Google Music Update Allows Users to Download Songs

When Google announced its online music locker service Google Music, we were impressed, but it did lack some important features. For one, users couldn’t download their music. While this could be circumvented with a simple browser extension, it was a major inconvenience.

A recent update allows users to download songs and albums from their Google Music library. As shown above, you can download a certain song by clicking the options button to the right of the song’s name. To download a group of songs, select multiple tracks, click the options triangle, and select “Download Selected Songs”. The same can be done with albums. One of the limitations, however, is that each song can only be downloaded twice from the web interface. You can get by this limitation if you download the Music Manager app for Google Music (you probably already have it installed- it’s how you uploaded your music in the first place) and click the big “Export To Library” button. This can be done an unlimited number of times on an unlimited number of computers, making it perfect for transferring your music library around.

You are not limited to only downloading songs that you uploaded. You can also download songs that you purchased through Google Music (thus bringing meaning to the purchasing music!) or selected from the freebie track library. If you’re a cheapskate, it might be worth checking out the freebie library for a couple of good songs to download.