After Amazon Cloud Player, which debuted this spring, Google Music with features similar joins a number of big players already in the online music arena, including iTunes and Spotify. All the cloud music and storage platforms have their advantages and disadvantages. For Android users, Google Music is a great option with a lot of flexibility for mobile — despite some limitations on the desktop side, for iOS users, iTunes Match offers the best user experience and Amazon is more of a mixed bag.
Below are detailed comparison of the advantages and disadvantages between Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player services under different sections.
Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player: Music accessibility and system requirements
The Google Music player can be accessed via your computer’s Web browser or a mobile application on your Android device. Compatible browsers include Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7 and above, Firefox and Safari. JavaScript must be enabled and your browser must be running the latest version of Adobe Flash. The Google Music Manager requires Mac OS 10.5 and above, Windows XP and above or Linux.
Google Music users can also access their libraries on Android devices via the Google Music application, though the app requires Android 2.2 or above with OpenGL2.0. And Apple devices running iOS 4.0 or higher can access the Google Music player by visiting music.google.com in a Web browser.
Amazon Cloud Player is a browser-based application that supports Mac and PC computers and iPad devices. It is not optimized to run on some mobile phones or tablets, including iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Windows Mobile devices.
The Amazon Cloud Player requires that JavaScript is enabled and the latest version of Adobe Flash on Internet Explorer 8 and newer, Firefox version 3.5 and above, Chrome and Safari.
Users can access the Cloud Player from their computer by clicking on any track in the Cloud Drive or via Android devices using the Amazon MP3 for Android app. Amazon Cloud Drive also restricts access to up to eight devices, which includes mobile devices, different computers and different browsers on the same computer.
Google Music offers more flexibility in accessing music – particularly on the mobile front – while Amazon’s Cloud Player is more restrictive.
Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player : Sharing music
Google is placing a strong emphasis on sharing with Google Music. Users can share any song added from the Android Market (whether free or purchased music) to Google+ Circles in four ways: while browsing Android Market Music content on an Android device; while browsing market.android.com/music; from the “Free and Purchased” playlist on music.google.com; or from the “Free and Purchased” playlist in the Music application on an Android device.
Albums can be shared from the Android Market on your Android device or immediately after making a purchase from market.android.com/music.
When a user shares songs or albums on Google+, that person’s followers can listen to the entire song or album from within Google+.
Amazon, on the other hand, has no music-sharing capabilities.
Google’s music sharing capability is clearly an effort to draw more people to Google+, whether the sharing features are a perk to Google Music users (or Google+ users) remains to be seen, however regardless, it is entirely optional.
Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player : Quality of music
Songs sold from Google Music are in DRM-free MP3 format and are encoded at 320 kilobits per second (Kbps). Amazon’s MP3s are also DRM-free and are encoded at a slightly lower rate of 256Kbps.
While neither option is ideal for the true audiophile who desires the highest sound quality available, Google Music does offer audio quality that’s slightly better than Amazon’s music.
Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player : Price comparison
Google Music lets Google account holders upload as many as 20,000 songs from their personal music collections (such as iTunes), and – for now – users can host an unlimited library of music purchased from the Android Marketplace.
Purchasing music from the Android Marketplace requires a Google Wallet account – Google Wallet is the company’s online payment service – and individual songs cost between 99 cents and $1.29 (the equivalent of £0.62 to £0.82). Google Wallet is a virtual way to store your payment cards, offers and more on your phone and online.
The Amazon Cloud Drive, and associated Cloud Player, launched last spring, and the service gives Amazon account holders 5 GB of free storage, which can hold up to 1,000 songs. The Amazon Cloud Drive can also store photos and videos.
Storage upgrades start at $20 per year (£13) for an extra 15 GB – which also qualifies users for unlimited Cloud Drive song storage – and is capped at $1,000 a year (£639) for 1,000 GB of storage. Purchasing individual songs from Amazon.com generally costs between 99 cents and $1.29 (£0.62 to £0.82), which is also in line with Apple’s iTunes music store.
At present, Google has only managed to acquire the blessing from three of the four top record labels, Universal Music Group, EMI, and Sony Music Entertainment, as well as a number of independent bands. It has failed thus far to make a deal with Warner. But Google Music is a serious challenge to both the top two players in a number of respects.
