Google Music Announcement Expected Today

May 10, 2011

With Google already controlling how you search for information it's only natural that the Internet has a say in how you listen to music. Today, execs at Google are expected to do just when they announce the beta launch of Music By Google at the IO conference in San Francisco The service, hinted at back in June 2010, will allow users to upload their music to an online storage locker, which then can be streamed to devices connected to the Internet. The announcement is noteworthy for a few reasons, the least of which is its eery similarity to Amazon's Cloud Drive. More importantly, though, the service is being offered without music licenses from the major labels. Even with the unveiling of the project, the folks at Google aren't afraid to stress the fact that the deal isn't exactly what they had originally planned. Part of the launch of the service stems from Google's core mission of releasing a music app with features that include an Instant Mix creating playlists based on one song, and using metadata to help compile recommendations for new songs. And compared to Amazon, what makes Google Music more attractive? How about roughly ten times the free storage? At 50GB, a free Google locker could accommodate about 20,000 tracks to Amazon's 2,000.