Google Grows Into Music Searches

Like many, my relationship with Google is somewhat dysfunctional.

And by "somewhat dysfunctional" I mean that I have problems with Google yet I still use its search engine, that I have some concerns about Gmail - its email system - but just this week started using my own Gmail account.

I'm not crazy about how quickly the company is expanding and that it seems to be stepping over copyright laws and publishers wishes. I have vented some of my questions and concerns here at Blogcritics.

Now comes the news that Google has expanded its operations to include music searches, making it easier to find sheet music, places to legally download and other music information.

This move may freak out some of the head-in-the-sand record label executives - yes, the same idiots who screwed up with Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album before and now with Nellie McKays album - but I'm not sure that's a bad development.

Google announced the news at its own blog and the news was soon picked up elsewhere.

Google is candid about the limitations at this point, saying the focus is on America bands "but we plan to expand it to classical music, worldwide artists, and lesser-known performers. Our list of music stores will also grow over time. If you’re a music store (selling downloads, music by subscription, or physical CDs) and would like to be listed, please get in touch.

"You might be thinking,"why can't I just type in an album name or a song name and get the same music search results?” There are many album names and songs which are also plain English words. Sometimes users are looking for music information related to those words, and sometimes they aren’t. As we get better at knowing when our users want music information, we hope to expand this feature to include more queries. So keep searching, and we hope you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. We always welcome your feedback."

And feedback they will surely get, especilly to pieces like this suggesting Google is about to get into the hardware field.
Google denies any plans of the type.

But true or false you can find the rumors via Google, as well as - now - links to 100 sites about B5.

And that is a good thing right? Right?

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education... then into special education.

He reads at least 50 books a year and has about the same number of author interviews each year and, …

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