“Add gBox Inc. to the growing list of online music services hoping to chip away at iTunes’s dominance,” The Associated Press reports.
“The Cupertino, Calif., startup was forced out of a stealth mode when Universal Music Group announced late Thursday it would test sales of some digital music without the customary copy-protection technology,” AP reports.
“Under the program, gBox will get referrals through ads Universal will buy through search leader Google Inc., gBox Chief Executive Tammy Artim said Friday,” AP reports.
“Google will get standard advertising fees rather than a cut of sales under the arrangement. The ads, which would appear when a Google user searches for specific terms such as the name of an artist, will direct the user to gBox,” AP reports.
“The arrangement with Universal and gBox is separate from Google’s music search service, which directs users to online music stores when they search for specific albums or artists. The company says it does not get paid for such referrals, and it does not restrict links to a single retailer,” AP reports.
“Google, which has said it has no plans to create a music store of its own, described the new arrangement as strictly an advertising relationship,” AP reports.
“Songs at gBox cost 99 cents each… GBox now works only with Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer browser on Windows-based computers, but Firefox support will come by the launch date, Artim said. It won’t be compatible with Apple’s Macintosh computers,” AP reports.
Full article here.
2 words: doomed
I have 2 words for you:
Brush your Teeth!
Dead in six months.
Brush your doomed, dead teeth in six months.
From their site:
“Hey, you need to be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer to play with gBox.
We are working hard to support FireFox users and the Mac, but it will take some time. Big apologies for the inconvenience.”
What a laugh. Big apology for your imminent demise.
Business is Business. But when companies sell DRM-free MP3’s (which run on Macs/iPods) and block customers using Macintoshes this is getting petty and personal. These companies have forgotten who they are – businesses.
Rule #1 The customer is always right
Rule #2 Make money
Rule #3 See first two rules
And the only reason not to support Firefox and Mac computers right away is that someone chose to use Microsoft products, or products which only support IE. And they expect to operate a business this way?
“I’m selling Chevys, but you must have a California driver’s license to buy one. We’re working on allowing our Chevys to be sold to other people from the other states, and we’ll let you know when we decide we want to do that.”
Sheesh.
Brush that brown chiclet-lined piehole, you Googleufugus.
I was gonna let them play with MY gBox, but I won’t touch ANY box that’s not Mac-friendly.
“It won’t be compatible with Apple’s Macintosh computers”
The common lethal mistake all “doomed” music services make. The ITMS was successful before windows users were invited to the party.
That’s okay, I never get tired wiping blood off my click wheel.
Everyone should go to Google click to gBox and not buy anything… it will cost gBox ad money and they won’t have any sales.
The quality of downloadable music sucks no matter who is doing it. A large majority of my CD collection is ripped in Apple Lossless to a music dedicated G5 iMac. The quality comes nowhere near to comparing to what the actual CD delivers. Let’s hope that downloadable music doesn’t become the standard until they figure out how to match the quality of a CD! Until that point, who cares what Universal or anyone else does with DRM.
clinicaltechmaster: That’s the best idea I’ve heard today. An Automator Action will make it even better.
F gBox
So, Jump… you must have a $20,000 audio setup with highly tuned ears, eh? Because that’s the only way you’ll notice a difference between the actual CD and a 320 kbps AAC format.
Otherwise, it’s all in your head. And experts agree with me.
@AshNazg
Nah… even a couple of thousand dollars, or even less, and you can CLEARLY hear the difference. Even in my car — and that’s only got a Bose sound system — you can clearly hear difference between 256K AAC and CD audio.
It’s not like CD is super loss-less itself and the ultimate benchmark in quality, but it has done the job more than 25 years old … why accept lower quality?
“clinicaltechmaster
Everyone should go to Google click to gBox and not buy anything… it will cost gBox ad money and they won’t have any sales.”
Will that also show as a visit from Safari and a Mac?
Cuz I’d really like to rub salt into that wound!
Jump. In a test you couldn’t tell the difference, that is, unless you’re better than all the experts. Maybe you are one in a million.
HaHa. Turn off Jaavscript in your preferences in FireFox (Mac) and load the page. They have a nice little icon/tab with iPod/iTunes on there. Apparently they just hate the Macintosh platform.
How funny.
It’s mostly all going to end up on an iPod via iTunes, regardless. heh.
From there site:
“iPod®/iTunes®
gBox supports Apple’s AAC/Fairplay format for iPod/iTunes. Download music for your iPod in Apple’s AAC/FairPlay format and load it into your iTunes library like any other imported music file. Just synch with your iPod and you’re done. It’s that easy.”
I don’t get it, it seems like the only reason they are not compatible with any other browser and platform is because their web developers don’t know how to code cross platform sites. Which explains why their site has a bunch of non compliant coding errors. sheesh.
So let me get this straight. Instead of just going directly to iTunes and buy tracks, I should go to their site by buy tracks and then import into iTunes just to not have DRM. I don’t Think so.
It always baffles me how eMusic is never brought up in discussions like this. It has offered DRM-free music for years, and it’s much cheaper than iTunes ($10=30 songs). I have had a membership for 2 years and I love it.
