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

    • Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 2.7.3 by Razvan Serea Media Player Classic - Home Cinema (MPC-HC) is a free and open-source video and audio player for Windows. MPC-HC is based on the original Guliverkli project (which is no longer maintained) and contains many additional features and bug fixes. As the continuation of the original Media Player Classic, MPC-HC isn’t flashy but it works with nearly any media format. MPC-HC uses DXVA technology to pass decoding operations to your modern video card, enhancing your viewing experience. And MPC-HC supports both physical and software DVDs with menus, chapter navigation, and subtitles. Overview of features A lot of people seem to be unaware of some of the awesome features that have been added to MPC-HC in the past years. Here is a list of useful options and features that everyone should know about: Dark interface Menu > View > Dark Theme When using dark theme it is also possible to change the height of the seekbar and size of the toolbar buttons. Options > Advanced Video preview on the seekbar Options > Tweaks > Show preview on seek bar Adjust playback speed Menu > Play > Playback rate The buttons in the player that control playback rate take a 2x step by default. This can be customized to smaller values (like 10%): Options > Playback > Speed step Adjusting playback speed works best with the internal audio renderer. This also has automatic pitch correction. Options > Playback > Output > Audio Renderer MPC-HC can remember playback position, so you can resume from that point later Options > Player > History You can quickly seek through a video with Ctrl + Mouse Scrollwheel. You can jump to next/previous file in a folder by pressing PageUp/PageDown. You can perform automatic actions at end of file. For example to go to next file or close player. Options > Playback > After Playback (permanent setting) Menu > Play > After Playback (for current file only) A-B repeat - You can loop a segment of a video. Press [ and ] to set start and stop markers. You can rotate/flip/mirror/stretch/zoom the video Menu > View > Pan&Scan This is also easily done with hotkeys (see below). There are lots of keyboard hotkeys and mouse actions to control the player. They can be customized as well. Options > Player > Keys Tip: there is a search box above the table. You can stream videos directly from Youtube and many other video websites You can stream videos directly from Youtube and many other video websites Put yt-dlp.exe or youtube-dl.exe in the MPC-HC installation folder. Then you can open website URLs in the player: Menu > File > Open File/URL You can even download those videos: Menu > File > Save a copy Tip: to be able to download in best quality with yt-dlp/youtube-dl, it is recommended to also put ffmpeg.exe in the MPC-HC folder. Several YDL configuration options are found here: Options > Advanced This includes an option to specify the location of the .exe in case you don't want to put it in MPC-HC folder. Play HDR video This requires using madVR or MPC Video Renderer. After installation these renderers can be selected here: Options > Playback > Output Ability to search for and download subtitles, either automatically or manually (press D): Options > Subtitles > Misc Besides all these (new) features, there have also been many bugfixes and internal improvements in the player in the past years that give better performance and stability. It also has updated internal codecs. Support was added for CUE sheets, WebVTT subtitles, etc. Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 2.7.3 changelog: Updated LAV Filters to version 0.82 Updated MPC Video Renderer to version 0.10.4.2550 Updated MPC Audio Renderer A few crash fixes, bug fixes and small improvements. Download: MPC-HC 2.7.3 (x64) | Standalone | ~20.0 MB (Open Source) Download: MPC-HC 2.7.3 (x86) | Standalone Links: MPC-HC Home Page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Microsoft will finally let you sign in to Edge with a Google account by Usama Jawad As things currently stand, Microsoft Edge only allows you to sign in to the browser with a Microsoft Account (MSA). This allows you to sync your browser settings and other data across other devices, as long as you sign in with the same account. However, Microsoft is now modifying this mechanism in a way that will likely please many users. In an update to its Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft has indicated that it will soon let users sign into Edge using a Google account from the profile menu and the Edge sign-in screen. This will be in addition to the MSA login option, and it opens up new doors for people who prefer using Edge, but cannot be bothered to configure a Microsoft account. This brings several advantages such as the ability to sync your data across devices using just a Google account. It may even facilitate flexible single sign-on (SSO) experiences where you can quickly login to websites and services through a single Google account that is presented as the preferred sign-in option. Up until now, Microsoft allowed customers to indirectly use a Google account, by configuring a Google account as a Microsoft account, or by setting up a one-way sync option between Edge and Chrome. This is a rather interesting development, especially considering that Google Chrome still limits you to a Google account sign-in, but it will be interesting to see if the company reciprocates Microsoft's gesture in the future. This is not the only recent instance in which Microsoft has extended a handshake to Google via Edge. In April 2026, it began tracking the development of a work search banner for Google Search queries, just like the one present in Edge. However, if we go back almost seven years, to January 2020, Microsoft had emphasized that it had no plans to "integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge by default", in response to people requesting Google sign-in services on Edge. Fast-forward to today, and Microsoft is planning to release this feature in July 2026, with IT admins having the option to control its availability on Windows and macOS through the NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled policy.
