Google Music invite-only beta ends, dangles free music bribe

By Richi Jennings (@richi ) - November 17, 2011.
 
Google Music has launched, ending its invite-only beta phase. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is motivating U.S. users to sign up with "free and exclusive" music. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers dance like there's nobody watching.
 
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Herman Cain appears to say, "Women have a special feeling"*...
 
 
Juan Carlos Perez reports:

Introduced in test form...in May as a cloud-based song storage and playback service, [it] will also let users buy albums and songs from all major music labels, except Warner. ... [U]sers will be able to share the songs...they purchase...on Google+, and those friends will in turn be able to listen to [them] in their entirety...one time.
...
With this launch, Google becomes a direct competitor...to Apple, Amazon and others, joining a highly competitive and mature market. ... Apple iTunes and Amazon MP3...are entrenched in the market with big user bases. ... Google must find a way to attract online music buyers and convince them to make purchases.   

  
Courtney Boyd Myers adds:

On Android’s Music Market, Google will feature new popular tracks each day as well as classic favorites, all for free.
...
Google Music will soon have 13 million tracks available for purchase, while 8 million are live now. ... Busta Rhymes will be debuting his new studio album exclusively on Google Music.   

Joe Wilcox notes Google's dig at iTunes Match:

"The service will continue to be free" -- up to 20,000 songs, Google's Jamie Rosenberg explains. "Other cloud services think you have to pay for music that you already own".
...
The new music service is tightly woven to Google+. ... Google claims songs from 1,000 labels are available...[and] musicians [can] sell directly through the store via the "Artist hub"...artists keep 70 percent of revenues.   

But Adrian Covert is "Not impressed":

Tying a music store to a storage locker is not enough anymore. The...ideas behind Google Music are tired. ... These concepts are all old.
...
Speaking of old and tired, were you really pining away for another a la carte music store? Probably not. ... [It] does not advance the experience of listening to music one iota.
...
[It's a] complete let-down of a music service from one of the only companies...with the clout to actually change an system, not just recycle it. ... Google is late to the digital music party in every way imaginable. ... Google has no idea what is going on with music today.   

Is it a "me too" service? Devin Coldewey wonders if it matters:

[It's] like GMail. ... Webmail already existed at the time, and GMail was competitive but hardly a quantum leap. ... Music...[has] a simple interface, and a store with more or less the same selection and pricing as everyone else. ... The quotation comes to mind: “If you sit by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”
...
Essentially all I’m saying is that Google views everything as a “slow and steady wins the race” type situation. ... Google Music is far from ambitious. It’s a simple, familiar service with a nice little bit of bait to draw in the crowds. ... Judging Google products on day one is a bad move.   

  
And Finally...
Herman Cain appears to say, "Women have a special feeling"
[*- according to BLR; hat tip: Chris Davies]

      
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.