“Google Music”- The Future of Music on Google

In January, Google extended the features of Google Docs to allow users to upload any type of file up to 250MB in size, and Cloud Music users were able to use Google Docs as their own personal music server. Now the word in the tech world is that Google plans to launch “Google Music”, a cloud-based streaming music service, later this year. The free streaming service will operate in a similar fashion to Pandora in the US or Spotify in Europe. Google Music is rumored to potentially offer an iTunes-style store to purchase tracks, and an Android App may be in the works, as well. If you just can’t wait for Google Music’s launch, an iPhone app, Cloud Music, is available for a small fee, but is not as fully-featured or integrated as the Google version is expected to be. If you are wondering how Google can afford to offer this service for free, consider the following quote from Conde Nast: “Google is like the Conde Nast of the online world. All they need to do is roll out a new publication. People will buy the publication, but Google can also sell advertising in it.” Naturally, you can’t expect a free service without advertisements filling the sidebars.

Currently, Google users get 1GB of storage for free, and can purchase an additional 20GB for $5 per year. This option is great if you have lots of music to upload, but manually uploading all your track can get tedious. For those of us with little patience, there is hope. Google Music is reportedly also going to offer a sharing option so you can listen to whatever music your friends are. This could be a big selling point for Google Music. Taking the time to upload all your music and keep it synced could be Google Music’s downfall, but add in the ability to listen to all your friend’s collections and Google Music might just be worth it. Google Music will have a lot of stiff competition, though. Between iPods, iPhones, iTunes, and the endless variety of other online music streaming services, Google Music will have to really put a unique spin on their service to make it marketable. When I think Google, I think search engine and Google Docs, not music. Google will have to work to change that mindset.