Oh, I see Apple can get SLAMMED by Norway and European’s for it’s DRM music… cos it only played on iPods (available for PC and MAC)… but I’m gBox won’t be compatible with Apple’s Macintosh computers.
I am gonna sue !!!!!
Why in the hell would they intentionally not make it compatible with Mac? That makes no sense… If there’s no DRM, what’s the point?
Universal’s attempt to stick its thumb in Apple’s i but instead Universal is sticking its thumb up its ass.
I’ve had e-music, and still have a bunch of their songs in my playlist, but two things decided the drop: No rollover, and very little big-name artists, it’s all no-name stuff, and while that is ok for some of my music I really don’t like having that as my main source of music, and I just don’t have the budget to buy music from iTunes and keep an eMusic subscription going.
What’s that? Never heard of it.
Vanillacide is exactly correct.
I can hear the difference on ANY POS stereo.
gBox supports Apple’s AAC/Fairplay format for iPod/iTunes.
These guys expect to be taken seriously, yet they don’t know the difference between AAC and Fairplay.
E of E,
I use eMusic too, but I like a lot of the stuff they carry. More eclectic than the big name crap you hear on the radio. But I sure have to agree on their lack of roll over. I usually have to have one album to get one or two songs from to hit my 40 per month subscription. Why they do this is beyond me. It’s totally unnecessary and just aggravates people. I Wonder who the moron was that thought that up.
I’d been using my G5 iMac exclusively for 3 or 4 months. I decided to throw a couple of CDs into my CD player last weekend and the difference was stunning. I’ve experienced this a number of times. I keep going back to the iMac because of convenience but there is a big difference. Believe what you want.
Jump, if you want to tell me there’s a difference between 128kbps iTunes Store downloads and CD audio or songs ripped at 320, 256, or 192, I’ll fully agree with you.
Might you hear a difference when playing back on a high-end stereo versus a computer’s speakers? Of course, you’re using different playback hardware. But that’s not a format issue.
OTOH if you want to tell me there’s a difference between CD audio and Apple lossless then you’re just plain insane. CD Audio and Apple lossless are both the same uncompressed AIFF files. There is no difference.
You sound just like the audiophiles who would argue back in the 80s that vinyl audio had better range and clarity than CD audio.
Can you tell the difference between a CD and a 256k AAC?
a) Sure … side by side comparison using half-way-decent speakers.
b) Never … using Apple’s buds or most other ear-pieces.
The audiophiles in the 80s were correct – mostly because the people who made those early CDs forgot to adjust some of the steps in the conversion process and the CDs came out sounding shrill. Today’s CDs are much better sounding than the early ones were.
On Topic: Google is always a bit slow developing for the Mac. Someone already noted why – they focus on non-compliant IE code first. Why? Because three-quarters of the potential customer base uses that, and only that, for their browsing. Which says a lot (all bad) about them.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod Cast – coming soon, the ICWP retreat discussion.
This thing is doomed from the start.
Does not support Apple nor Safari for Windows?
Let me shoot myself on the foot.
========================
“It’s mostly all going to end up on an iPod via iTunes, regardless. heh.”
I like my cover arts. No cover arts for MP3s.
it is funny that in discussion a lot of people can hear the difference between CDs and AAC, but in tests they always fail to tell the difference….
shame those tests are never done on the golden eared boys here…….
What’s gBox gonna do next? Take on eBay in auctions?
They’re already dead.
I’m one of those kind of individuals who just loves to turn off all the lights and just listen to music for hours. As mentioned, I’ve put a lot of time to ripping my CDs into a G5 iMac that I’ve dedicated to my home theater system. Consequently, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to this music on the iMac. On occasion I’ll turn on my CD player and throw in a few CDs. Every time I do this, it just amazes me how much better it sounds. I’m running h/k components through higher end Paradigm speakers. That’s the truth and I’m sticking to it!!
@Jump
yes, you have said that several times before. do you save time with cut and paste?
in every double blind test i have read about and both i actually saw with my own eyes, nobody can consistently pick between a good (160 or higher) AAC rip and a CD. but since you are special, maybe you should show up to these tests?
but then a lot of people who made similar claims showed up for these tests too……
I guess they chose *gBox* because calling it *gSpot* would have been overstating it too much.
@Jump
your CD Player’s digital-to-analog converters may be better than those of your iMac.
no Brau, they didn’t call it gspot because they wanted people to be able to find it…..
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MW: “pressure” with which you may insert your own crude sexual innuendo here.
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Can I squirt into the gBox with my Zune?
Technophallic advertising campaigns and devices haven’t done so well (with the “squirt” Zune has become a total byword). The Gbox might want to think about changing their name before…oops. Too late. They’re already being thought of in the same category as the Zune.
“Under the program, gBox will get referrals through ads Universal will buy through search leader Google Inc”
Oh yeah, now that’s innovation. We will buy ads on Google. Nobody ever thought of that before. Apple shall wither before our blistering onslaught of technological… cool… stuff… well, you get the idea…