In my last column I noted how the arrival of Google's online music store in Canada signalled the growth of Google Play as a viable iTunes competitor in Canada.
As soon as I put that column to bed, Google expanded its digital offerings again in Canada by adding television program purchases to Google Play's video store.
That means Canadians, starved for consumer choice in online entertainment compared to Americans, can get movies, TV, music, books and newspapers from Google. That means Canada now has three main competitors for comprehensive digitalbased entertainment: Apple, Google and Microsoft.
Apple of our eye
Apple remains in the lead for content. iTunes offers music, movies, TV and books and iPhones and iPads can access a universe of news apps. Looking specifically at TV, the market which Google just entered, iTunes has a larger selection than either Google Play or Microsoft's Xbox Video store. Its selections are nicely laid out and curated. Prices are market standard.
iTunes' music offerings are excellent but iTunes does not offer a streaming subscription service yet in Canada as it does in the United States. I don't have any experience with its ebooks, but the selection looks reasonable.
Google Play, which was nonexistent only a few years ago, is in solid second place for Canadians. Its video offerings are not as extensive as iTunes but it has all the mainstream releases, good prices and curation is on level with Apple.
Its music store looks very good, with good pricing, and offers a subscription streaming music service for $10 a month, or $8 a month if you sign up before the end of June, with a reported access to 25 million songs.
Its Newsstand is a standalone platform combining newspapers and magazines in one central app, which some people might prefer to individual apps for their news reading. I've used Google's books platform on Android and like it, although I prefer my Kobo for reading.
Microsoft takes third place for content. Its movie selections are comparable to Google Play, but as with Google its TV selections lag behind iTunes. Its once stupidly high prices for videos have been lowered to be in line with iTunes (a lesson that competition is important).
Microsoft has no ebooks platform and no equivalent to Newsstand, although Windows 8 devices, from computers to phones, have well-designed apps for news, travel, health and food - all curated, drawn from various sources and free.
Where Microsoft excels in Canada is its Xbox Music store, which offers a $10 a month music streaming service with the same claim to 25 million songs. I'm a subscriber.
Playing with Google
Few people are purist in their choices and most households freely mix and match services and devices. Given the dominant market share of Windows computers, it's likely most iPad or iPhone users have a Windows PC. There's a fair chance they have an Android phone. And instead of Apple, Microsoft or Google, they get their music from Rdio, Slacker or Songza. Or they use all of these sources at different times, which is the way it should be.
That means aside from content, the consumerfriendly provider is available across as many devices and platforms as possible and here Google takes the prize. Its video, music and books apps are found on both Android and iPhone and iPad and available to PC and Mac users through the web. Apple, which makes money by getting consumers to buy devices, limits content to Apple devices and iTunes on PC and Mac. (The exception is music downloads, which can be played anywhere.) Even Microsoft, lagging in content, is working hard to expand its services across platforms.
If you're an all-Apple household, limited platform availability is not an issue for you as long as you don't mind reduced selection in devices and like Apple's design choices. I hate being locked into one system or company, but I also have a problem with commitment.
Tablet winners
We had two winners for our tablet giveaway, courtesy of Samsung Canada.
They are Barb Ling and Irene Caudwell and were drawn by using random.org. Both are receiving a 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Pro tablet. Congratulations!
Barry Link is editor of the Vancouver Courier newspaper and a geek enthusiast.
[email protected] @trueblinkit
