Google Beats iTunes to the Clouds with New No-Label Music Beta Service

[Michael Essany]

We were told a major announcement from Google was coming today. And that's exactly what we got, although the Internet search giant's new effort has been rumored to be in the works for months. Today at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, California, Apple's iTunes got a new competitor in the digital music space. But this rival is already poised to go somewhere iTunes never has - the clouds.

Google's new cloud-based music player, Music Beta, was officially unveiled as a streaming product that, at least for the life of its beta existence, will be free. The catch, however, is that the forthcoming service isn't yet available to all. To try out the service, you have to be "invited" - sort of like the way Google first introduced Gmail.

The cloud player is basically what everyone expected it to be — a way for Google users to upload music to a remote server and access it from other devices. An independent PC or Mac-enabled application uploads music with a remote cloud server. Users can then stream the music through the Internet to other mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much of a service to experience for the time being. That is, Google is yet to seal the deal on an agreement with major music labels. For now, the service will consist of that which users upload as their own content. As we understand it, users of the beta service can upload a maximum of 20,000 songs.

While Google hasn't quite lifted the veil of secrecy on all the bells and whistles of the new service, we do know that users can listen to their songs without access to the Internet. Cloud synchronizing wasn't discussed in any great detail, but from the looks of the teaser material made available, users will be able to download music to mobile devices over the air.

We been hearing for months (or is it years now?) that Apple will soon follow through on similar plans to launch iTunes into the clouds. We've all been holding our breath for that one. And, sadly, it doesn't appear that the blue tint upon our countenance will fade any time soon.

Source: Venture Beat

[iliveudie]

I applaud you, Google, for reaching the clouds first. The Cloud Race is over!

[TheOrioles33]

But when Apple does it, they will do it "right".

[yomamashump]

I watched this entire keynote and it was more exciting than the last 2 WWDC keynotes combined. If their cloud service is half as good as they made it out to be, iTunes has serious competition when and if Apple ever get their act together.

Couple this with Android @ home and my next tablet might well be running Honeycomb.

[Poseidon79]

I would like to know what kind of bandwidth users will get from the cloud. If they re-encode and stream all my wavs and high bit rate MP3's down to 128Kbps or less I'll pass.

[BadJ3d1]

I applaud you, Google, for reaching the clouds first. The Cloud Race is over!

Amazon already passed both Google and Apple making it to the clouds when they launched their Cloud Drive service.

[RICO_]

But when Apple does it, they will do it "right".

Yeah. Just like iOS 4, the white iPhone, and the antenna design.

[TheOrioles33]

Yeah. Just like iOS 4, the white iPhone, and the antenna design.

Exactly!

All these cloud based services is making it pretty cloudy with a chance of showers.

[BadJ3d1]

Yeah. Just like iOS 4, the white iPhone, and the antenna design.

I get the white iPhone and the antenna issues. But what's so bad with iOS4?

[StealthBravo]

Request an invitation here: https://music.google.com/about/

[BadJ3d1]

The default design does suck, and doesn't really get any better until the user jailbreaks.

But the design isn't an issue exclusive to iOS4. The default out of the box look on an iPhone 3G or 3GS has issues as well. Just my two cents. =)

Well obviously those of us that have jailbroken our idevices did so because we didnt appreciate all of the limitations Apple placed on them.

[TheOrioles33]

Request an invitation here: https://music.google.com/about/

Thanks man!

[StealthBravo]

Thanks man!

No prob. Grab an extra one and sell it on ebay

[Poseidon79]

So this seems like a dumb question... will this work on the iPhone or is this exclusive to the music app on the Android Market?

[StealthBravo]

So this seems like a dumb question... will this work on the iPhone or is this exclusive to the music app on the Android Market?

At this point its Android only but I am sure they will have an iOS option at some point. Not sure it will happen during the beta.

[RICO_]

I get the white iPhone and the antenna issues. But what's so bad with iOS4?

Remember what happened to iPhone 3G owners that updated to iOS 4 and how terribly bogged down their phone became? Not to mention the "multitasking" isn't true multitasking either.

[BadJ3d1]

At this point its Android only but I am sure they will have an iOS option at some point. Not sure it will happen during the beta.

I doubt Apple would accept this app anytime soon considering the fact that Apple is still attempting to get their own iCloud service up and running.

[StealthBravo]

I doubt Apple would accept this app anytime soon considering the fact that Apple is still attempting to get their own iCloud service up and running.

Oh it wouldn't make it in the apple store, it would be browser based.

[BadJ3d1]

Well that's true. Apple could definitely build a better bridge between iOS4 and older gen. devices.

Oh, ok. So Apple wouldn't have to approve it or anything. That's cool. =)

[StealthBravo]

Perhaps if Google released an API then maybe some developer might release an appstore app. Apple finally allowed Google Voice stuff in.