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Spotify’s challenge is to prove it’s a real business, not a fantasy
Three months after quietly filing to become a public company, Spotify finally made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. It was a big day for the Swedish music-streaming giant, to say the least, and it ended up exceeding expectations from Wall Street analysts on its first day of trading. But for many investors, Spotify may not be the safest bet. In its IPO filing, it disclosed that it has incurred significant operating losses over the past few years, warning investors that it may be a while before it's able to generate profits on a sustained basis.
Drake's new album only an Apple Music exclusive for a week
We had an inkling that Drake's next album, Views From the 6, would hit streaming services other than Apple Music but didn't exactly know when. The truth is you'll only have to wait a week after its initial release before you can hear it on other platforms, according to Buzzfeed News. That exclusivity window is pretty brief, and compared to how Kanye West and streaming service Tidal handled The Life of Pablo, refreshingly straightforward. Pretty sure I'm not the only one who's disappointed that the news didn't come via an ill-advised tweetstorm though.
Google Play Music family plan gives six people tunes for $15 a month
Family pricing has been all the rage when it comes to music-streaming services. After the likes of Rdio, Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music announced reduced rates for you and your family, Google has a family plan of its own for Play Music. Mountain View is offering access to its library of tunes for up to six people for $15 a month. That's exactly what Apple offers, and it's a much better deal than Rdio and Spotify, which only allow two people to stream for that price. With Play Music, each member of the crew will be able to listen on any device and the app will serve up recommendations that are tailored to each user. Google says it's still "putting the finishing touches" on the family sharing, and it plans to roll it out later this year. Get all the news from today's Google event right here.
Dr. Dre's 'Compton' makes its way to Google Music, Rdio and others
Apple Music's exclusive grip on Dr. Dre's new album lasted two weeks. Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre is now streaming from the likes of Google Play, Deezer, Tidal, Rdio and Rhapsody based on our quick look through music services. It's still absent from Spotify, though, perhaps due to its free tier that many artists aren't too thrilled about. If you didn't sign up for Cupertino's free trial, you can now give it a spin from the aforementioned repositories -- just in time for the weekend. We're curious to see if the Apple Music exclusive period in the future remains at 14 days or if it changes with each release.
Ask Google Search on Android to 'play some music' and... it will
Sometimes, having your entire music collection in your pocket can be a bit overwhelming. When there are hundreds (or in our case, thousands) of tracks at your disposal, where do you even begin to listen? To help thwart that paralysis of choice, Google is going to do the guessing for you with its latest tweak to Search. From Google Now or the search bar, simply say the magic words "play some music" and your Android device will start playing a random Play Music "I'm feeling lucky" mix that's based on recent listening habits. With its deep catalog of tunes, it's pretty easy to imagine that this feature's benefits increase exponentially if you're paying for Mountain View's All Access service, too. Subscriber or not, though, if you're stuck in a Nine Inch Nails rut, this could be the ticket out.
Google Play Music source code suggests browser uploads coming soon
Right now if you want to upload your stash of tunes to Google Play Music, you have to download Music Manager, an application that hooks into your computer's hard drive so that you can transfer selected audio files to Mountain View's storage cloud. But what if you don't want to download yet another piece of software on your already bursting hard drive, or you just want to upload a few songs from a friend's computer without having to get the app? Well, according to an eagle-eyed tipster of the unofficial Google system blog, you might be able to upload songs directly from the browser in the not-too-distant future. The source code in Google Play Music apparently suggests this via a dialog description text that reads "Drag songs or folders here to add music to your library. Or, if you prefer, select from your computer." While we're not sure if Google will actually implement browser uploads for its Music service, the line of code indicates the search giant is at least considering the idea. If you're a regular Google Play Music user, sound out in the comments below if this would be a welcome feature.
Google simplifies sharing and adds microSD storage to Play Music on Android
Fresh off its world tour, Google Play Music is making it easier to store, shuffle and share your mobile tunes. For starters, Mountain View's music streaming-and-locker service now lets KitKat users with SD-equipped handsets put cached tracks on their removable storage. If you want to listen to your favorite band's songs out of order, Google has you covered there with a minor new feature that mixes an artist's All Access catalog into random playlists. What's more, there's a new option that lets you share songs, albums and acts via typical Android methods too. In our tests, however, non-GPM users get "album not found" error messages when they click through the links, our friends just may think this is a gift from Google -- guarding them from our incessant Katy Perry spam.
