BlackBerry Messenger has had its name sullied a bit recently in light of the recent UK riots that were, in part at least, fuelled by the free, private communications service. But it's not only looting targets that you'll be able to share via the service; a new rumour suggests that you'll be able to share songs too.

According to CNET, RIM are in talks with four of the major record labels to add a music sharing service to BlackBerry Messenger's box of tricks.

A subscription based service, users will be able to pick 50 tracks at any one time which they'll be able to share with their friends via BlackBerry Messenger and listen to on the go. The BlackBerry Bold is touted as the first phone to get the new features.

As BlackBerry's leading USP, upping the amount of features found in BBM makes perfect sense, but is this the right way to go about it? If the service was free perhaps it'd sound more appealing, but when you think of the unlimited freedom and massive catalogue offered by rival services like Spotify, this rumoured music service sounds like it is hamstrung from the start.

We're heading down to a BlackBerry media event next Tuesday, so we'll keep you posted on any developments we hear of on the day.

Fancy nabbing yourself 3 months worth of free music streaming through Napster? Then you'd best head down to the Carphone Warehouse. They're offering 12 weeks worth of Napster Unlimited plus Mobile to anyone who purchases a monthly contract or prepaid iPhone or Android handset during August.

Worth £30, the 3 month subscription will give you unlimited access to the 17 million tracks in the Napster catalogue, as well as letting you create and save playlists for offline playback when no mobile or Wi-Fi connection is available.

The account will also give you full access to the Napster streaming client for computers too, syncing with all the mobile playlists you've made.

"Working with The Carphone Warehouse enables us to reward new mobile subscribers with access to one of the biggest music catalogues available all for free," said Thorsten Schliesche, Napster's vice president Sales and Marketing Europe.

"In delivering this offer we are now able to break down the barriers to entry and open up a world of music to new users."

Both online and in-store purchases will be accepted with which to grab the deal.

Facebook have banned Nirvana's album artwork for their seminal "Nevermind" album from the social networking site.

According to the site, the picture was removed as it was found in violation of Facebook's terms of use.

In particular, the album cover violated the rule that states: "Facebook does not allow photos that attack an individual or group, or that contain nudity, drug use, violence or other violations of the Terms of Use."

The album artwork was posted on the official Nirvana page as part of preparations for a new 20th Anniversary Deluxe reissue of the classic grunge record.

Hmm...not sure censoring one of the most iconic pieces of album artwork ever produced is going to do much for Facebook's street-cred. Whatever their concerns surrounding nude children, this seems more than a little rash. Has not the "Nevermind" baby's nude pose now fallen into the same artistic space as "David" by Michelangelo in the collective cultural mindset of the masses?

Kurt Cobain would be rolling in his grave.

UPADTE: Facebook have seen sense, and the album cover is now...ahem... in bloom on the Nirvana Facebook page.

Microsoft have sparked an angry repsonse from fans of the late soul singer Amy Winehouse, as the Redmond-based company appeared to be cashing in on the stars death by plugging their own Zune music service.

Tweeting from the official Xbox 360 Twitter account @tweetbox360, the company urged gamers to buy Winehouse's second album through the console's music portal.

"Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking 'Back to Black' over at Zune", read the Tweet.

However, coming just 24 hours after Winehouse passed away, many read the tweet as a mercenary move by Microsoft. Incensed fans were quick to demonise the firm.

Microsoft were quick to re-affirm their intent:

"Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse download tweet seemed purely commercially motivated. Far from the case we assure you.

With Amy W's passing, the world has lost a huge talent. Our thoughts are with Amy's family and friends at this very sad time."

Amy Winehouse was found dead at her Camden home in North London on Saturday. She was just 27 years old. Winehouse's funeral is expected to take place in a London synagogue today, soon after the stars' death and in-keeping with her Jewish roots.

Sonos, the wireless home streaming speaker maestros, are staking a claim at smaller wallet sizes than usual with the launch of the the Play:3, set to cost £259.99. An entry level system, it not only offers bang for your buck but also introduces a new playful, simplified branding scheme for Sonos. As such, the popular premium S5 speaker gets renamed the Play:5 for instance. We went hands on with the Play:3 to see whether it can match the quality of its renamed sibling.

