Google Music Beta Has Arrived, Sans License

May 11, 2011 Music Info

Google Music Beta, a music streaming service with a twist aimed at the Android market, finally launched without licenses on Tuesday after being in the works for nearly a year. Although Google Music Service was first brought to public attention in June 2010, the inability to strike a deal with the many of the labels that the service originally wanted for the platform left many of us to wonder whether Google Music Beta would ever make it to an official launch. But alas, Google I/O made a very Amazon-like decision to launch on May 10, bringing news that the day has finally arrived for music lovers to get their hands on the platform. Well, almost.

Currently, Music Beta is only available by invitation to users within the U.S. and is only expected to be free for a limited time, although there are no indications of what pricing plans may entail once the service is no longer in beta stages. Motorola Xoom tablet owners are expected to receive priority invites to join the service, which runs on all devices in the Android market. Features of the streaming service include:

Streaming music playlists online and offline
Operate on any mobile platform, including tablets and smartphones
Create custom playlists
Automatic wireless sync of playlists to a connected device
Store up to 20,000 songs
Create playlists based on a single song (similar to Pandora)
Free sample tracks for signing up for locker-service

The Google app is expected to be the driving force behind marketing Android products as media devices, but launching without a license was never planned. Earlier reports that Sony and Universal music were “less focused on innovation and more on demanding unreasonable and unsustainable business terms” ultimately led the music player to drive the beta launch without them on board. Launching without a license may not have been exactly what Google had in mind, but developers remain open to new partnerships and development of innovative features with high hopes that the best has yet to come. Features of the streaming service are already wealthy, but Google promises that more updates and new features could be released in the upcoming future.

Edot Music
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