Google Inc. (GOOG) unveiled at its annual Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco yesterday, a new online music service, based on a "cloud" system for storing and streaming music.

Music Beta by Google is a new service that lets users upload personal music collection to the cloud for streaming to their computer and Android devices.

A May 10 statement by the Company said, "With the new service, your music and playlists are automatically kept in sync, so if you create a new playlist on your phone, it's instantly available on your computer or tablet. You can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together. You can even listen to music when you're offline: we automatically store your most recently played music on your Android device and you can choose to make specific albums or playlists available when you're not connected. The service is launching in beta today to U.S. users and is available by invitation."

Each user can store up to 20,000 songs to "the cloud" - meaning it could store data on remote servers and stream them to Android phones, tablets and other devices through an internet connection. Storing songs in Music Beta is free of charge.

Google hasn't so far secured licenses from the four major record-music companies. Hence, it couldn't give users instant access to songs stored in central servers and instead requires each user to upload the songs that he wants to listed on his playlist. Google was in talks with the record companies, however, it couldn't reach an agreement.

Google's Music Beta currently has no online store to sell songs or albums. To sell music or to operate a master jukebox of every available song, Google would need licenses from the record labels.

Aside from Music Beta, Google unveiled a movie rental service for US users, through an Android app. Movies are available to rent for $US1.99, $US2.99 or $US3.99.

Amazon's Cloud Player

Google is following the footsteps of Amazon Inc., which released its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player in March. Via Amazon's Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, users need to be online to listen to the music. Each user could also store up to 5 gigabytes of songs on Amazon Cloud Drive. Enhanced storage plans start at $20 a year for 20 gigs and $1,000 a year for 1 terabytes. The online retailer offers Cloud Player for Web and Android, while those with iOS devices can only play their Amazon-stored music via the Safari browser-no native application exists for Apple mobile devices.Like Music Beta, Amazon's service, M is only available within the U.S. at this stage.

Apple to launch cloud service next

Google's latest launch comes as Apple Inc. is in talks with major record labels to secure licenses for an online music service that would outpace Amazon's Cloud Driver or the one Google's Music Beta. There are rumors that Apple is preparing its own cloud-based storage locker for music via an "iCloud".