Announcements at Google I/O?

[rwc]

What are the chances that we'll hear some "sage" news at Google I/O this year?

[nycjoe]

Originally Posted by rwc

What are the chances that we'll hear some "sage" news at Google I/O this year?

The same as they were last year...

[rwc]

Eeeek...sorry to hear that...maybe we'll see another Nexus Q?

[Skirge01]

Rumour has it there will be a music streaming announcement to compete with the likes of Spotify. They'll probably also be touting all the fiber goodness they've done to the middle-of-nowhereville.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by rwc

Eeeek...sorry to hear that...maybe we'll see another Nexus Q?

Not if the rumors are true. I suspect the Q is dead for good.

[Naylia]

I'm wondering if we'll even get Google Fiber or Google TV announcements out of I/O... nothing even remotely close to them in the session tracks.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Naylia

I'm wondering if we'll even get Google Fiber or Google TV announcements out of I/O... nothing even remotely close to them in the session tracks.

There was a small announcement, but nothing particularly interesting. They're updating GoogleTV to Jelly Bean, and (presumably) adding HTML5 DRM support to Chrome.

[nycjoe]

It's been about six months since Jeff made that "stay tuned" comment when asked about google fiber tv without google fiber - I wouldn't expect to hear anything new for AT LEAST another six months.

[rwc]

I was hoping that we would hear something by the 2 year anniversary of sage joining google....

Hey--I can hope, can't i?

[reggie14]

Here's a pretty good indication the Nexus Q is dead: they're not even bothering to get it working with the new version of the Play Music app, which is basically the only thing the Q does.

I'm somewhat excited by Google's new music subscription service. I'm a Spotify user now, and while's it's great to have access to almost any music I want, the Spotify apps are somewhat quirky. I'd love to switch to Google Play Music All Access, but I'm not going to do that unless its support outside the Android ecosystem. Notably, it needs to support Sonos systems and probably iOS before I'd jump onboard.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I'd love to switch to Google Play Music All Access, but I'm not going to do that unless its support outside the Android ecosystem. Notably, it needs to support Sonos systems and probably iOS before I'd jump onboard.

Am I the only one who thinks Google needs a new marketing person? Google Play Music All Access doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like... say... Spotify, Pandora, or iTunes. You can't even abbreviate it: GPMAA? Now, if they change it to Google Music Play All Access, then I'd be happy to start calling it Grampa... even if I still couldn't bring myself to use it.

[reggie14]

Yeah, I've heard those complaints. I don't have as much of a problem with the name. They're trying desperately to build a recognized brand with Google Play. And its integrated into Google Play Music, so they can't exactly give it a completely name. Plus its integration with Google Play Music is actually one of the cool things about it, relative to Spotify. Google often isn't that great about integrating its services together in meaningful ways from the start, instead jamming them together somewhat artificially after release (Google+ and Picasa come to mind).

That being said, I think Google has a long way to go to make a better user experience with their products. Google Drive, for instance, really should be better integrated with Google Play Music and Picasa/Google+ Pictures. They've made some tiny steps with better integration with Gmail, but that's pretty bad still.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Here's a pretty good indication the Nexus Q is dead: they're not even bothering to get it working with the new version of the Play Music app, which is basically the only thing the Q does.

I'm somewhat excited by Google's new music subscription service. I'm a Spotify user now, and while's it's great to have access to almost any music I want, the Spotify apps are somewhat quirky. I'd love to switch to Google Play Music All Access, but I'm not going to do that unless its support outside the Android ecosystem. Notably, it needs to support Sonos systems and probably iOS before I'd jump onboard.

I do use spotify often via squeezebox, but rarely am I ever using spotify's interface directly.

[reggie14]

My Spotify usage is split pretty evenly between 1) using it through a Sonos controller at home, 2) using the Android app on my phone when I travel, and 3) using the Windows or Mac app on my computers at home and work.

None of these are really ideal. The Windows/Mac apps are OK, but they don't handle "radio" stations well. The Sonos app doesn't handle Spotify radio stations at all, so I have to queue up songs/albums.

But, I really wish I could expand the Spotify library with my own library. You can do that with the Windows/Mac apps, but only for locally-stored music. On Sonos you have to break out of the Spotify service to search through your own music collection.

This isn't a huge problem now, but I think its going to become a bigger problem as more and more music labels decide to withhold new releases from the subscription services.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by reggie14

This isn't a huge problem now, but I think its going to become a bigger problem as more and more music labels decide to withhold new releases from the subscription services.

Meh.. I'm getting old - so new releases are terrible anyways... :-)