(And Find Out Why It's So Awesome)
After you receive your invite, head over to music.google.com. Log in with your Google account (if you aren't already) and click "Next"
Here's the Terms of Service for Google Music. If you agree, click to continue.
Here's the Privacy Policy. Read through it and if you agree, click to continue
As a nice bonus, Google will offer you a few free tracks from your favorite genres. Select your favorites then click "Add Free Music." If you don't like free stuff, you can click "Skip"
Now you'll be prompted to download the Music Manager app for your PC or Mac. Click to download it
After the download, install the app on your computer
Here's the Music Manager's welcome screen. Click "Continue" to move on
Sign in with your Google account information
This is the best part about Google Music. It will automatically detect songs in iTunes, your music folder, or any other folder you choose. We're going to sync with our iTunes library
The Music Manager gives you the option to keep your online tracks synced with iTunes. Whenever you add new songs to iTunes, they'll automatically upload to Google Music. Click "Yes" if you want to do that.
Music Manager will scan your iTunes folder for songs. If you have a lot of tracks, this will take awhile.
After scanning, click "Continue" to begin the upload
Your music will begin uploading in the background. In the meantime, click "Go to Music Player" to visit your online music library
Music Manager is stored in your System Preferences on Mac. It will always run in the background, keeping your library in sync. If you have a lot of music, this will take a LONG time. (After 10 hours, it only uploaded 538 songs for us)
Here's the Google Music dashboard. You can access it from music.google.com. Everything here is pretty self-explanatory. You can filter music by song, artist, or album. You can also create playlists. But that's not the best part...
Download the Music Beta app from the Android Market. When you launch, you'll be prompted to sync with your online music. You can now stream all your online tracks. (If you don't have a Beta invite yet, you can still use the new app to listen to music stored on your phone)
iPhone users are left out. We tried accessing Google Music from Safari, but the site doesn't work. You can't scroll through the page, and if you manage to select a song, it doesn't actually play. If you're expecting a Google Music iPhone app any time soon, don't hold your breath. Apple is likely going to launch a similar service in September.
