Music Beta By Google Is Unveiled!

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) Google has debut their long-awaited music service today, despite not having locked down licensing agreements from the major labels. Currently going by the name Music Beta by Google, it is a cloud-based storage system, similar to Amazon's. Amazon also notably launched its service without coming to any agreements with the labels.

Google said users will be able to upload up to 20,000 songs to "the cloud" - tech speak for storing data on remote servers and then accessing them through an internet connection.

Google exec Zahavah Levine confirmed the reports: "We're launching a beta service called Music Beta by Google that lets' users upload their personal music libraries to their own account on Google's servers.
Users can access those libraries anytime or anywhere from Web-connected devices," she said, adding that "Android owners will be able to access their libraries while offline.
This is a personal storage service that doesn't require licenses anymore than sales of an iPod or a hard drive requires licenses.
It's like a user making personal copies of their own music and transferring it to their iPod, but rather than a portable hard drive they have a hard drive in the cloud."

Google Music will operate as a cloud "locker" for users' music, and not have a digital music store component, which was at one time expected to be the centerpiece of a Google music offering.
Since the cloud locker service merely stores users' files, Amazon believes that it can operate the service without licensing agreements from the labels in place.
The service will only be accessible on browsers that support Flash (which leaves out Apple) or on Android devices running 2.2 or higher.
The service will only be offered in the U.S. for now and will be a free service at least while it is in beta.