Packing in three Class-D digital amps, three drivers (a tweeter, two 3-inch mid-range and one passive) and a rear-firing bass radiator, the Play:3 acts in much the same way as the larger S5 (or Play:5, as it is now called). Connect the speaker to the internet via an Ethernet cable or the company's BRIDGE device (previously called the ZoneBridge which creates its own wireless network around the house), and you'll be able to stream music from all manner of sources.

This can include thousands of internet radio stations, Spotify Premium, Last.Fm, Napster, networked storage and perhaps most importantly, your iTunes collection. Navigating all the sources is a simple joy, wheter you use the Sonos dedicated CONTROL hardware remote, or the excellent free iPad, iPhone and Android apps available.

Sonos speaker systems come into their own however once you have multiple speakers in different rooms. You're then able to control what source and track is playing in each room individually from the apps or hardware remote, tweaking volumes as well as setting alarms. Synchronising all the speakers from a simple button press causes no lag in sound should you want the same tunes playing throughout a house, while it's also perfectly possible to have say a jazz room in the bathroom, an easy listening room in the bedroom and a death metal party in the living room.

Pop two Play:3 speakers in the same room, and it's just as simple to pair them as a stereo speaker pair, using the app to set one as the master speaker and the other as its stereo sibling. With the Play:3's designed to be compact (measuring just 132 x 268 x 160 mm and weighing 2.6 kg), they've been designed to fit anywhere, available in both black and white colours, and are just as secure sitting horizontally as they are vertically. In a neat touch, a built-in accelerometer recognises the speaker's orientation, and noticeably adjusts the way in which it throws music around the room.

As you'd expect from Sonos gear, the Play:3 speakers sounded great whatever the source, and whatever the configuration of mono or stereo speakers, horizontal or vertical. Playing everything from Daft Punk to Beethoven to Queens of the Stoneage in our short testing time, the speakers sparkled with detail and warm, rounded bass levels, going surprisingly loud without any sign of distortion. Stereo modes, as you'd expect, shone through as most impressive, and you'd probably want to nab at least a pair of the speakers as a result.

£259 is still a lot of money for a speaker, especially considering you're going to want to snap up a handful for the multi-room stereo set ups the Play:3 deserves. However, it's markedly cheaper than previous iterations of the Sonos gear, and apart from the absence of a line-in port, there's very little to set it apart from their more expensive outings. Simple to set up with perfect integration of so many music sources, it's hard not to fall in love with the Play:3.

We'll have a full, in-depth look at all the features of the Play:3 in a forthcoming review, but for now, check out a few more hands-on pictures in the gallery below.

It's been a busy few weeks in the world of iPad music. First Icelandic pixie-meets-whale-song-songstress extraordinaire Bjork revealed details of a her new iPad-based album Biophelia, and now The Polyphonic Spree are following suit with an iPad app release of their own.

The cult/choir collective will be releasing Bullseye, their first release in four years since their last album The Fragile Army, as an interactive iPad video app, triggering animations and sounds as you explore it with your fingers.

You can grab the app for £1.49 by clicking here. An iPhone version is also available here.

So, are we looking at the future of music here? Will even the digital mp3 download be replaced eventually with interactive apps? Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts.

It's taken far longer than American music lovers would have liked, but finally Spotify, the world's premier music streaming service, has launched stateside.

We've put this guide together for our readers across the pond as a primer for everything you need to know to get going with Spotify.

What is Spotify?

Spotify is a music streaming service that gives on demand access to approximately 15 million tracks in an instant. Streaming works a little bit like a music-only version of YouTube, but within a dedicated player, buffering tracks and optionally caching music for quick playback and lowered data usage. The lower bandwidth needed to stream music means that there's no delay between hitting play and having your tunes playback.

Spotify uses a desktop application for both PCs and Macs to playback tracks, build playlists and browse the extensive catalogue, as well as interact with friends via social networks. Cough up for the paid for versions and you can make playlists offline, as well as listening to Spotify on the go through a mobile application available on a variety of platforms.

Open vs Unlimited vs Premium

Three different versions of Spotify are available to suit different wallet sizes. If you've got the money, we heartily recommend the Premium monthly subscription version ($9.99/£9.99). It gives unlimited access to the full catalogue of songs in high quality 320kbps bitrate, allows you to store albums and playlists offline, and also lets you take your favourite tracks on the go with you via mobile applications. Unlimited, costing $4.99/£4.99 a month is great value if you only listen to music on your computer, which has all the same features as Premium without the mobile options. Spotify used to offer a desktop-only ad-funded version of Spotify called Free which, as its name suggests, didn't cost a thing, drawing revenue from ads alone and offering unlimited PC playback. This is gradually being phased out in favour the Open version, which will be offered for free in the States; it gives 20 hours of free music every month, but limits tracks to a finite 5 plays each, which means you'll really have to savour playing your favourite songs.

