Goodbye 'Android Market', Hello 'Google Play'


Recommended Posts

435140425-play_logo.png

Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite?moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires?lots of wires. Today we?re eliminating all that hassle withGoogle Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet. Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again.

http://play.google.com/about

Sounds interesting. Will be fun to play with once it is live. I really like the fact that you will be able to upload up to 20,000 of your own songs to the cloud for free. I'm thinking that my collection is just a little short of that right now.

  • Like 2

MarketPlace made more sense :/

I disagree, especially after visiting Google Play. This includes streaming and syncing one's own music. The term 'marketplace' indicates a place to purchase goods only.

The Google Play website helped me understand why they chose this branding. There is a link labelled "play with," and one can select from a choice of music, movies, apps, games, or books. I would say that the terms 'play' or 'play with' cover everything Google Play accounts for, whereas 'marketplace' doesn't.

By the way, I absolutely love the design of Google Play.

I disagree, especially after visiting Google Play. This includes streaming and syncing one's own music. The term 'marketplace' indicates a place to purchase goods only.

The Google Play website helped me understand why they chose this branding. There is a link labelled "play with," and one can select from a choice of music, movies, apps, games, or books. I would say that the terms 'play' or 'play with' cover everything Google Play accounts for, whereas 'marketplace' doesn't.

By the way, I absolutely love the design of Google Play.

It works for music, games etc but not so much for apps

thing is marketplace sounds more professional though. a place to get apps from...

google play sounds like music,movies, and games... some people might be confused and wonder where to get thier apps again... they look for marketplace and it's gone and they give up and go to windows phone 7 and we all cry over cake.

It works for music, games etc but not so much for apps

Maybe :) I think 'play with' works better for apps than 'play', but one could argue that running an app is "playing" it. Most of us don't associate that word with running an app, but it could be why Google thought it would be okay.

Question I have pondering in my head is:

Will the average Joe know that Market has switched to Google Play?

I'm sure that Google will send massive waves of e-mails out to everyone with a Google account just as they have with their recent privacy policy changes.

I really like the fact that you will be able to upload up to 20,000 of your own songs to the cloud for free. I'm thinking that my collection is just a little short of that right now.

I know right. Finally we can put our music up in the cloud for free and stream it to our Android devices.

Oh, wait, that has been around since last May. Never mind.

I know right. Finally we can put our music up in the cloud for free and stream it to our Android devices.

Oh, wait, that has been around since last May. Never mind.

I see that now, but this is the first I've ever heard about it. They certainly haven't promoted it very much it seems (probably because it was only opened to the general public in November).

I see that now, but this is the first I've ever heard about it. They certainly haven't promoted it very much it seems (probably because it was only opened to the general public in November).

Same, It's still not available for the UK market either.

I see that now, but this is the first I've ever heard about it. They certainly haven't promoted it very much it seems (probably because it was only opened to the general public in November).

Sorry that you didn't hear about it till now. But what I don't understand is how you missed it. Sure I read it on better sites than NeoWin but I also saw it posted on this site as well. It was on the main page so either you glanced over it or you don't read tech news often.

Anyway, you are heard about it now so have fun with your cloud music.

Sorry that you didn't hear about it till now. But what I don't understand is how you missed it. Sure I read it on better sites than NeoWin but I also saw it posted on this site as well. It was on the main page so either you glanced over it or you don't read tech news often.

Anyway, you are heard about it now so have fun with your cloud music.

I read Neowin pretty much daily, but even so, it is easily possible to miss a story, especially on a busy news day. Some things are gone from the front page in a matter of hours when there is a lot of stuff going on. And one of the links I saw about it says it was first announced on May 10th of last year. If that is the case, it was the day before my birthday, so I probably wasn't paying a lot of attention to tech news that day or the next.

I read Neowin pretty much daily, but even so, it is easily possible to miss a story, especially on a busy news day. Some things are gone from the front page in a matter of hours when there is a lot of stuff going on. And one of the links I saw about it says it was first announced on May 10th of last year. If that is the case, it was the day before my birthday, so I probably wasn't paying a lot of attention to tech news that day or the next.

Yes it was announced on Google I/O last year and made available as a beta signup. I got my invite in less than 24 hours on three Gmail accounts. I've been using it ever since.

Music is only available in the US a the moment!

P.S Happy Birthday - hope you have a good day!

Not exactly. You should be able to access it outside of the US, you just can't buy music without a US credit card. You're still free to upload your own music.

You might also have to manually install the Music .apk as it is region-blocked in the Market Play Store ( :rolleyes:)

Not exactly. You should be able to access it outside of the US, you just can't buy music without a US credit card. You're still free to upload your own music.

You might also have to manually install the Music .apk as it is region-blocked in the Market Play Store ( :rolleyes:)

Not without elaborate proxies. Before Google Play it was just a blank page with a generic, "Google Music is not currently available in your region".

No upload, no browse, no purchase, not even a logo.

At least now we have a logo, and a slightly more concrete message, "We're sorry. The Google Play music player is currently only available in the United States."

