Yesterday Google announced it new Google Play store. This brings integration to its movies, books, apps and music that has been an advantage for Apple and Amazon for a while.
The music is available in in MP3 format and is integrated with the Google Music online storage system, similar to Amazon’s Music store. One nice feature of the music store is that you can share a free listen of anything that a Google+ friend has in their library. It appears that this is one listen per user, not one listen per track. I have both a Google Music account and a Google+ account, so I might use this part of the store.
(click through to see the ebook and music deals)
The movies are now limited to playing on a computer or android tablet. I do not watch many movies on my computer and I no longer have an android device (I bought an iPhone a couple weeks ago) so I will not likely use the movie store. The android app store is also integrated. Apps are usually purchased on the phone itself, so other than visibility for sales it does not seem to make much off a difference that the apps are integrated into this store.
Google Books uses the ePub format, so users of Nook, iPad, Kobo, Sony and other ePub compatible readers have a new competitive store. Amazon Kindle users cannot directly use this store. But Amazon does often price match Barnes and Noble’s book of the day and it looks like Amazon will also be price matching Google Play’s sales as well. So a new player in the market is new competition to help drive innovation and sales.
Google Music is going to have a whole Album for $0.25 for 7 days (starting yesterday.) Yesterday’s album Now 41 and is still available. Google Books will also have an ebook a day for $0.25. Yesterday was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (the book the movie was based on). It is still price matched on Amazon. I have found with the Barnes and Noble price matches that Amazon often keeps the price match for a couple days past Barnes and Noble’s original sale. And I would guess that is the same as well here.
Google Play also has a 100 books for $3.99 or less sale (Similar to Amazon’s Monthly 100 Sale). It has taken about 24 hours but all of Google’s 100 books are now price matched at Amazon. Here is Google’s List. You can glance through it and then type those books into Amazon and find the price matched.
Here are some of the books I have reviewed (links are the to review, then you can click through the review to get to the Kindle version that is price matched.) All $3.99
Miss Peregrine’s House for Peculiar Children (great creepy young adult book)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (not my favorite Mary Roach book, but interesting)
History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage
Here are some other books that I am interested in (or have read but not reviewed). Links are to Amazon Kindle version. All $3.99 unless noted.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman (may be better than the movie)
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (be careful of this one, there is two version of this book. The movie version is $5.99, the regular version is $3.99
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke $2.99 – great book that mixes historical fiction and magic.
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin - young adult novel. I haven’t read it, but I love LeGuin
1984 by George Orwell - one of those books that you should really read
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer $0.99
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition by Norman Maclean
