This week Apple launched the iTunes match service, which will hold up to 25,000 songs in your personal library in their cloud, to downloaded and played on your cloud connected iOS devices. The service is 25 dollars per year. The service's real selling point is that as iTunes scans though your music library it will issue a license for each of your songs, no matter the source.

     iTunes match, however, is not without its limitations, among them is that you may not stream your music to your iOS devices, you must download them. Also is the inherent issue that the service limited to iOS environments. What that means is that if you have an android, black berry, or any non-apple device, the music stored in iCloud will not be accessible to you on those devices.

     Also launched this week is Google’s Music 11. The Google Music service allows users to upload up to 20,000 songs into the Google’s music cloud. The service is free, and gives you access to your music on PC, Mac, Android, Blackberry, and Nokia devices. There are some restrictions with Google Music. First of all, users are not allowed to download music to PC’s that were not purchased on Google Music (you may however stream). There is also no official iOS application for Google Music. Users may either go directly to music.google.com, or download the gTunes app.

     Both services have their limitations, and the choice between one of the two of them really comes down to the need of the individual user. If you do not have a need to stream you music, and 25 dollars per year is worth the cost of having licenses for your all of digital music, then iTunes match is a lock. Those users looking to stream media across multiple platforms, or who are looking for a more cost effective cloud based music solution, may find the Google Music will fit their needs. Either way it goes you really can’t go wrong with these two fantastic services.