(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, January 04, 2013 ) San Francisco, CA -- The ever-expanding Google has decided to update its music storage and streaming services with a new song-matching feature. The feature is much like the Amazon and Apple counterparts, but the service from Google is 100% free.
Just over a year ago, Apple launched the “iTunes Match” service that was $25 per year, and would scan your current music listings, then offering replacing your music files with Apple's own. Amazon also made a similar offer for the same price but with some limited free options.
Google has decided to take it a step further, and their service that has launched (formerly Google Music and now Google Play Music) will allow you to upload songs to the cloud and receive Google's versions of the tracks.
There is no need to upload gigabytes of MP3s, as it simply verities that artist, album, and song, then makes the song available through streaming. The songs come through in 320 kbps, which is higher than both Amazon and Apple's offerings.
What users will likely enjoy most is that their service is wholly free, and there is no need to change anything or sign up anywhere if you already utilize the Google Play Music feature. Google has already begun hunting down versions of the songs you already have available.
The big question is, who is paying for the music if you are not? The apparent answer is: Google is. All Things D reported that Google is clearing checks for music instead of the usual charging for users.
The one caveat of the whole setup is that the high-quality versions of the songs cannot be downloaded for local use. The songs must be streamed online. That means that you cannot replace an old and lesser version for a newer version that is downloaded to your system. The high-quality version must be streamed online only.
The feature was recently announced on a Google+ post, and the service can be attained by creating or logging into a current, Google account and heading to the Music App section.