Weekly Roundup: Galaxy Note 3 and Gear reviews, Twitter's $1 billion IPO, Silk Road shutdown and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Editorial: Google confuses magic with middling as it steps into music streaming
First of all: that name. Google Play Music All Access. Perhaps Google's presenters realized, as they were driving to the I/O keynote, that they had forgotten to name the new music-streaming service, and came up with that clunker backstage. Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up. Jump to the keynote, where Chris Yerga described All Access as "a uniquely Google approach to a subscription service," and remarked, "Here's where the magic starts." Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up. Prosaic and useful, yes; unique and magical, no. All Access is nowhere near an innovation. The major ecosystem companies, each of which started with groundbreaking technical development, now seem to fashion their business destinies on buttressing their networks with products innovated elsewhere, plugging holes to sway existing users from drifting out of the system. It's not a new story, but always a sad one.
Google Play Music All Access: Android / US-only rollout is just the start
Nearly two years ago to the day, Google introduced Music Beta at I/O 2011. But in reality, it was little more than a gigantic cloud to store 20,000 of your favorite tracks. Despite a plethora of rumors that the search giant would beat Spotify to the punch by launching a subscription-based music service in the United States, we got a digital locker that has done little to distract most listeners from giving Rdio, Pandora, iTunes and other like services at least a piece of their heart. Fast forward to today, and Google's finally joining the bandwagon... in majorly limited fashion. Google Music All Access is presently only available for mobile as an Android app, and only to users in the US. Moreover, it costs $9.99 -- the exact same sum as practically every one of its rivals. Rivals that have multi-year headstarts in terms of mind and market share. (Yes, it's $7.99 per month if you sign up prior to June 30th.) Google has landed deals with the same "major labels" as everyone else, but even product manager Paul Joyce affirmed to us here at I/O that All Access doesn't have access to any exclusives. In a post-keynote meeting with Joyce, he noted that this is only the start for the product. Naturally, Google's going to do its finest work on its own platform, but it's certainly odd to see iOS users left out in the cold given Google's acknowledgement of its importance just minutes earlier.
Google reportedly signs deal with Sony and Universal ahead of launching music streaming service
Sure, Google I/O may not focus on new products, but it might just take a moment to unveil the firm's take on music streaming. According to The Verge, Mountain View has inked licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment for YouTube and Google Play. With Fortune having reported that a similar deal with Warner Music Group is already in the can, it's entirely possible that the search titan could reveal its Spotify-like service at the developer event, now that it's reportedly reached critical mass with major music labels. If things pan out as the Financial Times sees them, the tune streaming would complement Google Music, and likely sport paid and free, ad-supported experiences. Page & Co.'s dev shindig may not have skydivers this year, but on-demand music may be on the program.
Google reportedly in negotiations with music labels to launch streaming service
Surprise, surprise: Apple isn't the only company that's rumored to be developing a music streaming service. According to Financial Times, Google is working to augment its current download store with a streaming service that could take on the likes of Spotify, Slacker and Nokia Music. The outlet's sources suggest that Google is currently in the negotiation stage with record labels, and that its service would likely feature both paid and free, ad-supported components. Naturally, while this news remains in the realm of rumors for both Apple and Google, it seems that the race is now on for which company is both willing and able to supplement its music store with a streaming service. Anyone care to place bets on which company is first to the starting line?
Google Music matching explicit songs with clean ones, but contains a stopgap fix
Early iTunes Match adopters will remember the unintentional bowdlerization of their music libraries: they'd listen to their scanned music collection on a second device and lose all the colorful language. As we're quickly learning, Google Music's newly added scan and match feature isn't exempt from that problem, either. Those streaming matched copies of explicit songs through the newer service are getting clean versions, with no obvious way to preserve the filth. We've reached out to Google for comment, but in the meantime, here's a potential solution -- choose the "fix incorrect match" option and Google Music will typically upload the raw tracks. Hopefully, the service will match the correct tracks by the next time we want an unfiltered experience for our ears.
Google Music gains scan and match feature in the US
It wasn't very long ago that Google Music landed in Europe -- to the delight of local music lovers, we're sure. On its trip across the pond, the service gained a unique new feature called scan and match, wherein Google scans your local music library and makes the songs it matches instantly available in the cloud -- no upload required. Until now the feature, which is similar to iTunes Match, was only available in Europe, but it's coming to the US starting today. From now on, any US Google Play users who upload their music collection will benefit from this new feature. Over time, the company will also upgrade users with existing cloud libraries. It's a free service and it's automatic -- you're unlikely to notice that it's even happening. The upside is that entire collections will be uploaded faster. We're not aware of any downsides yet -- matched songs will be available for streaming at 320Kbps like regular Google Play purchases, while re-downloaded music will be available at or close to the bitrate of the original file. Update: Google confirmed that any VBR files matched by the service will be re-downloaded as CBR files with a bitrate that's slightly higher than the average bitrate of the original song. This is obviously a drawback if you're currently relying on the service to backup your music collection.
