it's ever used for is piracy, right? According to the RIAA/MPAA?
Then again, there's probably more money to be made in litigation than in actually making/selling music/movies.
Bah! Google should be fixing problems (Score:2)
How nice, all unified, except that quite a number of users have, since last week, not been able to edit their google docs. Searching for "help docs trying to reach google.com" shows how bad this problem is, and also displays google's apparent lack of interest in fixing it.
I can't wait to see the response when a problem occurs on this unified system of theirs :(
Why is the UK different? (Score:2)
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Actually music is only supported in the US, where devices to allow easy transfer of music are generally not sold by agreements to keep them out of the hands of consumers. Like -- my last 2 phones -- no way to transfer songs to the phone over USB -- only to send them to the phone by paying to do it over the phone network where you are charged by the MB (after paying an initial $50 (~ £20-30)/mo for access.
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Proxy through international servers so you are coming from different IP addresses.
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Unfortunately for this argument, laws vary from country to country, and so terms and conditions for any service must comply with relevant local laws in each country, and the wishes of the rights-holders regarding distribution of their product to those countries.
Did you really think that companies *prefer* having to build a different storefront with a different set of products, for every country they operate in? This isn't google forcing the restrictions, it's the content owners not granting google the righ
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Because the dingo ate your baby.
Re:Why no movies in Australia? (Score:4, Funny)
They're having problems with the australian correction algorithm. It's actually quite hard to rotate the video stream 180 degrees in real time so they can view it down there.