Google, which has been largely criticized for fragmenting its offerings, is taking a step toward unifying its digital media services. Today, Google announced Google Play, a service that combines Google Music, Books, Movies, and Apps into one entertainment hub.
1. Here's the scoop.
In a nutshell, Google Music, Google eBookstore, and the Android Market were combined to form Google Play. Not only will you purchase music, movies, books, and apps at play.google.com, but those items will also be stored in the cloud. You'll be able to do the same thing on your Android phone or tablet using the various Google Play apps (more on that later).
Google Music will become 'Play Music.' Google Movies will become 'Play Movies.' EBookstore will become 'Play Books.' If you don't want to wait for Google to push the updates to you, you can. Google Books - is the biggest online library on the Web. It allows to search, preview and read online millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide. But reading books on Google Books (online) is hardly comfortable. You can't even add bookmarks.
The two destinations--Web and mobile--stay synced. So, when you purchase an app, movie, song, or book on the Play Web site, that content will become immediately available on your Android phone (and/or tablet). Likewise, if you rent a movie on your Android tablet, it becomes available for viewing on your desktop, too.
Because it's cloud-based, those purchases won't eat up storage on your computer, tablet, or phone.
It's like iTunes-meets-iCloud for the Android folk.
2. It's already available online, on its way to your Android.
The Play Store is already live at play.google.com. You'll see that it's a one-stop shop for all of the aforementioned services. In fact, if you try to go to the Android Store, you'll be redirected to the Play Store.
On your Android device, you'll get four app updates within the next few days:
If you don't want to wait for Google to push the updates to you, you can install them manually right away.
3. Can I upload my own movies and music?
Google Music, which allows you to store up to 20,000 songs, will remain the same. The only thing that will change is its name, Play Music. Any music you already purchased or uploaded is still available, and you can continue uploading your jams at music.google.com, or on the rebranded Android app, Play Music.
Movies are a different story. Right now, Google does not allow you to upload your own movies for access in the cloud. Its Play Movies app solely functions as a movie rental service.
4. Even non-Android users can use Google Play.
Let's be clear: even though Play is heavily marketed to Android users, any Google user can use the service to take advantage of cloud-based content management. So, you can rent a movie, upload and purchase music, and buy books on one computer, and access it all on any other desktop.
Mum's the word on native iOS support, but stay tuned for any updates.
5. Will Google Play's cloud-based nature kill my data plan?
Probably not. Even though all your content is stored in the cloud, any of it is available for offline playback. That includes books, music, and rented movies. Bird box movie download torrent. Of course, the amount of content you can store offline, or 'cache,' will be limited to your device's storage capacity. Can You Download Books From Google Play Youtube
Tip: To do less harm to your data plan, connect to Wi-Fi before downloading content for offline viewing or playback.
Bonus: Expect heavy Google+ integration.
Continuing its streak of heavily promoting its social network, expect Google+ integration to be everywhere. As Google explains, 'You can easily share posts about your favorite books, music, movies, games, or apps to your Circles on Google+, e-mail, or text message in a single click.'
This integration, which has been available on Google Music for a while, will be useful for Google+ users, but others might find it annoying.
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You can upload your personal EPUB and PDF books or documents to Google Play Books to store them online and use them from anywhere on any of your compatible devices. This process is similar to what Google lets you do with Google Play Music.
Uploading books to Google Play Books is done through the Upload files button on the Google Play Books website. Books can be loaded from your Google Drive account or from your computer.
Steps to Upload Your Books
You can import your e-books into Google Play Books in just a few steps.
Your items may take a few minutes to have cover art appear. In some cases, the cover art won't appear at all, and you'll have a generic cover or whatever happened to be on the first page of the book. There doesn't appear to be a way to fix that problem at this time, but customizable covers may be a future feature.
Can You Download Books From Google Play Without
Another missing feature is the ability to meaningfully organize these books with tags, folders, or collections. You can search for books in your library, but other than that they're only organized into separate sections: uploads, purchases, rentals, and samples.
Troubleshooting
Your books aren't uploading to Google Play Books? There are a few things you can check.
Can You Download Books From Google PlayBackground
When Google first released Google Books and the Google Play Books e-reader, you couldn't upload your own books. It was a closed system, and you were stuck reading only books you'd purchased from Google. It shouldn't be surprising to hear that the No. 1 feature request for Google Books was some sort of cloud-based storage option for personal libraries.
Back in the early days of Google Play Books, you could download the books and put them in another reading program. You can still do that, but it has some disadvantages. If you use a local e-book reader app like Aldiko, your books are also local. When you pick up your tablet, you can't continue the book you were just reading on your phone. If you lost your phone without backing up those books somewhere else, you've also lost the book.
Google Play Books For Pc
It doesn't match the realities of today's e-book market to keep e-books offline. Most people who read e-books would prefer to have their choice about where to purchase books but still be able to read them all from a single location.
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