Google are losing all of their Unique Selling Points.

There was a time when you were looking for a technical solution that Google had a handy and convenient answer. 

Music, Photos and Files. Google had the solution, but as time has passed, all of these solutions are now past their best. Let's have a look at what they were and why they're no longer worth our time. 


Google Music

This used to be a great way to sync/backup your music collection and stream to your mobile device without eating into any of the storage on your phone, Great when storage was only 8 or 4Gb. You could also stream audio, from your laptop or device to your Chromecast plugged into your hifi at 320kbps and browse your collection with ease. 

Google Music is dead though and has now been replaced by the much more inferior YouTube music service. Much like Apple Music and Spotify, primarily it is now a streaming service you pay for. While you can transfer your files across from Google Play Music, the interface is aimed at the subscriber, and limitations on bit rate and streaming make it impractical for the audiophile who prefers to own their digital music collection. Searching through your music is difficult and presents you with the music video or youtube version of songs you already own. It also renders your Chromecast devices useless unless you pay for the service. 

Conclusion

We were conned into thinking Android users had a music USP over Apple. Storing music on your phone again and synchronising with your PC is now the best way to look after your digital collection without paying, buy a big memory card.


Google Photos

Like Apple Photos, Google Photos backed up your entire photo collection to your online storage space at photos.google.com however, come June next year, the storage you had will now be frozen and your allowance will be taken from your Google Drive. 15Gb (the free allowance you get) could last a year or so if you use your android device like most people, you're either going to have to delete your memories, or pay for more upgrade space. 

Conclusion

Again we were conned into thinking Android users had a USP over Apple, and sadly people's precious memories are likely entwined in a service that is soon to become an archive. 


Google Drive

This has been the biggest disappointment as it's been a vital, useful and essential tool for me and some of my work colleagues over the past few years. But by gawd they've created a monster. If you work with people now and you have a large workload, for goodness sake, think twice about how you share it. The complexities of a shared folder are immense. I left a partnership earlier this year and they, and myself are still encountering detritus which doesn't show in the usual 'shared with me' or 'My Drive'. I have removed myself from folder shares, but still have access to all of the contents of items within that folder. I have removed myself from shared items and found others have lost access too. I have removed items owned by other people from my own drive (everything still shows up in 'storage' and 'search') and found it's caused problems for others in the share. It really is a mess. Drive is cheap, there's no doubting that, and for short term sharing, projects that are time bound and can be deleted and moved on by 2 parties it's ok. But for teamwork, it's atrocious, Unless you buy a G Suite package for your work and control multiple logins for each user (giving each user corporate logins instead of their own) then it's hopeless. For freelancers and cohorts it's dreadful. 

Although it's pricier, I suspect Dropbox might manage folder and file permissions better, does anyone have experience of using Dropbox professionally, it is better?

As for Google, I have been an ambassador in the past. For many many years I've pushed their services. Back when I worked in Sales I explained to a fellow music lover who was buying a phone how great Google Music was, he agreed but said something that stuck with me, he said

"It does look great, but just wait till they've got you and they start charging for it" it would appear I'm not as cynical as I thought I once was, in fact I was far too trusting. It woud appear we can no longer trust Google at all. 

Conclusion

You get what you pay for, the shambles that we're given isn't a professional tool, it's chaotic when you come to 'un-share' complex folders with other professionals. It came so close and much of the functionality still works for schools, and business establishments with a G Suite domain. But folder hierarchy complexity makes it impossible for any geek to recommend to a cohort of fellow freelancers, it's just too goddamn infuriating to undo. It's like Brexit, only digital. 

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