Music Beta supports MP3, WMA, AAC and FLAC files. If you bought a bunch of DRM-protected music from iTunes, you're totally out of luck. Music Beta does not support M4P (Apple DRM) or M4A (Apple Lossless). You can access your library from any PC, but you can only stream from eight Android devices. Unless you have a ridiculous number of phones and tablets, that's a pretty generous limit.

Quick and Easy Set-Up

Setting up Music Beta is ridiculously simple. First, you'll need to request an invitation at music.google.com and sign in with your Google account. When that special day finally comes, you'll get an e-mail with a link to the service. After a gentle reminder that Music Beta should only be used for legally acquired music, you can get started.

After a few user agreement menus, you'll have the "option" to download the music manager. Hm, isn't this a cloud player? Doesn't that mean I don't have to install additional software? Well, you do, or how else will you be able to upload your music? Luckily, Music Manager is fairly lightweight and definitely not as . Still, it is a bit annoying to have to go through this step.

Next, you'll sign in with your Google Account. Music Manager will then ask where you keep your music: iTunes, Windows Media Player, the Music folder, or somewhere else. You can opt in to add music automatically to Music Manager when you add them to iTunes as well.