Music Beta By Google Launches: Invite-Only For Now
Google revealed a startling amount of new information at Google I/O this
week, but there was no bigger announcement than the one everyone
expected: Music. The company's new Music Beta has beaten Apple's rumored
iCloud service to the punch, but unlike many streaming services,
there's no actual way to buy music via this method. The labels were
evidently not fond of Google's terms and conditions, so instead, Google
created a cloud music locker where individuals can insert up to 20,000
songs at no charge (for now) in order to stream them back to any PC or
Android device, anywhere that an Internet connection is available.
The service is similar in a way to Amazon's Cloud Storage service (announced earlier in the year), but rather than counting gigabytes, it counts songs. The app itself is available today on the Android Market, but you need an invite to the beta to actually try out the cloud aspect. Once installed (and invited), you'll be able to upload any songs you have (though format support is limited) to your Google cloud, and then you can listen in from any connected PC or Android device.
There's no telling how successful this will be once Google starts charging for it, but it'll definitely be a hit while it's free. Are you interested in yet another cloud streaming service? Or is there no "hook" here to catch you?
The service is similar in a way to Amazon's Cloud Storage service (announced earlier in the year), but rather than counting gigabytes, it counts songs. The app itself is available today on the Android Market, but you need an invite to the beta to actually try out the cloud aspect. Once installed (and invited), you'll be able to upload any songs you have (though format support is limited) to your Google cloud, and then you can listen in from any connected PC or Android device.
There's no telling how successful this will be once Google starts charging for it, but it'll definitely be a hit while it's free. Are you interested in yet another cloud streaming service? Or is there no "hook" here to catch you?
