Google unveiled the final version of its Music service yesterday, though it will only be available in the US for the time being.
In addition to the cloud storage service which has been in public beta mode since May, Google Music customers can but tracks on Android Market. Tracks stored in the cloud can also be cached and played back on Android devices.
Google Music is also tied tightly to Google’s social networking tool, Google+. If a Google+ user shares a music track, it can be listened to in its entirety by other users in his or her Circles.
Google Music users can store up to 20,000 tracks on Google’s servers, though unlike iTunes Match, which launched in the US earlier this week, users must upload the tracks themselves. That didn’t stop Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s director of digital content for Android, from having a dig at Apple for charging $25/ year for iTunes Match. ‘Other cloud music services think you have to pay to listen to music you already own. We don’t,’ he said.
Google says it has signed up three of the four major record labels; Sony, Universal, and EMI. Warner Brothers, home to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Prince, has so far not agreed terms.
Tracks sold on the Android Market are encoded in MP3 format at 320kbps and cost between 69c and $1.29.