The paid-for versions do offer really good value though; a single physical album purchase would cost the same as a month's worth of access to 15 million songs on Spotify Premium. It's worth noting though that you do not own tracks streamed on Spotify; if it ever shuts down, you lose all your playlists and music. In the UK you can use Spotify to purchase tracks too though; a single MP3 costs £1.15, getting incrementally cheaper if you buy a bundle (£7.99/10 tracks, £9.99/15 tracks, £25/40 tracks, £50/100 tracks).

Browsing Spotify

Spotify's strongest asset, apart from its massive catalogue, is its near flawless user interface. Everything works exactly as you'd hope, and as a result it's a truly excellent music discovery tool. A search bar sits at the top, throwing up your search results far quicker than iTunes ever managed. The magic here is that practically every bit of text acts as a link. This may sound crazy, but it means you can get to exactly what you're looking for nearly instantly; search for the French pop-duo Air and you'll get track names, and album details, as well as the artist name to click on. Double click a track to play it instantly, click the album link to see all other tracks on the album its from, or click the artist name to browse to that artist.

Clicking the artist name and then visiting their "Homepage" can be really illuminating; as well as offering detailed biographies on bands, as well as reviews of their albums, there's also a related artists tab that is compiled based on the tastes of users who also like the same artist, as well as Spotify's editorial team.

Spotify also offer radio stations organised by musical genre and obscure sub-genres, as well as showing the latest releases via the "What's New" tab. The "Top Lists" tab also show what's currently most popular with Spotify's users, split between Tracks and Albums, in various locations around the world.

Organising your library into Playlists

If you find a string of tracks or an album that you like on Spotify, you can turn them into a Playlist so that you can access them quickly. If it's an album you like, it's just a matter of dragging the album name into the left-hand Playlist panel. If you're looking to build a Playlist from a collection of artists, hit the "New Playlist" button in the left-hand panel, Ctrl+N, or from the drop down File bar. It's then a simple matter of dragging individual tracks into that area.

Once you've got a few Playlists built, you can organise them into folders by selecting the option from the File menu, and dragging and dropping them onto each other.

If you're looking to quickly save a track for listening to at a later date, use the "Starred" function. Every song has a small star icon next to it. Click it, and the song will automatically be sent to your Starred folder. It's like an Evernote clipper for Spotify music.

Importing local tracks

In an attempt to truly topple iTunes, Spotify now offers full syncing support of your locally stored tracks, combining your own MP3's with Spotify's streaming catalogue. Simply hit the Edit menu button, scroll down to Preferences, and then check the sources that you want Spotify to scan music from. It's a great way to plug the few holes in Spotify's catalogue. In much the same way, Spotify now also supports iPod syncing, letting you sync your mp3 player's playlists with Spotfy over USB and bypassing iTunes altogether.

Syncing Spotify with the mobile app

If you splash the cash for the Premium version of Spotify, you can take all your tracks on the go with you via mobile apps. The Spotify app is free and features all the same functionality as the desktop version, but requires a Premium account to be really useful. It's available for loads of Android, Symbian and Windows Phone 7 handsets, as well as Palm devices and iPhones and iPods. No Blackberry support yet, though a version is in the works. Click here for a full list, or visit m.spotify.com in your smartphone's browser to see if your handset is compatible.

The app features practically all the same features as the desktop version, squeezed into a clean finger-friendly interface. Best of all, any Playlists you create or tracks you "star" will be automatically updated between both the desktop and mobile versions as you change them. Ahh; the joys of a cloud-based future.

Though you can stream tracks over 3G if you so choose, unless you want to suffer the woes of a massive data bill when using Spotify on the go you should use the feature that allows you to have offline access to Playlists. There are a few different ways to do this, but all are simple.

When in the mobile app, press and hold on the name of a Playlist and a little pop up menu will appear, with a checkbox offering the option to make the Playlist offline-ready. Alternatively, if you have access to the desktop application and your mobile device is connected to the same Wi-Fi connection as your computer, Spotify will automtically recognise your mobile device and allow you to make Playlists offline via a PC using the "Devices" tab in the left hand panel (pictured above).

