Google Music users rejoice now since the search engine giant has made the scan and match services available for users which allows users to store the copies of the songs online. Brag it with your Apple fanboy friends since you can avail it for free while your friends pay $25 every year.

With this facility, you no longer need to upload your music online, helping you save on time and bandwidth as they are all readily available online. Once the files on your PC or Tablet are scanned, the songs are identified and virtual copies are made on your online account allowing you to stream the music when and wherever you want without actually cramming up your memory on your phones or tablets. If it cannot find the songs online, it will then upload the song to the online account. However, unlike Apple iTunes Match you can store only 20,000 as opposed to 25,000 which is pretty much still a big number. You can redownload the songs at a bit rate that was equal to the ones identified on your PC only but not higher. With Apple iTunes, you have the facility of better quality with iTunes Match giving you songs of the iTunes quality.

Amazon is a big player in the area too with the Cloud Player. Once you pay $25 for a year you are allowed to store 250,000 songs. A free version online gives you only 250 songs. Though Google has entered the market late and at a time when others already had hit millions and billions of sales, it still has the upper hand with the number of devices using the OS.

With songs being offered at a discount in the beginning, it could attract more customers. But it has now brought the prices to normal unless for a few complete albums opposed to individual songs.

(AW- Anil)