Google has just launched its new music streaming and sharing service, and is setting out to emphasise its differences from what's offered by big rival Apple.
And the main differentiation is that Google Music offers users a free 'virtual locker' which can be used to store up to 20,000 songs. While Apple's similar facility has capacity for 5,000 more, this costs a $25 (GBP16) annual subscription.
The ability to share music is expected to give a boost to Google+, the company's fledgling social media channel, as users will be able to share songs they have bought with their other contacts in their social network.
There is a limit on the number of songs which can be shared, but Google is clearly aiming to make this a distinction between its music service and that of Apple.
It remains to be seen whether the arrival of a music store will boost the sales of Android smartphones – even though the system seems to have been doing quite well without it. Figures released earlier this week showed that more than half of all smartphones sold ran on the Google platform, while Apple's operating system was only taking about 15 per cent of total sales.
Writing on the Allthingsdigital news site, Peter Kafka said that Google Music “isn
