Your Latin Music Search Options Just Got Better

Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by Hector Aviles in Blog

I recently blogged about Bing’s music search feature. Now Google is joining the game which means more options for you, and more features to help us find, select, and consume the Latin music we like. Of course, these features apply to all types of music, but I assume you and I are mostly interested in Latin music.

Google Entering Music Search is Good for Music Lovers

The Reuters article (“Google, Bing Search Engines Turn to Music“) mentioned that entertainment accounts for 70% of all searches done, and music lyrics represent 10% of that piece. That means people use search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to find their entertainment. With the new features Bing announced last month, they aim to win your preference in your music searches. Bing had not only been optimized for music searches, particularly for song lyrics, but another nice feature is that Bing connects to the Zune Marketplace service so you can hear a one-time streaming of the song you searched.

One way in which I plan to use this feature is to the help me make music purchasing decisions. Now you don’t have to purchase a recording blindfolded, as you can hear the album songs one time, and make your purchase decision based on what you heard, rather than rely solely on bloggers like me to review the albums and tell you about it. I’ll still hope that my reviews at least steer you to more targeted searches and therefore, save you some time.

In an expected move, Google is joining the market for specialized entertainment searches, and is said to be working on a music service for its Android mobile phone platform. This is great news for us the consumers as the competition between Google and Microsoft will bring more features and more choices for us owners of Windows Mobile as well as Android mobile phones.

Where is Apple in all this Music Search?

The owners of the biggest music store in the world (iTunes), Apple has not provided any indication that they will join in these music search market, as Apple doesn’t have a search engine. But Apple could decide to offer a fee-based music service like the Zune Marketplace since they have the biggest store and the most used portable music player (iPod) in the market.

Need Album Personnel Credits in Music Search

I’m glad we’re now able to find music and lyrics faster. Being able to stream songs in search engines will help us make more informed purchasing decision.

However, one thing that I would like to see is the addition of music album credits to the music information available online. That information used to be included in the back side of LPs and is now provided in the inserts of the CD jewelcases. However, with most sales of music occurring through downloads, we’ve lost access to the album’s production credits information. This is great information to have, as it tell us which musicians performed in the CD, guest artists, and the behind the scenes people involved in making the recording.

I hope one day this information is downloaded with the music.