Keep in mind that offline Playlists will take up storage space on your device, so you may want to consider upgrading your mobile device's storage capabilities where possible. We'd also recommend heading over to the Settings area of the mobile app and choosing the option to only sync playlists for offline playback over a Wi-Fi connection, or you run the risk again of racking up a hefty data bill.

Using social features and sharing tracks

If you're into sharing music with your friends, Spotify makes this incredibly easy. By giving the desktop application permission to scan your Facebook friends, the application will show you all your pals who are also using the music streaming service. They'll be presented in the "People" panel to the right hand side of the program. It's purely optional of course, but allows you to do great things like subscribe to and browse other users' Playlists, make collaborative Playlists and use the "Inbox" feature to send and receive tracks to your friends.

You can also share tracks and playlists directly to Facebook. Right clicking a Playlist or track gives you the option of copying a tracks' Spotify URI or HTTP link, which can then be pasted as you see fit. Far easier though is hitting the "Share To..." button, which lets you send a track to Facebook, Twitter, another Spotify user or Windows Messenger. A link will then appear on your wall, news feed or Twitter page, though anyone who clicks it will also need to be a Spotify user to hear them.

For now that is; Facebook is rumoured to be planning a major partnership deal with Spotify that will allow you to playback shared tracks directly from the Facebook website.

In a similar fashion, you can also head over to the preferences section to add Last.fm scrobbling to Spotify, which will inform the sorts of music that Last.fm will recommend to you in the future.

Have we left anything out that you'd like to know? Leave comments in the section below if you have any questions, or via our Twitter feed @techdigestnews , and we'll update the post with your most wanted info.

Spotify, the music streaming service that has offered millions of tracks at the push of a button to much of Europe for a few years now, is finally getting an official, finalised launch in the USA today.

It's taken two years to get the major US record labels onside, but as of today, US listeners will be able to join the service through subscription of invitiation.

"We were really adamant about bringing the service to the US, which means a really great, free experience," said Ken Parks, chief content officer.

"We wanted to be really careful about the way we did this, and the rights holders felt the same way.

"It took some time, but we're absolutely thrilled that all four major labels and a ton of indies are behind us, and we'll be bringing that Spotify experience to the US tomorrow."

We're still waiting on US price plans, but it seems that prices will be (numerically at least) the same as in the UK. So, you'll get a free, ad-funded option, an add-free desktop only option rumoured to cost $4.99 and a Premium option allowing mobile and desktop use, offline, for $9.99 a month.

Factor in exchange rates however and the US service, if those prices prove true, is markedly cheaper.

Sony have announced that it is to call time on it's MiniDisc range this September, as the number of physical-media portable music players drops ever more steadily.

Continued poor sales of the hardware in all territories outside of Japan meant the MiniDisc's demise was inevitable, which will join the cassette Walkman in Sony's tech mausoleum.

With the digital music trend showing now signs of slowing, and with the rise of cloud-based music set to explode jsut over the horizon, the whirring discs of the MD were looking ever-more aged, with little of the retro, rose-tinted charm that even cassettes had. The last MiniDic player up on Sony's website is the MZ-RH1, but even that is lacking a price tag and seems currently unavailable.

Sony has promised to continue to sell the actual MiniDiscs themselves still however, even if the players are headed the way of the dodo. They're still used quite a bit in radio rooms thanks to their reliability.

Which leaves only the portable CD player as a physical-media player in Sony's portable music arsenal.

They've teased US music fans for years with promises of bringing their music streaming service over the pond, but all things are now pointing towards an American launch for Spotify as soon as next week.

With three of the four major US labels signed up (and execs hovering around Warner Music Group with an inky pen and a contract like ants to a picnic), as well as a ton of indies, it's nearly all systems go for the Swedish maestros.

But what of pricing Stateside? TechCrunch have caught wind of a sign-up flow that suggests US users will get the millions of tracks for cheaper than in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Currently, to use the Premium mobile service in the UK it costs £9.99 a month, with the Unlimited Desktop version costing £4.99 a month. In the US, the Premium version will cost $9.99 and the Unlimited version $4.99, which when converted to pounds equals out to something close to £5.99 for Premium and £2.99 for Unlimited.

