Google Music Launches With Song Purchases In Android Market
Google Music is no longer a "beta" product. Talk about a quick turnaround, at least compared to things like Gmail! The company teamed up with T-Mobile USA at a press conference in Los Angeles to launch Google Music, a new platform where you can upload your personal music collections for free, purchase songs from your favorite artists, and stream all your music to your devices and the Web. That's right, purchases are live. We suspect that Music Beta was intended to launch earlier this year with music purchases, but not enough record label support was available. Now, EMI / Universal / Sony are onboard with over 1,000 indie labels, though Warner Music is absent for now. All told, around 8 million tracks are available today, with 13 million total on tap.
Google Music will allow easy sharing on Google+, full-track samples to friends, compatibility on Android, the Web and even iOS browsers, etc. It's the same Music interface as before (largely), but with the addition of music on sale in the Android Market. Android 2.2+ devices are supported, and loads of exclusive content will be coming to T-Mob users; also, it'll be the first carrier to support carrier billing with Music purchases "soon." Unfortunately, the whole service is only available to American users for now, but we're guessing that a global release is on the docket. What now, iTunes?
Google Music will allow easy sharing on Google+, full-track samples to friends, compatibility on Android, the Web and even iOS browsers, etc. It's the same Music interface as before (largely), but with the addition of music on sale in the Android Market. Android 2.2+ devices are supported, and loads of exclusive content will be coming to T-Mob users; also, it'll be the first carrier to support carrier billing with Music purchases "soon." Unfortunately, the whole service is only available to American users for now, but we're guessing that a global release is on the docket. What now, iTunes?
