Google Music - Public info only

srsly78

It seems the last thread about this was deleted. I can only assume it was because people were breaching their beta agreement. Is this so mods? Please if you are gonna delete it this time at least leave a note.

Well let's try again. With public info only, nothing wrong with that right?

Here is page with info about it: http://music.google.com/about/

Basically it stores your music in the cloud, and you can sync between desktop and phone etc etc. It's in closed beta at the moment, so noone is allowed to actually post what their experience is like. Note the beta is USA only, so any of us Irish guys using it have been VERY VERY NAUGHTY

dancingqueen

This looks very interesting

Would it use up a lot of data, do you think?

srsly78

It doesn't stream music, it downloads and stores it locally. So you would sync over wifi, and once that's done it wouldn't use much data at all.

nedd

The other thread is still there, at the bottom of Page 2.

But your probably right about it being a closed beta.

I heard when it was launched that it was going to be free for a while and then they would start charging, I wonder how much they will charge?

MiCr0

the last thread got deleted in error - due to fat fingers and a touch screen.

As nedd said, its back there on page 2

srsly78

My bad so! Please lock/merge this thread mods.

28064212

srsly78 wrote: »

It doesn't stream music, it downloads and stores it locally. So you would sync over wifi, and once that's done it wouldn't use much data at all.

It's a streaming app that caches songs. Otherwise it wouldn't be much use to people with small SD cards and large music collections. From here:

Not online? No problem. The songs you've recently played will automatically be available offline. You can also select the specific albums, artists and playlists you want to have available when you're not connected.

So recently-played stuff is cached, and you can set it up to have some stuff always downloaded, but by and large, it is a streaming app

srsly78

I'm using it right now, it has downloaded everything to my phone. If you have storage space (who doesn't) then it doesn't stream.

edit: Aha. Maybe because it uploaded everything from my phone in the first place The desktop app has a progress bar for syncing, it definitely downloaded everything to pc. Best of both worlds

CiaranC

srsly78 wrote: »

I'm using it right now, it has downloaded everything to my phone. If you have storage space (who doesn't) then it doesn't stream.

edit: Aha. Maybe because it uploaded everything from my phone in the first place The desktop app has a progress bar for syncing, it definitely downloaded everything to pc. Best of both worlds

What would be the point of cloud storage that didnt stream from the cloud?

srsly78

Syncing multiple devices. You are right tho, I should have said "it doesn't necessarily stream music".

Also, on the desktop version there seems to be no streaming option at all.

28064212

srsly78 wrote: »

I'm using it right now, it has downloaded everything to my phone. If you have storage space (who doesn't) then it doesn't stream.

Who has such a small music collection? :pac: Even if I had a 32GB card, it still wouldn't be enough

srsly78 wrote: »

edit: Aha. Maybe because it uploaded everything from my phone in the first place The desktop app has a progress bar for syncing, it definitely downloaded everything to pc. Best of both worlds

That's probably the reason alright

srsly78

Anyone else using this? The activation popped up for me, I'm on business in UK. Didn't pop up for my brother back in Ireland tho.

killbillvol2

srsly78 wrote: »

It seems the last thread about this was deleted. I can only assume it was because people were breaching their beta agreement. Is this so mods? Please if you are gonna delete it this time at least leave a note.

Well let's try again. With public info only, nothing wrong with that right?

Here is page with info about it: http://music.google.com/about/

Basically it stores your music in the cloud, and you can sync between desktop and phone etc etc. It's in closed beta at the moment, so noone is allowed to actually post what their experience is like. Note the beta is USA only, so any of us Irish guys using it have been VERY VERY NAUGHTY

srsly78 wrote: »

It doesn't stream music, it downloads and stores it locally. So you would sync over wifi, and once that's done it wouldn't use much data at all.

srsly78 wrote: »

My bad so! Please lock/merge this thread mods.

srsly78 wrote: »

I'm using it right now, it has downloaded everything to my phone. If you have storage space (who doesn't) then it doesn't stream.

edit: Aha. Maybe because it uploaded everything from my phone in the first place The desktop app has a progress bar for syncing, it definitely downloaded everything to pc. Best of both worlds

srsly78 wrote: »

Syncing multiple devices. You are right tho, I should have said "it doesn't necessarily stream music".

Also, on the desktop version there seems to be no streaming option at all.

srsly78 wrote: »

Anyone else using this? The activation popped up for me, I'm on business in UK. Didn't pop up for my brother back in Ireland tho.

Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

Is there anyone out there who could give a lucid expalanation of what this does/doesn't do?

srsly78

I only got it yesterday give me a break :rolleyes:

28064212

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

Is there anyone out there who could give a lucid expalanation of what this does/doesn't do?

It allows you to store your music in the cloud, the app allows you to stream the music in the cloud to your phone.

More info here:

srsly78 wrote: »

Here is page with info about it: http://music.google.com/about/

killbillvol2

srsly78 wrote: »

I only got it yesterday give me a break :rolleyes:

You started the thread...

