Google loves letting machines do the hard work. And that’s fine, on the whole, for search, but when it comes to music things get a bit different, which might explain why Google is considering buying Songza.
The big problem with Google Music, a streaming service that, like Spotify, offers unlimited music for a fee of £9.99 per month, is that sometimes its playlists aren’t very good. Songza, on the other hand, uses hand-curated lists of songs that are themed and according to those who use the service, very good.
Google Music on the other hand is wildly variable, with “I Feel Lucky
radio” sometimes nailing exactly your musical taste, and sometimes
playing music that you spend so much time skipping that you ultimately
have to give up and listen to that Katy Perry album again.
There are also some clever features, like Audyssey support, which tweaks your music quality for the specific headphones you’re using. There’s also a “shake” function, where you can tell the app what you want music for, and it will track you down a playlist that’s suitable.
Songza has, apparently, 5.5million current active users for its free music service. The firm has raised money through funding rounds from the likes of Amazon, to the tune of about $4.7million. Google’s $15million offer might seem like peanuts compared to Beats, but it’s probably fair for a company of this size. The big problem will likely be that Google will eventually shut the service, as it generally likes to fold these businesses into its own.
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Categories on Google Music are too wide too. The “Dance/Electronic” radio station, for example, has such massively different genres within it, that it’s hard to believe anyone actually likes more than about half of it. What Songza could bring, are tailored sub-genres like “trance” and “dubstep” rather than lumping all that stuff in together.
Read more: Google Play Music All Access review
Via: The Verge
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
