We are just days away from Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference 2011 (WWDC) where Apple has confirmed the announcement of their new iCloud service. This newcloud service is believed to be a significant improvement to MobileMe and include a streaming resource for music. Apple has been rumored to have negotiated terms with the Music Industry. These terms will allow them to scan your music collection and create an online-music catalog for you without having to upload your music files.
Apple is a late entry to the cloud music service. Amazon recently announced a music service in the cloud. Additionally, at Google IO, the search giant also announced their Google Music Service. While we wait to see new software Apple will announce at WWDC we have the opportunity to take a look at one of the competing service, Google Music.
Google Music is currently in working beta and invite only. The software runs in a web browser, but Google has created a Music Manager application for the Mac. The Music Manager helps you upload your music to Google’s servers.
Installing Google Music Manager on a Mac is similar to most other software installations. Download Music Manager from Google, Open the DMG file, and drag and drop Music Manager it into your Applications Folder.
Next, open Music Manager from your Applications folder to get started uploading copies of your music to the Google music cloud.
Google Music Manager authenticates with their servers by using your Google or gmail account login information. Enter your account credentials to login and start managing your Music.
After you login, you will be asked to identify where your musics’s location. You can select iTunes, your Music folder, or other folders on your Mac.
After you identify your music location, Google Music Manager will quickly scan your music and begin to upload it to the Google Music Cloud.
Google will continue to upload your music to their servers in the background. It did not request a credit card or any payment information related to the number of songs I had in my library.
You can edit and configure Music Manager through System Preferences or by clicking the “earphone” icons it adds to your menu bar.
Uploading options include the ability to change the upload speed allotted to the service, when to add new music to Google Music, and whether or not you would like to start the service each time your Mac boots up.
Google Music can be access at http://music.google.com in Safari, Chrome, or other web browser. So far, our tests show that any music added to Google Music was able to be played by Google Music player. This includes playing audio books that were purchased through iTunes and that have been digitally protected.
by Treasurebox
