Tonight (February 24th) is the night of the Google Android Honeycomb event, where we will get our first truly back to front view of the new OS. There are plenty of exciting features to talk about here, but one of the items that might be revealed is the Google Music Library. According to Android Community, who cites unnamed insider sources, tonight will be the night that the library is opened for business. What exactly is the Google Music Library? There are at least three major facets. First, we have the actual music player itself. We know for a fact that this is coming out, since early debugging versions have been discovered and even released to the public for the Android 2.3 smartphone line. It may be that Honeycomb has a different interface, but in either case, the new browser is packed with features.
Second, we have the “OTA download library.” Discussed at last year’s Google I/O conference, the concept here is that you can purchase a song from a large, cloud-based music storehouse. That song can then be transferred to your phone over the air, pushed to your PC library, and otherwise attached to your Google account. This is, according to AC’s unnamed sources, going to be released alongside a revamped web-based Android marketplace.
And third, we have the “full library streaming” feature. This feature would allow users to connect their phone or tablet to their computer, streaming any song that’s currently located in their computer’s music library. This, more than the other features, is in question, partially due to simply logistics and partially due to the complex legal boundaries of allowing live music streams.
We’ll find out for sure in the next 24 hours, so stay tuned for further updates. Whatever the details, there’s little doubt that Google will make quite a showing during their official Honeycomb press event.