I previously installed the APK via App Brain as the app wasn't available for me in the Marketplace. Even then it was just a music player. Any upload features resulted in the same old, "not available" message.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Doogee and Ulefone regularly release phones with 10k-25k mAh batteries, but those are bricks. I don't understand how they could make it only weigh 220 grams with a battery that size.
    • Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates by Taras Buria Windows 10 reached its end of life at the end of 2025. Microsoft kicked off the Extended Security Updates program, aimed at giving regular consumers one more year of security-only updates. By doing so, Microsoft gave users more time and money to update their computers to a newer operating system or compatible hardware. Now, with the end of the Extended Security Updates program quickly approaching, Microsoft is making an important adjustment. Users discovered that the official support article for the program now lists a new end-of-support date: The Extended Security Updates program is not a new concept. It has been an official way for business consumers to continue receiving critical updates for unsupported Microsoft products for many years. However, all this time, it was a business-only, paid feature. With Windows 10, Microsoft brought ESU to regular consumers, allowing them to get security updates for Windows 10 past October 2025 essentially for free. When Windows 10 was approaching the end of support, many guessed that Microsoft might adjust its support timelines, and this is exactly what seems to be happening. Of course, Microsoft would love everyone to switch to new computers, such as its latest Surface devices, but in the days of ever-growing hardware prices, not everyone is lucky enough to have money for a new PC. Leaving hundreds of millions of customers with a Windows version that no longer receives security updates is a major risk that Microsoft is not willing to take. If you have a Windows 10 PC to enroll in the Extended Security Updates program, check out this guide to learn how to do so.
    • Sony announces Bungie layoffs that will affect "significant number of employees" by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Sony today announced that major layoffs are happening at its first-party studio Bungie, the developer that has spawned series like Halo, Destiny, and Marathon over the past decades. The news arrives just weeks after Bungie delivered the final update to Destiny 2, and it's that team being hit with the layoffs the most. CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Hermen Hulst revealed the staff reduction today, calling it "painful news." "Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy," said Hulst, explaining the decision. "We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals." The layoffs will be hitting "a significant number of employees" across most of the Destiny franchise development team. It doesn't look like Sony is planning to continue the series following Destiny 2's sunsetting update. The studio is said to be in early stages of looking at other projects to pivot to, but it's said that keeping the size of the team at current levels is no longer feasible. "We know this decision has a profound impact on the people affected, their families, friends, and teammates," said Bungie leadership in a separate message on social media. "While these changes are necessary to best position the studio now and for the future, that does not lessen the difficulty of this moment or the impact it has on those affected." At the same time, "some" of the Marathon development team are also affected by the layoffs. The recently released multiplayer-only extraction shooter title hasn't seen a big boom of players either, but the company is reportedly hoping that the live service experience will pick up players with future updates.
    • Microsoft adds reusable skills and finance data connectors to Copilot in Excel by Karthik Mudaliar Microsoft is giving Copilot in Excel a collection of new features aimed squarely at finance teams. The update introduces reusable instructions for common tasks, connections to services such as FactSet and Morningstar, and a better way to review what Copilot intends to do before it starts changing a workbook. The most interesting addition is 'Skills' finally coming to Copilot in Excel. Skills let companies teach Copilot how to handle a recurring process, so employees do not need to write the same detailed prompt every month. Users can create skills that can specify the steps Copilot should follow, along with the required layout, formulas, and formatting. Microsoft says users can create their own skills by saving a SKILL.md file in OneDrive. The file is written using Markdown and tells Copilot when and how to perform the task. Once it is available, a user can select the skill in the Copilot pane or mention it in a prompt using the @ symbol. There is also a library of prebuilt finance skills for customers who do not want to create their own. Microsoft plans to let developers distribute additional skills through the Microsoft Marketplace and the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, with LSEG, Ramp, Rogo, samaya.ai, Velixo, and Vena among the first partners involved. The company says that it is also expanding the external data that Copilot can access from inside Excel. New connectors are being added for CB Insights, Daloopa, FactSet, Morningstar, PitchBook, and S&P Global data through technology developed by Kensho. There is a catch, however. Accessing these services may require a separate subscription from the relevant data provider, so a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence will not necessarily unlock all of them. FactSet is also only available in preview for now, with general availability planned for July. Microsoft is also trying to make Copilot’s workbook edits easier to inspect. Users can switch to a planning mode that shows which sheets, cell ranges, formulas, and assumptions Copilot intends to work with before it begins making changes. Once the work is complete, the Show Changes pane can distinguish edits made by Copilot from those made by human collaborators. The update continues Microsoft’s push to turn Excel Copilot from a chatbot into an agent that can carry out longer tasks. The company previously added an Agent Mode capable of planning and completing multi-step Excel work. Microsoft also recently acquired financial AI startup Fintool, another indication that finance is becoming a key target for its Excel AI strategy. Prebuilt skills, personalization, workbook rules, external connectors, planning mode, and Copilot attribution in Show Changes are generally available to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers using Excel on the web, Windows, and macOS. Custom skills are initially available to Microsoft 365 Insiders on Windows and Mac starting today. Microsoft plans to make them generally available across Windows, Mac, and the web over the next month. Partner-built skills are expected during the third quarter of the year. Availability may still differ depending on region and licensing.
    • Exactly. They serve different (although related) purposes.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      kinowa earned a badge
      First Post
    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      438
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      169
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      134
    4. 4
      Xenon
      77
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      75
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!