Google breaks ground with pan-European music deal, shows that streaming knows no borders
We now know how Google could offer its European music services to multiple countries so quickly. The search firm took advantage of a new hub approach to licensing at Armonia, an alliance between publishers in France, Italy and Spain, to get rights to about 5.5 million works from 35 countries inside and outside of Europe. The pact should have financial terms similar to those for Amazon and Apple, but it's more notable as a rare (if not pioneering) European digital music agreement that reaches much of the continent in one shot -- those competitors' earlier deals required slower, country-by-country negotiations that ultimately sparked regulatory problems. While we're not bracing ourselves for full catalog access in the Czech Republic in the near future, the Armonia license could be a watershed moment for not just Google Music, but any digital music shop that wants to get a fresh start in the Old World.
Google Music comes to Europe November 13, brings Google Music match, too
Folks may be more excited about the newest Nexus phones, tablets and their fresh flavor of Jelly Bean, but Mountain View also unveiled a little something for music lovers across the pond today. That's right, Google Music is coming to Europe beginning November 13th. Unfortunately, not everyone on the continent will gain access, but residents of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will have Google's musical cloud services in just a couple weeks. Not only that, Big G is adding an iTunes Match-style feature to Google Music that'll scan your songs and add them to your cloud library, no uploading required. The feature will launch in Europe, with US residents enjoying the feature "soon after."
Google Play Music and Movies purchasing reaches Google TV, patches a media strategy hole
It's been one of the more conspicuous omissions in the media hub space: despite Google Play being the cornerstone of Google's content strategy, you couldn't truly use the company's music or movie services through Google TV without depending on content you'd already paid for elsewhere. As of a new upgrade, the ecosystem has come full circle. Viewers with Google TV boxes can at last buy or rent directly from Google Play Movies and Google Play Music, and the content will be indexed in the TV & Movies section alongside third-party video services and traditional TV. The upgrade also helps Google's TV front end play catch-up with its mobile counterpart by adding automatic app updates and subscriptions. While device owners may have to wait a few weeks as the upgrade rolls out, the addition signals a big step forward for a platform that has normally leaned heavily on others for help.
Google Play Music app update brings tweaks to Now Playing, Recent, playlists and widget
Ever since introducing the Google Music app in beta last year its developers have been hard at work trimming away the rougher edges and that's never been more evident than in the new 4.3.606 version now available for download. While Google Play Music's overall look hasn't shifted significantly, the changelog and a quick spin using it reveal nearly every screen has had some slight change. As seen above, the recently played screen now features larger album art, while the action bar has been adjusted with different transport controls. In this version, users have the ability to adjust and reorder music in the Now Playing queue, while a refreshed widget shows off album art and allows for thumbs up without opening the app. The settings menu has a direct link to the Nexus Q control app (assuming you can run it, and have one), hit the Play store for the updated version to try it out yourself.
Amazon rumored clinching major labels for cloud music rights, iTunes Match feels the heat
When we last checked in, Amazon was thought to finally be pushing for full music rights in its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. It might be a smooth operator at the negotiating table: subsequent tips to CNET maintain that the top four major labels (a currently-independent EMI as well as Sony, Universal and Warner) have all signed deals that will let Amazon offer the same scan-and-match music downloads and streaming as Apple's iTunes Match. The pacts would let Amazon offer access to every song a listener owns without having to directly upload each track that wasn't bought directly from Amazon MP3. Aside from closing a conspicuous gap, the deal could end a whole lot of acrimony from labels who were upset that Amazon preferred a free-but-limited service over having to charge anything. The online shop hasn't said anything official yet (if at all), but any signatures on the dotted line will leave Google Music as the odd man out.
Google Music users granted de-authentication reprieve as company retools activation system
Google Music users learned of a frightful new policy this morning that dictates a user may de-authorize only four devices in a year, out of ten total activations. While the policy is likely to go unnoticed by the majority of consumers, it instantly created a great pain for those who regularly flash ROMs to their phones and tablets. It seems the road to de-authorization hell is paved with good intentions, however, as Google has since responded to critics with the revelation that it'll introduce an activation system that accounts for such nuances. We've determined through our own experimentation that Google has temporarily suspended the de-authorization limit of four devices, and while it's difficult to know how long this reprieve will last, we're hopeful that it'll remain in effect until Google implements this new system to recognize duplicate authorizations. Additionally, we've learned through our conversations with the company that users may, in fact, sign in to their Google Music account from any number of devices, and it's only when a tune is deliberately streamed that your smartphone or tablet will be added to the list of ten. What's more, while the company was rather insistent that songs couldn't be streamed to multiple devices at the same time, it seems that Google's system of checks and balances is spotty at best -- we were able to simultaneously stream tunes to three devices without so much as a hiccup. Yes, the system eventually shook its finger at us, but it serves as a nice reminder to have fun while the insanity lasts.
