YOU TUBE Music

Google Music / You Tube Music

Music Beta by Google

URL http://music.google.com

Type of site Music streaming service

Registration Required

Available language(s) English

Owner Google

Current status Beta

Music Beta by Google is an online music streaming service that was announced on 10 May 2011 at the Google I/O conference. The service supports streaming music to desktop browsers and Android phones and tablets, or any other device that can use the Adobe Flash platform.

Initially, Music Beta will support storing of up to 20,000 songs on the service for free. However, the Music Beta will only be free "for a limited time." At launch the service is available through invitation to US residents only. The service does not currently support buying music—it is only for streaming purposes. Music Beta will also allow for automatic caching for offline play on mobile devices.

According to the official Google blog, users "can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together." Music imported from iTunes will retain playlists as well.

Music Beta was first hinted at at the 2010 I/O Conference, where Google Senior Vice-President of Social Vic Gundotra showed a "Music" section of the Android Market that would allow users to download music through the market. In June 2010, a user discovered a logo that said "Google Music" on Google's servers, but it was later deleted.

Regarding the lack of music purchasing features, Jamie Rosenberg, the overseer of digital content and strategy for Google, told All Things Digital that "a couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms," which led Google to make Music Beta a standalone streaming service.

System requirements The Music Manager

•Mac OS X 10.5 and above

•Windows XP and above

•Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/openSUSE)

The Music Beta player on your computer

•Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 7 and above

•JavaScript must be enabled in your browser (not necessary for Google Chrome). Learn how to enable JavaScript

•The latest version of Adobe Flash Player must be installed and enabled in your browser (Flash is included with Google Chrome). Install Adobe Flash Player

The Music Beta player for Android devices

Your device must be running Android 2.2 and above with OpenGL2.0 (contact your manufacturer to determine if OpenGL2.0 is supported on your device). You can determine your device's version of Android by touching Settings > About Phone/Tablet.

Invitations to Music Beta by Google

To request an invitation to Music Beta by Google, please visit music.google.com

Thanks for your interest!

Country availability

At this time, Music Beta by Google is only available in the United States. ( Today 18/08/2011 )

Supported filetypes

File Format File Extension Supported

mp3 .mp3

aac .m4a

* wma .wma

** FLAC .flac

*** ogg .ogg

Protected aac (DRM) .m4p

ALAC (Apple Lossless) .m4a

wav .wav

aiff .aiff

ra .r

* wma files are only supported by the Windows version of the Music Manager.

** FLAC and ogg files are transcoded to 320kbps mp3. Please note that FLAC files that are 24-bit and/or mono aren't currently supported.

*** ogg files are only supported when using the Linux version of the Music Manager.

Editing metadata and album art

By default, Music Beta will keep the metadata and album art embedded within your music files. If album art for a file is appearing in your iTunes library but is not appearing when added to Music Beta, this is likely because the album art was added by iTunes and was not embedded in your original music file.

Editing album metadata and art:

1.Select an album

2.Click the dropdown to the right of the album name

3.Select 'Edit album info'

From here, you can change the text in any of the album's metadata fields, or click 'Change' beneath the album art and select an image of your choosing.

Editing song metadata and art:

1.Select an album or playlist

2.Hover over the song you'd like to edit

3.Click the down arrow to the right of the song title

4.Select 'Edit song info'

From here, you can change the text in any of the song's metadata fields, or click 'Change' beneath the album art and select an image of your choosing.

Deleting songs from your library

You can delete music stored on your SD card when using the Music Beta application on your device; however, deletion of music from your online Music Beta library must be done from the Music player on your computer. The changes you make will then appear on your Android devices.

To delete music from your library while using your computer, click the triangular menu button that appears to the right of a song or album and select 'Delete song/album'.

You can quickly select multiple songs to delete when using your computer to access Music Beta. Select a song, hold down the 'Shift' key and select another song in the list to select a range of songs. To multi-select individual songs throughout the list, hold down the 'Ctrl' (Windows) or 'Command' (Mac) key while selecting.

Deleting songs from the free music offering

To delete multiple songs or all of the free Music Beta music from your library while using your computer:

1.Click 'Free songs' under 'Auto Playlists' in the 'My Library' tab.

2.After you've selected the songs or range of songs you'd like to delete, click the triangular menu button that appears to the right of a song and select 'Delete song/album'.

If you're deleting music to free up storage space, you may be interested in instructing the Music Manager to only add specific songs from your collection. To do so, move your preferred songs to a separate folder and set the Music Manager to add music from this folder. For instructions, see Adding music from folders of your choosing.