With therelease of iTunes Matchand Google Music becoming available to all , music lovers are starting to move from “ Do I need to put my medicine in the cloud ? ” to “ Of of course I do . Which service should I habituate ? ” Currently there are three major services in argument for your medicine — in improver to iTunes couple andGoogle Music , there ’s alsoAmazon Cloud Player . Here ’s how they equate .
computer storage tie - ins : Each service is linked to a store — iTunes Match with Apple ’s iTunes Store , Google Music with Android Market , and Amazon Cloud Player with Amazon MP3 . Each service trade DRM - free track priced between 69 cents and $ 1.29 — iTunes provides 256 - kbps AAC tracks , Android Market offers 320 - kbps MP3 tracks , and Amazon MP3 sell 256 - kbps MP3 Indian file .
Price and store : iTunes Match is a $ 25 - per - yr avail . For that $ 25 you could have approach to up to 25,000 tracks not purchased from the iTunes Store . you may salt away an unlimited number of tracks you ’ve purchased from the iTunes Store , which do n’t matter against the 25,000 track limit .
Google Music
Google Music is free and allow you to access up to 20,000 tracks . you could additionally buy track from the Android Market . Similar to iTunes Match , these buy track are not counted against your 20,000 track terminal point .
Amazon Cloud Player provides 5 GB of storage for gratis . Any track you buy from Amazon MP3 are not counted against this limit . However , if you buy any Cloud Drive storage design ( begin at $ 20 a year for 20 GB of storage ) , you’re able to stack away an unlimited number of MP3 and AAC files . Amazon recite us that this is a limited - sentence crack .
Match versus upload : One of the most significant dispute between iTunes Match and the Google and Amazon serving is gibe . When you sign up for iTunes Match , iTunes will send Apple ’s servers a list of the music in your iTunes library . Any of the music in that library that ’s available in the iTunes Store will be made useable to you as 256 - kbps AAC files — there ’s no indigence to upload these matched tracks .
Amazon Cloud Player as seen from within Mobile Safari
Conversely , regardless of whether Android Market or Amazon MP3 have copies of your track for sale , you must still upload them to the companies ’ server before you’re able to access them . This is n’t entirely desirable if you have a tiresome cyberspace connector or a stern bandwidth cap .
File spiritual rebirth : Both Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player give what they get . If you upload a 128 - kbps copy of The Beatles “ Love Me Do , ” that ’s incisively what you ’ll get back . With iTunes Match , if a track from your depository library has been matched with a course available from the iTunes Store , it will amount back to you as a 256 - kbps AAC file . In typeface where your copy is of lesser quality , you win . However , if your written matter is uncompressed or in the Apple Lossless format , the edition you meet from iTunes Match will be that same 256 - kbps AAC data formatting .
access code : subject matter stored via iTunes Match can be accessed within iTunes on both a Mac and Windows personal computer as well as from any iOS twist ( including theApple telly 2 ) . you could additionally download written matter of your iTunes friction match content to your computers and iOS devices ( though not to the Apple TV — it can only stream this message ) . you could use iTunes mate with up to 10 devices authorized with your Apple ID .
iTunes Match album on an iPod touch
To play Google Music and Cloud Player subject on your computer , you must expend a entanglement browser app . Each service presents an interface like to iTunes where you may view your medicine by birdcall , artist , record album , and genre . fun controls can be find within these window . Google Music does n’t provide a mode through a web web internet browser to download tracks . Google ’s Music Manager diligence can download tracks you ’ve buy from the Android Market , but it ’s an all - or - nothing outgrowth . You also use this app program to upload music to Google Music . Each of these service allows you to use up to eight machine ( computer and Android machine ) .
Within your web internet browser , Amazon Cloud Player does let you download track you ’ve previously upload . You select those lead within the web browser app port and choose Download . When you do , the Amazon MP3 Download software you ’ve instal launch and download the track .
There are a couple of iPhone apps that allow you to access Google Music tracks — IIS ’s $ 2gMusicand Sokolware ’s $ 1GoMusic for Google Music . gMusic permit you pour your euphony to your iOS twist . GoMusic allows you to swarm as well as download it to your equipment . GoMusic ’s download tracks are available within that app but are not made available to the Music app .
At one metre , there was an app for accessing Amazon Cloud Player music but it was pulled from the App Store at Amazon ’s request . you may , however play your Cloud Player go after within Safari on the iOS twist but you ca n’t download them to your iOS equipment .
Online Music Services
Shaking it out
Which service you choose depends on the gadget you own , your bandwidth , and your budget . consider you ’re viewing this at Macworld.com , you likely have a Mac and one or more iOS equipment . If you may open $ 25 a year , iTunes Match is mighty tantalising because of its ability to touch rails already in your iTunes subroutine library and the ease of admittance you have to your euphony via your devices .
If you routinely shop for music at Amazon MP3 , have lots of euphony ( and can afford the $ 20 a year for unlimited music storage ) and bandwidth to burn , and do n’t mind access your music through a connection web internet browser or Android machine , Amazon Cloud Player may be a good conniption for you . And if you ’d like to buy more or less higher lineament digital downloads and like the approximation of passably expansive free store , there ’s always Google Music .
[ Christopher Breen is a senior editor for Macworld.com . ]
