Music in the Clouds?

Photo Credit: Music Beta by Google

Google has introduced their new cloud music service, calling it Music Beta by Google (at least for now). At this point you aren’t able to purchase music through this Google service, but you can store all of your music on this cloud server, allowing you to access your music anytime and anywhere. You can even set it up to let you access your music offline through an app on your device. And best of all, this service is free.

How does this differ from the Amazon Cloud Player? Amazon only lets you store 2,000 songs on their server, while Google is supposed to let you store 20,000. Google Music Beta accepts MP3, AAC, WMA, and FLAC file formats, which is more than Amazon's support for only the first two. Amazon’s service allows you to purchase music, while Google is still in negotiations with music labels. So far the negotiations have stalled, and Google has not been able to obtain licenses from the major record companies. According to an article written by Ben Sisario, NYTimes, “As with Amazon’s Cloud Drive, the company does not need special licenses as long as it stores each user’s files separately and then streams them back only to that user, intellectual property lawyers say.”

Music Beta is still only offered by invitation only while in its trial state. This is a typical Google move. I remember when Google Voice was by invitation only. Now it is more than just main stream. It is integrated into Gmail as well. I imagine Google Music will be available to everyone soon, especially once Google negotiates successfully with the music companies.

Are the music companies being unreasonable? According to an article written by Alex Pham and Jessica Guynn, LATimes, Google's director of digital content for Android, Jaime Rosenberg, lashed out at the music companies, saying their deal terms were "unreasonable and unsustainable." At the same time, Rosenberg said Google would continue its talks with the labels and publishers to build a platform for distributing and selling music on Android phones and tablets.

"We are excited about where this could go," Rosenberg said, emphasizing that Google would also pursue deals with independent labels and artists, such as those represented by Merlin, a London organization that represents 14,000 members, including Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Adele.

Will Google be successful in competing with Amazon and Apple’s iTunes? Unless Google successfully negotiates a deal with the record labels, I think Google’s Music Beta will fall flat. Meanwhile if you are interested in giving it a try, apply for your invitation for Music Beta by Google. You can ask for an invitation here. If it is like Google Voice, it may take a little time before you get your invitation.

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