Both Google Music and iTunes Match?

[philipk]

I signed up for iTunes Match on the first day and completed the process in a few hours.

I signed up for Google Music on Friday and just finished (Monday night) uploading 3661 songs.

I love and will use both services.

iTunes Match has the advantage of full integration with Apple products and the ability to match files from your library with professionally encoded 256 kbps files. It is also cheap at just over $2.00 per month.

The major disadvantage is it doesn't stream to computer browsers and IOS devices.

Google Music has the advantage of being able to stream your music to almost any computer or smartphone with no downloading and it uses a small cache. It will sync from iTunes including playlists. Finally, it is free.

There are two disadvantages. First no IOS app. However, using Safari works well. Just keep one tab or page open for the website. Second you must upload every music file. At 1 mbps up it takes about a minute a song. Thus my 3661 song library took 60 hours! However, this is a one time only issue. Once it is done, it is done. So to me it is a small disadvantage.

I plan to use both. Two great services for $25.00 a year.

1. I will use iTunes Match to keep my four computers (3 Mac and 1 PC) in sync and to download songs that I play often to my IOS devices.

2. I will use Google music on the computer at work (iTunes not installed) and to stream music I play rarely to my IOS devices.

The best of both worlds.

A final comment. I believe iTunes Match is a must have for all music lovers who are Apple centric. Google Music is a must have for all music lovers with a computer and/or smartphone. Thus Google Music has great appeal.

 

[bushido]

i have both but ill use google music more til match fixes its issues and will just sync til then

 

[elpmas]

iTunes for now...seems like Google's in beta for me

 

[WisdomWolf]

I use both for now, primarily because I have an android phone. The biggest disadvantage of Google Music is the lack of smart playlists. The synchronization of play counts and ratings across PCs and devices is exactly why I am so interested it iTunes Match. This is why the borked smart playlists on iOS are such a show stopper, in my opinion.

 

[Julien]

What does Google Music transcode/upload your files as, 320kbps MP3's?

 

[WisdomWolf]

What does Google Music transcode/upload your files as, 320kbps MP3's?

It doesn't transcode, it uploads as is. If the file is unsupported then it doesn't get uploaded.

 

[iTorment]

I'm using Amazon, Google, and iTunes Match! Overkill I'm sure, Amazon offers unlimited storage right now, i use Match for my iPad and iPod and originally bought it to upscale most of my music. Google Music was something I tried and like.

The problem I have with Match is that some things need to be fixed. One thing i would like to see is actual streaming, and another is better implementation on iOS devices.

 

[Julien]

It doesn't transcode, it uploads as is. If the file is unsupported then it doesn't get uploaded.

So it uploads lWAV files and still gives 20,000 songs? That would be over a 1TB of "free" storage. How about ALAC and FLAC? Are AAC files supported?

EDIT: Done some Googling with limited results. It appears that WAV is not supported but can't find any info on ALAC. It seems FLAC is supported but have not seen where it say there is NO conversion.

 

[WisdomWolf]

So it uploads lWAV files and still gives 20,000 songs? That would be over a 1TB of "free" storage. How about ALAC and FLAC? Are AAC files supported?

EDIT: Done some Googling with limited results. It appears that WAV is not supported but can't find any info on ALAC. It seems FLAC is supported but have not seen where it say there is NO conversion.

I know ALAC is unsupported, haven't tried FLAC. Their format support is quite limited though.

 

[Lodoss]

FLAC gets transcoded to 320kps before uploading

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1100462&topic=1100183

 

[WisdomWolf]

FLAC gets transcoded to 320kps before uploading

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1100462&topic=1100183

Well look at that, I was just plain wrong. Thanks for the info.

 

[Julien]

I know ALAC is unsupported, haven't tried FLAC. Their format support is quite limited though.

>95% of my music is ALAC so....

FLAC gets transcoded to 320kps before uploading

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1100462&topic=1100183

This means even if/when they start ALAC it will be transcoded to MP3. So there is NO advantage for me to use Google music.

 

[boraxatude]

I signed up for both google music and itunes match. itunes recognized roughly half of my 16k library of songs. It upgraded a few albums to 256kbs but did not recognize many others -- and these were cd rips at 160kbs from way back when (the cds are in my closet!). Since itunes match is really just a matching service and not a streaming service... I don't see what the point is. I like to be able to play whatever album I have, whenever I want (in my car).

I was about to upgrade my old ipod video to the latest classic 160gb but decided to test google's streaming out in Los Angeles.

I did a few tests driving around. Excellent quality and no dropouts.

I then spent about 3 weeks uploading all 16k songs to google music. Boom! I have my entire collection available whenever and wherever.

Oh btw -- there is an app for google music -- third party: "gmusic" and it works beautifully. Search for it on itunes. The Developer is very responsive with any bugs you might find.