28064212 wrote: »

It allows you to store your music in the cloud, the app allows you to stream the music in the cloud to your phone.

More info here:

So it's as simple as I thought it was before some of the above waffle. Thanks.

srsly78

I started the thread because mods accidentally deleted the other one. If you want infallibility go talk to the Pope.

él statutorio

srsly78 wrote: »

I started the thread because mods accidentally deleted the other one. If you want infallibility go talk to the Pope.

Post of the week!

EGriff

How much data does it use in say an hour of listening?

srsly78

No idea. Depends on the quality I suppose. This raises a lot of questions, what are they transcoding stuff to? If I upload a 192Kbps mp3 does it get downgraded to 128Kbps? Do they use OGG format (probably)? Should I upload FLAC files? (lossless)

Will post back if I get more info. Is anyone else using this yet?

Vokes

killbillvol2 wrote: »

28064212 wrote:

It allows you to store your music in the cloud, the app allows you to stream the music in the cloud to your phone.

So it's as simple as I thought it was before some of the above waffle. Thanks.

And not just to your Android phone. You can play your music on the cloud from any computer that has a web browser. Which is a pretty neat thing to have at the office with my work computer

kenyard

so yeah..pretty much everything answered...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ilpMVi0Bf8

seems they are limiting it to 20,000 songs (approx 800Gb of music)
i guess this shouldnt be a probelm for most people...and uploading that amount alone will take a decent connection and a lot of bandwidth allowance (upc have what, a 500Gb a month option? assuming you keep 300Gb for main downloading, that means 4 months of uploading before u fill it even)

works Only on Android 2.2+

looks nice though... assuming you have a decent connection
as for someone else asking bitrate, it looks like it keeps the original song you upload, though i cant confirm

i also dont like the "free for now"...
but i guess this will really be heavy on bandwidth... then again they have managed youtube...
im guessing there will be a paid ad-free option... since you have to stream as such, using it on your phone you cant really avoid ads like most other free apps

long_b

srsly78 wrote: »

No idea. Depends on the quality I suppose. This raises a lot of questions, what are they transcoding stuff to? If I upload a 192Kbps mp3 does it get downgraded to 128Kbps? Do they use OGG format (probably)? Should I upload FLAC files? (lossless)

Will post back if I get more info. Is anyone else using this yet?

The Music Manager on the PC is skipping my ogg files.
I don't know what quality it plays them back on but I guess there may be some smarts in there based on the available bandwith to the device/pc at the time ?

conor.hogan.2

We dont have the 3g (any mobile internet access) in ireland to do this properly for any reasonable cost even on billpay.

Its good to have, but ill stick with my ipod classic as its all local its all in "sync" and it doesnt waste my phone battery (which doesnt last long as it is)

Also just on principle I hope google make this availible on every device, as its not properly cloud unless it available anywhere you have a connection (not just device pending)

CiaranC

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

We dont have the 3g (any mobile internet access) in ireland to do this properly for any reasonable cost even on billpay.

I use Grooveshark on threes all you can eat data plan without issue.

Dimithy

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

We dont have the 3g (any mobile internet access) in ireland to do this properly for any reasonable cost even on billpay.

I've been using cloud streaming services to listen to my music for about a year now, and have never had any problems. I've never gone over my 10gb allowance, and thats with teathering and streaming music.
Very happy with Google music so far, having come from using Mspot. No all i have to do is fill up more of my storage.

srsly78

Grooveshark Mobile is low bitrate and MONO only. This is why it doesn't use up much. It's useless now... Desktop version is still full quality. Mobile version was full quality when I bought VIP account over a year ago, but they sneakily changed it without telling anyone. Cancel tbh.

CiaranC

srsly78 wrote: »

Grooveshark Mobile is low bitrate and MONO only. This is why it doesn't use up much. It's useless now... Desktop version is still full quality. Mobile version was full quality when I bought VIP account over a year ago, but they sneakily changed it without telling anyone. Cancel tbh.

This was to workaround an android bug in a previous version. You can switch it off in the options now.

srsly78

CiaranC wrote: »

This was to workaround an android bug in a previous version. You can switch it off in the options now.

Pretty sure that option doesn't work. Sounds **** no matter what.
http://forums.grooveshark.com/discussion/2605/Android-plays-always-in-lower-bitrate-also-in-wifi-connections

Will go and re-test myself to make sure. Problem is Grooveshark isn't even showing up on the market for me Not very impressed with their android support so far. It actually did work well over a year ago, which is the strange thing. There was a period of months then when nothing would play "I/O error".

Dimithy

Didnt Google kick Grooveshark out of the marketplace, shortly before they released Google music?

srsly78

Ahhh that might explain a few things You can still just download it off their website tho.

Ok, results of Grooveshark testing (v2.3):
I think the low bit-rate option now works properly. Quality sounds good, HOWEVER, it streams so slowly that it's useless. Phone is on wifi. Speedtest shows 10Mbit on phone and on desktop. Desktop app plays grooveshark music fine, but phone is brutally slow. Conclusion: useless.