    • If they ever come out and say the AI is no longer accessible to the gen pop people aren't going to know how to tie their own shoelaces.
    • It's hard not to when they are shoehorning Ai into EVERYTHING. Some are active users by choice, I bet a lot of them are because it's shoved in their face the entire time.
    • Thunderbird 152.0 by Razvan Serea Thunderbird is a free, open-source, cross-platform application for managing email and news feeds. It is a local (rather than a web-based) email application that is powerful yet easy-to-use. Thunderbird is clean and elegant by default, but easily customizable to match your workflow and visual preferences. It is loaded with unique and powerful features. Thunderbird is developed, tested, translated and supported by the folks at Mozilla Corporation and by a group of dedicated volunteers. Thunderbird gives you control and ownership over your email. There are lots of add-ons available for Thunderbird that enable you to extend and customize your email experience. Thunderbird gives you IMAP/POP support, a built-in RSS reader, support for HTML mail, powerful quick search, saved search folders, advanced message filtering, message grouping, labels, return receipts, smart address book LDAP address completion, import tools, and the ability to manage multiple e-mail and newsgroup accounts. Thunderbird 152.0 changelog: SecurityDevices enabled in enterprise policies One-click account setup for Thundermail accounts What’s Changed Use 'Add' instead of 'New' for account, calendar, address book creation buttons GMail OAuth updated to use PKCE Mail server hostname also checked when detecting address books and calendars Updated about:rights to replace local with hosted url 'Hide completed tasks' now also hides cancelled tasks What’s Fixed New mail alerts appeared on wrong monitor in three-monitor setup Spam messages triggered new mail notifications before being moved to Spam folder Filtered IMAP or NNTP subscriptions were lost after closing Subscribe dialog 'Download Headers' dialog for newsgroups failed to open Messages nested deeper than 255 levels disappeared from threading view Performing Delete followed by Undo on thread parent message could corrupt view Single messages still appeared collapsible after thread members were deleted Updated threads remained misordered until folder refresh or resort Non-threaded subject sorting separated 'RE:' replies from original messages BCC recipients were included in signed email headers Filter search on Body missed draft messages containing German umlauts Thunderbird could crash during local message search Blocked file warning showed without 'Unblock File' button in compose window Forwarding/Redirecting Exchange messages failed with NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY Compose window closed early and send progress dialog hung after NNTP failure Compose window stayed open after sending when mailnews.sendInBackground set Microsoft OAuth2 failed when HTTPS localhost redirect was not intercepted Pasting contact photos stopped working when photo button had focus Filter dialog lacked focus ring and had poorly distinguishable buttons Subfolder kept stale accessibility unread count after unread messages were deleted 'Edit as New Message' and inline 'Forward' not possible with PGP-signed messages Various MIME improvements EWS messages could go missing from folder view IMAP "Show only subscribed folders" could not be changed without restart Unable to delete more than 1000 messages at a time on Microsoft 365 EWS folders in Trash were moved to Trash again instead of being hard deleted IMAP notifications repeated for emails read on another device after sleep wake POP3 deadlocked when server went silent without closing socket Calendar acceptance no longer distinguished between single occurrence and series Transparent popups on macOS made calendar event editing difficult Duplicate attendees were added to invitations instead of being filtered out Task percentage complete was not preserved separately from status in tooltips Visual and UX improvements Security fixes Download: Thunderbird 152.0 for Windows (EN/US) | 32-bit | ~70.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Thunderbird 152.0 for Mac OS (EN/US) | 145.0 MB Download: Thunderbird 152.0 in other languages View: Thunderbird Website | Screenshot | Release Notes Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Vincian earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      509
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      172
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      89
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      76
    5. 5
      neufuse
      69
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!