Google Music: 5 things you need to know

The Gadget Show  Thursday 17 November 2011

The Google empire marches on. This time the search giant has revealed a brand new music service, called Google Music, and it’s a cloud-based music streaming service supported by some of the biggest record companies in the world. It could be huge! Here are five things you should know about Google Music.

Google Music is supported by the major labels And that’s important because without it, you wouldn’t be able to listen to tracks from your favourite artists. Thankfully the likes of Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and EMI have all pledged their support. A host of independent labels will also be on board, giving Google Music a library of around 13 million tracks. Some labels are even working on delivering exclusive content. Google is currently working with the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Shakira and others to offer exclusive music from upcoming concerts. Google Music could soon be the place to listen to new tracks before anyone else.

Get Napster on your Loewe internet TV


Store all of your songs 
The great thing about the cloud service is that you’ll be able to store all of your songs up on Google’s vast servers – 20,000 songs in total that you already own, or will have purchased from the Android Market music store. Customers will be able to preview tracks for 90 seconds. Songs are being reported to cost between 56 pence and 86 pence. There will also be a free song of the day, and tracks will be 320kpbs sound quality, so it all sounds very promising. Literally.

Offline listening 
 Because Google Music is a cloud-based streaming service, users will be able to listen to music offline on Android 2.2 smartphones without being hooked up to the internet. The Google Music Android app will let users log into their account, adjust their settings, and get listening to any of the millions of tracks available.

Simple Audio player takes on Sonos, streams music around your home

Share music using Google+ Google+ integration will let members share their musical tastes with their fellow music-loving chums. So when you purchase an album from Google Music, Google+ will let your friends know about it, letting those in your circles play through the entire album once. Google hopes it will be a great way for friends to discover new music. The service hasn’t arrived in the UK, but should you wish to turn sharing settings off, we’re sure the option to do so will be there.

A global rollout Google music was launched in the U.S. A UK launch date has yet to be revealed or confirmed. At the launch, however was mention of a global rollout. So there’s still hope, and demand for a UK Google Music service should hopefully be enough to convince the ‘Big G’ to bring it over here.