Google’s fledgling Music Beta service reached a non-Android mobile platform for the first time Thursday with a web app intended for iOS devices. Visitors can stream any music they’ve uploaded to the cloud system through Safari, without having to use a native app or Flash. The only known limitation is the expected inability to pin tracks to the device for offline use.
Music Beta is currently free as part of its invite-only US testing but is capped at 20,000 songs. Google hasn’t said when it hoped to exit beta and has hinted it might charge for the service depending on its success with labels.
Apple hasn’t explicitly forbid competing cloud music services from the App Store but isn’t likely to inspire confidence for Google that an iOS app would be approved. iCloud is on the verge of launch and, through iTunes Match, would at least have an equivalent. Amazon Cloud Player has an iPad-only web jukebox of its own.