The leak also suggested that an ad-funded free service, limited to a set number of track plays and hours a month, will also launch in the US, much like what is currently available to new users in the rest of the world.

Spotify denied the pricing leak with a statement that read: "No details are set for the pricing or details of our US service yet - we're still testing a number of different options. We'll be sure to let you know when we have something to announce."

However these figures sound very believable, and when the time comes will likely mirror Spotify's official numbers. It is thought that Spotify are now delaying the launch only to wait for the massive Facebook partnership that was rumoured earlier this year.

Ever since we learned that nothing in that Alanis Morissette song was actually ironic we've been nervous about using that word - but we're going to take a shot. Because news that digital sales are the reason the music industry can report its first increase in album sales since 2004 - well that's ironic, considering how the music industry has been raging against the new format.

A new report from Nielsen SoundScan, released yesterday, shows that album sales increased in the first half of this year, for the first time in seven years. It's only a 1% increase, mind, but it's significant as the trend has been negative for so long.

In the first half of 2011, 155.5 million albums were sold in the US. If counting single track downloads, counting ten singles as an album, the increase is actually 3.6%, or 221.5 million albums.

"Digital album sales are up 19% through the first six months over 2010 and are on pace to set a new sales record at the end of the year," said Nielsen. With 660.8 million digital units sold in the first half of 2011, this represents an 11% percent year-on-year increase.

Other / proper examples of irony may be left in the comments, thx.

UK-based music streaming and MP3-selling site We7
have today announced plans to expand both their UK service and venture into new European territories following a new injection of funding.

Looking to take on the likes of Amazon, as well as the growing European reach of Spotify, the plans see We7 looking to launch in "multiple" unnanounced European nations by the end of 2011, even hinting at a possible US launch with other locations "further afield" teased.

This latest round of funding includes investment from musician Peter Gabriel, as well as Eden Ventures, Pentech Ventures and, somewhat surprisingly, chip giants Qualcomm.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we're on the cusp of seeing a massive change in how people consume music," said We7 CEO Steve Purdham.

"People love music but not everybody wants limitless choice or has the time to search millions of songs.They want a music service that is easy to use, plays them music they like, entertains them and discovers new music for them. We7's service and technology will be at the heart of such change on the web and mobiles.

"This change represents an outstanding global opportunity to create a highly valued business for consumers, the music industry and We7. Over the coming months, we7 will be announcing key partnerships alongside expansion plans into Europe.These developments will allow us to showcase what we7 can do by expanding the familiar medium of radio as a digital backbone to additional services we'll be offering."

Founded in May 2007, We7 currently serves 3 million monthly users in the UK, with a catalogue of songs numbering over 7.5 million songs.

A hacker known by the alias "DJ Stolen" has been given an 18 month sentence in a juvenile detention centre after admitting to stealing songs from Lady Gaga, Leona Lewis and Justin Timberlake among others.

The 18-year old German teenager (who can't be named for legal reasonings) used phishing emails and trojan horse software to steal unreleased tracks and demos from Timberlake, Gaga, Lewis, Ke$ha and Mariah Carey, alongside the artists' personal details, before selling them online, making over £13,000 in the process.

The hacker also managed to get access to Ke$ha's personal computer, and was responsible for releasing the explicit pictures of the star that subsequently hit the internet.

DJ Stolen will have to undergo treatment for internet addiciton as part of his sentence, and has written to Lady Gaga to apologise.

Another hacker, 23 years of age, was given an 18-month suspended sentence for his part in the security breaches.

Onkyo have launched a new audio sytem big on sound but small in size. The Onkyo Colibrino mini hi-fi system is the name of the slick new unit looking to find its way onto your AV shelf.

Plenty for digital music fans to get their teeth into here. The Colibrino packs an iPod dock on its top side, a front-facing USB connection for playing back MP3 music files from a memory stick, a CD player and a DAB+ radio tuner too.

With "highly efficient digital amplifier circuitry incorporated within", the hi-fi should sound the business, employing Onkyo's proprietay Active Bass Control feature for "smooth and natural bass performance" even with the volume cranked up to 11.

As part of the package, Onkyo supply two free-standing, two-way bass reflex speakers, each housing woofers 10cm in diameter.

Onkyo's Colibrino system will set you back a penny shy of 280 English pounds and will be available around August or September in shades of white, silver or black.

