Google Music Service, what you should know

Overview

Google has finally surfaced the keenly-awaited music streaming service Google Music. The possible-iTunes-killer will help users stream music from cloud servers to their computers and other devices with Adobe Flash support. The exclusive music streaming service has been in beta mode since its announcement at Google I/O Conference in May 2011. Music enthusiasts have been keenly waiting for the service, which will realize a new atmosphere to enjoy music on Android devices. But unfortunately, Google Music is currently confined for U.S. residents only. Google users in other countries will have to show some more patience to get the feature landed on their Android and other devices.

Google Music

Pricing and availability

Google Music costs you nothing. Unlike iTunes locker that charges you $24.99 for a year, Google Music locker is free of cost. You can download 20,000 songs for free.

What’s great?

Google Music is up with many exciting features. Different from its competitors like Amazon Player and Apple iTunes, Google Music has some notable specialties. The first one is that the music streaming service is entirely free of cost. The Mountain View firm has reached in an agreement with three labels to get the songs on the platform. They are Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Universal Music Group. Other distinguished features of the new version Google Music are elaborated below.

1. Wonderful streaming facility: The just released Google Music is chiefly for music streaming rather than anything else. You have a collection of 20,000 songs on Google Music to download from. Users can also upload songs to stream to other devices.

2. Enhanced sharing options: Google Music comes with great sharing options. The service is tied up with Google’s recently unveiled Google+ social networking service. You can share songs and reviews with your friends on Google+.

3. iTunes-like player: Google Music comes with an iTunes-like music player, even if it is mainly meant for streaming. The player has a new design and look and it has been in beta more for sometime around.

4. Google Music locker is free: It is another brilliant feature that gives score for Google Music over Apple iTunes and Amazon MP3 player. You have a collection of 20,000 songs for free streaming on Google Music.

5. Cloud storage: You have a decent cloud storage service with Google Music. Though not as competent as Apple’s iCloud, Google’s cloud service is great for Google Music.

What’s not so great?

Google Music is missing a feature like iTunes Match, which Apple lately kicked off to help iTunes users synchronize and back up songs from different sources on cloud. But in case of Google Music, there is not a similar matching service. It means you will have to manually upload each song for streaming to other devices. If you have a slow internet connection and large music library, the process will take long hours and even days.

Things to watch out for

Google is very late to the cloud based music industry. Apple and Amazon have already taken maximum benefits from the industry with their MP3 Player and iTunes services. Google, the web search giant, through announcing its Music service in May 2011 took several more months to unveil the service officially. Anyway, Google has developed a state-of-the-art facility for music steaming. But its integration with Google+ will not bring much advantage initially, because the latest social networking offering from Google is not a flick yet.

Verdict

Google Music has been largely anticipated by music lovers. Google is well known for rolling out many free of cost web services. Certainly, Google kept up its tradition with Google Music also. Once set up, users can stream more than 20,000 songs from the music store of Google. The company collects no payments from customers for it. However, some songs will have charges of a few bucks.

Other Alternatives

1. Apple iTunes: Apple has been in music industry for a while. Its iTunes is a well-accepted music streaming service on the web. Along with iTunes Match, Apple’s music service is now a full-grown facility for streaming contents to all iOS devices, Macs and PCs.

2. Amazon Player: Amazon is one of the first firms in the world to introduce cloud computing and music service. Thanks to its credential as a leading online vendor of music and digital contents, Amazon’s music service has lots of fans.