Google released music search last week. Some like Om give it positive marks. Others, like Fred Wilson, think it sucks. Sean Ryan has the best analysis of what it means for the industry.
My take? It's functional although I don't think it raises the bar higher than what has been set by a player like GoFish. If it drives traffic to some of these web-based services and stores, it'll be good for the industry though. I'm sure search is how a lot of purchases get made, but what about media consumption? When I feel like listening to something, especially new music, I browse. I browse my iTunes library, Amazon's product pages and Rhapsody's editorial artist pages; or I'll listen to shows like Morning Becomes Eclectic or All Songs Considered for the human touch. Google Music Search should have links to recommended artists. They ought to have a ton of data they could mine about user behavior that they could surface in the form of recommendations. Now that's something I'd search for.
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