Google Music Launches Without Label Licenses

Christian Allaire — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:04:10 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Google is unveiling a digital music service without any licensing deals after proving unable to come to an agreement with major labels, reports Billboard.

The service, which was introduced during a keynote today at a conference in San Francisco, will allow users to upload their music library to a personal online storage locker, where they can stream and download files from Internet connected devices.

This is pretty much the same as Amazon’s Cloud Drive, but with a few differences. Google’s service is available on a limited, invite-only basis limited to U.S. users and those wanting to use the service will have to request an invite at music.google.com, with priority given to those with the Motorola Xoom tablet and to attendees of the conference.

Additionally, Google is also limiting the number of songs that can be uploaded to the music locker to 20,000. The service is free while in beta, and the company would not comment on what future pricing options it may have planned.

“We’ve been in negotiations with the industry for a different set of features, with mixed results,” Google director of content partnerships Zahavah Levine says. ”[But] a couple of major labels were less focused on innovation and more on demanding unreasonable and unsustainable business terms.”

Seems like a cool idea. People definitely like fast technology, so this whole streaming and downloading thing sounds promising. But the idea also has some flaws. It’s limited availability is definitely not going to help them – people want things while its hot, and if they wait too long, nobody will want it in a couple months when it’s widely available.

Google has been really pushing forward these days, though. First the Android getting really great reviews and now this. Does Apple have some competition?

SlingPlayer for BlackBerry

Carys Mills — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:20:27 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

SlingPlayer Mobile is now available for BlackBerry.

SlingPlayer’s software streams televisions with Slingboxes to mobile devices. There’s a 30 day free trail and the full version is available for $34.99.

It is now available for Rogers phones like BlackBerry Bold and on Wi-Fi BlackBerry Curve 8900, 8820, Curve 8320, Pearl Flip 8220 and Pearl 8120. The BlackBerry Curve 8350i from Telus can use SlingPlayer on Wi-Fi as well.

Enhancements have been made since the beta version. Slingboxes and channel favourites can now be edited from mobile devices. There’s also a new setting to optimize low bandwidth streaming.

andPOP » stream

Google Music Launches Without Label Licenses

SlingPlayer for BlackBerry