India Internet News
Online Storage Changes The World Of Music
06 June 2011
During the time of launch of Google's well-known e-mail service Gmail, its main intention was "Search, don't sort." It enabled Google to tell this because each time anyone is looking for a mail or Web content, the intelligent software made by the company shows appropriate ads that allow it make money.
I did think of that last week as I fiddled with my music collection - much of it is still in cassettes because few of them are rare and even because I did not know what to do with them when MP3 players happened a long time. And then came Philips with a machine that allows me to rip cassettes to digital format. But who has time to patiently rip hundreds of cassettes one by one?
Instantly, I find the game has changed again - or perhaps in the direction of change soon. Storage is so cheap, be it in mobile handsets, computers or with the rise of cloud computing on Internet, as more and more, we can head in music for a situation denoting e-mail. This "Search, don't sort" case means I can just purchase large collections of music at cheaper-by-the dozen costs in MP3 formats, or I can save myself the trouble of even keeping a music collection because most songs will be available on Internet via music hubs. Already, tremendous MP3 collections are available on single CDs.
Accompanied by back-end tech-savvy content management companies such as Hungama.com, major industries like Nokia and Samsung have also been pushing their own hubs online. Nokia already has its Ovi site primarily for downloads, whereas Samsung is expected to soon launch its hub.
Even Google has announced its own music portal in a beta version (visit http://www.google.co.in/music).
Through 3G connections and tablet PCs, it may make sense to have a good Internet data plan and get the music by looking on Internet stores than sorting and ripping.
The problem is in the costing of the music. Advertising help will go a long path, but what about rare songs? I think and expect reasonable pricing so that not only in numbers, but in variety, an online music revolution took the world by storm.
The best part of it will be when people discover new sounds and voices of independent singers and groups, not hindered by paying for radio jockeys or DJs governed by major industries. Powered by social media sites including Facebook and Twitter, this will break the regulations and hierarchies in the music world.