I knew they would get around to having a native linux client. Installing it is very simple. Just hit up Google Music, click on “Add Music” and then download the right package (32 bit .deb or 64 bit – whichever your system is). Then install. Worked perfectly for me.

Thanks for the heads up, OMG Ubuntu!

The Wine solution for uploading songs to Google Music in Ubuntu goes ridiculously slow. Until Google offers up a Linux native client for uploading (or just realizes that a browser-based file uploading system is actually very reasonable), you have two choices for uploading (in my mind): a dual boot system where you use Windows (or OSX), or you can use VirtualBox to run a virtual Windows session and upload through that.

I opted for the virtual OS path, and here’s what I did to get it to work (drawn from here):

1. Install VirtualBox: go to Ubuntu Software Center and install “VirtualBox OSE” and “Guest additions ISO image for VirtualBox”
2. fire up VirtualBox and start a new session and install your OS (I found a disc for Vista in my stash) – note, I think it has to be a 32 bit version, I kept getting error messages when I tried to install a 64 bit version of Windows 7
3. After it has installed and done the several necessary reboots, shut it down and in the VirtualBox OSE Manager choose the installation you want to use (do not start it, just select it) and then open up the “shared Folders” setting and add your music folder
4. Fire up the virtual Windows OS again and let it boot up
5. then, going up to the top of your Ubuntu screen, where you access the options for the VirtualBox session, click on “Devices” and then choose “Install Guest Additions” and wait a minute or so for the script to run in the background
6. An AutoPlay dialog box may open up, asking if you want to run the VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe – choose “yes”
   1. note that I actually had to go to My Computer and choose the virtual disc that loaded as such, and then choose the VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe file
7. it will run and you will have to restart the Windows machine
8. Now, click on the start button and in the “run” dialog type “cmd”
9. a DOS terminal window will open up. If your music folder that you want to share is in your home folder and titled “Music”, then type this: “net use t: \\vboxsvr\Music”
10. you should get some sort of message indicating success. You can close that window
11. now, when you click on Computer (or My Computer) in the Windows machine, the music folder should show up as a network folder
12. now, download the Google MusicManager software in the Windows machine by going here.
13. After it has installed, you want to use “other folders” to upload from. Add your shared music folder, and I would suggest removing the “my music” folder (unless you just love the music samples that Windows includes in their installation).
14. After it has scanned your collection it should start uploading them!

All in all, it’s more of a tedious process than complicated. I really can’t wait for Google to get their uploading situation figured out – I’m sure eventually there will at least be a method using their Chrome Browser. This works for now, irritating though it may be.

With the release of Froyo for Android came the awesome ability to send stuff to your phone from your browser. Very simple and straight-forward to set-up. From what I can tell it uses your Google account to connect devices. Pretty easy to set up. Here’s what I did…

• installed the app on my phone (appbrain link)
• then install the extension on your browser of choice – firefox or chrome
• fire up the app on your phone and follow the prompts – it will have to log into your google account
• click on the extension in your browser, the first time you do this you will have to log into your google account.

I did a test run of this and the response was almost instantaneous. The best part? Since it’s browser based, it’s not OS specific – this will work in OSX, Windows, Linux or whatever else you might desire that has a firefox or chrome browser. I actually use Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome) and it worked perfectly in it as well.

Oh, and here’s a video of it for your viewing pleasure:

So I finally got my hands on an Android based phone: a Droid X. Sweetness… Yeah, I love the phone so far. Supposedly I’m going to get the 2.2 update tomorrow and that’ll be a whole ‘nuther bag of awesomeness.

So somebody please explain to me why I’m paying $15 a month for a texting plan – on top of my unlimited data plan?! This irritates me no end because texting is nothing more than a limited email system. Don’t believe me? Grab your phone and send a text to your email address, not a phone number. Bam! Not only does it pop up in your inbox as just another email – but you have captured the email address of your cell phone.

Needless to say, I think I’ve figured out a way to trash the texting plan but not lose texting. And it’s all centered around Google Voice. I had to go and sign up and get a local number in Google Voice, but since I already had a Gmail account that was pretty simple. After I got the number I proceeded to play around some. And now, since I’ve gotten my Droid X, my plans of ridding myself of the burden of a texting plan are coming to fruition.

How? Well, Google Voice integrates extremely well with the Android operating system. And that Google Voice number I acquired (the first one is free – costs $10 to change it…) can receive texts. Unfortunately it cannot receive pictures or audio files.

I called up the big V yesterday and set this present billing cycle to be my last one with a texting plan. My wife and I have long since abandoned texting each other. She uses a crackberry Blackberry and we communicate via Google Talk all day long. I’m planning on utilizing this to communicate more often with my friends who have smartphones, and for those who don’t, or can’t, then they can text to my Google Voice number – with the caveat that they will have to send any pictures/audio to my email address instead of the GV number.

So that’s my grand scheme…I’ll post an update in another month or so about how this is working out for me. Has anyone tried this? Any suggestions?