Yesterday there was some pretty damning news for owners of Google's Nexus Q musical orb: the device isn't supported in the current version of the its Play Music app. This much is undoubtedly true, and verified by many owners. What's less clear, however, is whether this really is the end of the road. All the signs may be there, but some readers have forwarded us emails received from Google Play Support advising that a fix for Nexus Q streaming is definitely on the way. We contacted Google directly, but it was unable to give an official statement on the issue. We were simply told that the developer product never made it to commercial release, and as such the company can't promise either way. Mountain View isn't shy about shuttering much-loved services, so Nexus Q owners might take a small amount of solace from this current ambiguity, at least enough to delay taking matters into their own hands.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Google
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google Play music is about to reveal its saddest song... for owners of the Nexus Q that is. In fact some might say it's the funeral march. It's been confirmed to Phandroid that the latest update of Google's Play Music service -- that we saw outed yesterday -- doesn't support the firm's own music streamer. A statement given to the website confirms the fact, with little to suggest it'll get any better for the little black ball going forward. Final nail in the coffin? Who knows, but given that it was erased from view on the Play store some time ago, and orders never charged, you might want to dust off that black hat after all.
Filed under: Peripherals, Google
Source: Phandroid
Google Play Music is about to reveal its saddest song... for owners of the Nexus Q that is. In fact, some might guess it's the funeral march. Phandroid and Android Police both report having received confirmation that the latest update of Google's Play Music service -- that we saw outed yesterday -- doesn't support the firm's own music streamer. A statement given to the websites confirms the fact, with little to suggest it'll get any better for the little black ball going forward. Does this signify the final nail in the coffin? Potentially. But, given that it was erased from view on the Play store some time ago, and orders never charged, you might have already guessed that outlook not so good had been the prediction for some time.
Filed under: Peripherals, Google
Source: Phandroid, Android Police
It wasn't very long ago that Google Music landed in Europe -- to the delight of local music lovers, we're sure. On its trip across the pond, the service gained a unique new feature called scan and match, wherein Google scans your local music library and makes the songs it matches instantly available in the cloud -- no upload required. Until now the feature, which is similar to iTunes Match, was only available in Europe, but it's coming to the US starting today. From now on, any US Google Play users who upload their music collection will benefit from this new feature. Over time, the company will also upgrade users with existing cloud libraries. It's a free service and it's automatic -- you're unlikely to notice that it's even happening. The upside is that entire collections will be uploaded faster. We're not aware of any downsides yet -- matched songs will be available for streaming at 320Kbps like regular Google Play purchases, while re-downloaded music will be available at or close to the bitrate of the original file.
Update: Google confirmed that any VBR files matched by the service will be re-downloaded as CBR files with a bitrate that's slightly higher than the average bitrate of the original song. This is obviously a drawback if you're currently relying on the service to backup your music collection.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Play (Google+)