back to article Google launches free (legal) music search in China

Together with the world's four largest music labels, Google has formally launched an ad-based MP3 download service in China to combat easily accessible illegal downloads that have effectively killed the country's music industry online. The venture, which also has the backing of 14 independent labels, will compete against …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    hmmm

    Why the hell are we paying for music if they're getting it free ?

  2. Hein-Pieter van Braam
    Thumb Up

    Actually

    We should consider this as empowerment, apparently if you keep downloading something for free, even the commercial companies will start offering their products for free!

    I'm all for it, fire up the p2p people! ;)

  3. Hate2Register

    What about us?

    Why can't the music companies give me free music? It seems to me that they are offering a free download service to those who refuse to pay. So if we refuse to pay? Also, sue the music companies for monopoly abuse, since we all hate them.

  4. Mectron

    Once again

    The Labels don't get it. There is ONE MARKET: EARTH

    The lowes price always win. If a DVD is sold for 5$ in some part of the world. Then the whole planet should get it at this price. if some part of the world get they music for FREE (Ads supported, can we say the good old RADIO model adapted to the net) then the WHOLE planet as a RIGHT to free music.

    i found it odd that the "markets" for who get the best deal are markets where the RIAA as NO POWER and is force for fellow the only law that should matter to them: MARKET LAW.

  5. Toastan Buttar

    Spotify

    Sounds like an ideal opportunity for Spotify to get involved. Once consumers get used to on-demand instant streaming replay, downloading suddenly seems to become too much like hard work. Not sure what broadband penetration is like in China, though.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Freedom isn't free

    Are we going to see people wanting proxies *inside* China now?

  7. Funkster
    Thumb Down

    Somewhat unfair...

    ... that China gets their music for free just because they were doing such a good job of pirating it, whereas we get chased down by ISPs and the IFPI if we use P2P.

    I would start looking for shell accounts hosted in china, but tbh I doubt that there's anything available via this new service that I'm interested in hearing. Down with the big four!

  8. Daniele Futtorovic
    Pirate

    Makes you wonder...

    So... in our "democracies" we get thrown into jail if we don't want to pay horrendous prices for music; while under the Chinese "dictatorship" you get the music for free.

    Tough choice, ain't it?

    But on the other hand, that's probably part of the PR. By now, they've worked on the public hard enough to have it believe any filesharer is a child porn lover (and hence, a child rapist). Now they have the additional argument that filesharers are totalitarians. For, everyone knows the governments don't give a hoot about the children (what about health care and education?), but we all know how dearly they care about democracy, don't we? Well, at least as long as everyone votes as they want them to (most recent counter example: Irish referendum about the Lisbon treaty).

    df.

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