2011 Holiday Tech Preview: Gadgets

December 01, 2011, By James Pilcher 0 comments

As a tech/gadget reviewer, I find that the holidays are the best and worst of times. The best part, of course, is that I get to try out all the coolest new toys. The downside is that I have to give the stuff back.

I did have it long enough to pick my favorites. And don't worry, fellow techies, I put some stuff on the list for you too, not just for people on your list.

Google Music

This isn't technically a device, but it is worth mentioning as people will more than likely be opening phones powered by Google's Android operating system this holiday season.

I started playing with Google Music last week (it was launched in early November, and the verdict is that it could eventually provide a very good alternative to Apple's iTunes and Amazon's music service. The service isn't to the point where you can buy a gift certificate in your local grocery store like iTunes and Amazon.

But Google Music will upload all your existing libraries on the web—if they do not have Digital Rights Management enforced (some versions of iTunes purchases and some Windows Media files may have this restriction).

The service allows you to listen to just about anything from any computer or Android device, streaming it over the Web or over an Android app. You can also listen via the web interface on an iPhone/iPad (look up music.google.com on your phone and it will work through the Safari browser via the HTML 5 programming language). And given that Google is trying to start this service from scratch, there are some REALLY good bargains and free tunes/albums to be found. 

There is one major downside, however.

I had to mess around for two days to figure out how to get the hard copy of the MP3 file from Google for purchased music, and they don't make it easy. You either have to download individual tracks through the Web interface—and you can only do that twice—or you can download the tracks through the Google Music Manager client. Then you have to reload those tunes into iTunes to get them on your iPhone/iPod if that is what you want to do.

Again, Google is trying to get you to use Android devices, the Web and the proverbial Internet cloud. But with data charges skyrocketing and Wi-Fi not everywhere, it is nice to be able to download. This is one drawback to what could be a VERY promising alternative to Amazon and iTunes.

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