Digital radio maker PURE has rolled out a brand new connected hi-fi system the Sirocco 550. Like others in its Internet connected audio range the 550 packs a load of music sources including digital radio, FM, CD and an iPod/iPhone dock. Via a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection the 550 also gives access to thousand of Internet radio stasions as well enabling users to stream music stored on a home PC or music server.

It boasts 80W RMS of stereo sound, incorporates PURE's digital end-to-end audio solution, Clearsound and has digital audio shaping technology to deliver clear dynamic audio, higher volume levels and low power consumption.

The 550 can also access PURE's online portal The Lounge which inlcudes a technology Flowsongs that is a cloud-based music service that allows the user to tag tracks playing on any radio station and buy them directly from any PURE radio with Flow technology.

Also included is a video output (composite) to allow users to view videos stored on their iPhone or iPod on their TV, a remote control and a large graphical OLED display and quick access to favourite stations via presets.

More here

Loewe's collection of web-connected HD TVs are getting a software update today that sees Napster added to the growing selection of services through the televisions' online portal.

Napster will now feature in Loewe's MediaNet on all Individual LED, Connect LED and Art LED screens. The service allows users to download and stream some 15 million songs to their sets, and will be available for free for the first 14 days of use, after which a subscription charge will be required.

MediaNet allows websites and online services like Napster to be navigated with just a remote control, optimising websites for viewing on a HD TV.

Apple have finally confirmed that they have a cloud based music service ready for launch. The iCloud will launch on Monday 6th June at the Cupertino giant's WWDC conference in San Francisco.

The official Apple release reads:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m.

At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple's advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple's upcoming cloud services offering.

Though the Apple press release does not go into specifics over the nature of the service, the iCloud is expected to act as a digital locker in much the same way that Google and Amazon's recently-launched cloud offerings currently do. Users are expected to be able to store their entire music catalogue in Apple's data centres, available to be streamed to PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPods and iPads anywhere where an internet connection is available.

As the release states, Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 will also be revealed at the show, so it'll be interesting to see how the iCloud is integrated into these latest software offerings from Apple.

The long-running court case between P2P file-sharing service LimeWire and a handful of record labels has concluded, resulting in a bill of $105 million worth of damages to be paid by LimeWire.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing 13 labels that include Warner and Sony, have spent the last year in court against LimeWire, suing for breaching copyright.

With the court ruling in the RIAA's favour, CEO Mitch Bainwol shared his pleasure by saying:

"We are pleased to have reached a large monetary settlement. Designing and operating services to profit from the theft of the world's greatest music comes with a stiff price.

"The resolution of this case is another milestone in the continuing evolution of online music to a legitimate marketplace that appropriately rewards creators."

Surprisingly, LimeWire founder Mark Gorton seemed equally happy to put the whole case behind him, despite losing. A statement from his law firm reads, "Lime Wire and its founder, Mark Gorton, are pleased that this case has concluded."

In some senses, you can't blame him; at one point LimeWire was accused of owing $75 trillion worth of damages. $105 million must feel like pocket money in comparison.

Via: Reuters

The long-awaited iTunes rival from Google is expected to launch this week at the search giant's I/O developers conference, but it's shaping up to have a few less features than was initially expected. Called Music Beta, the service will launch (at least at first) with no record company backing, acting instead as merely a cloud locker for your tunes.

"A couple of major labels were not as collaborative and frankly were demanding a set of business terms that were unreasonable and did not allow us to build a product or a business on a sustainable business," said Jamie Rosenberg, director for digital content for Android, to the NY TImes.

"So we're not necessarily relying on the partnerships that have proven difficult.

"This is really a personal storage service in the same way that you would put songs on an iPad or you would put songs on a backup hard drive, so this service does not involve licenses for the music industry."

Allowing you to upload any music you own free of charge up to a limit of 20,000 songs, you'll be able to playback any uploaded music anywhere that you can grab a network connection. That figure is 19,000 songs more than Amazon allow free of charge with their similar cloud service, while the fact that all bought, ripped or downloaded music, regardless of DRM, can be uploaded is an obvious bonus.

Of course, all Android and Honeycomb devices are expected to be compatible with the service, as well as there likely being a browser based version of Music Beta too. Google are said to be exploring the possibilty of extending the app to other operating systems, but they will likely face a brick wall from Apple who are expected to launch their own cloud-based offering next month.