Google has increased the limit to how much music users can store in the cloud on Google Play Music from 20,000 to a whopping 50,000 songs.
The hefty boost will allow even the most musically-inclined to store their entire collection of music in the cloud, enabling them to access songs from anywhere, provided they have an Internet connection.
"You've joined the streaming revolution, but still have that MP3 player you take to the gym. It has your pump-up playlist, all of the Phish live concerts, and the brand new recordings from your friend's band," said Google in a blog post. "Keep things simple by using Google Play Music, which gives you subscription access to 30 million songs on any device and also offers you a place to store the music collection you already own, for free."
That 50,000 song limit does not apply to music that was purchased from Google Play itself. In other words, users can upload 50,000 of their own songs from CDs or other digital music stores, and then continue to store music in the cloud if it is purchased through Google Play.
"Today we are expanding the music storage limit on Google Play. Now you can store 50,000 songs for free and stream or download them to your phone, tablet, computer or Chromecast," continued the company.
This limit beats out Google's competitors by a long shot. Apple's iTunes Match service allows users to upload up to 25,000 songs, but users still have to pay $25 to be able to do that. Amazon Music allows users to store a tiny 250 songs for free, after which users have to purchase a subscription, which also costs $25 and will allow for up to 250,000 songs.
Users will not have to do anything extra to claim the extra space. Those who already have a Gmail account or other Google account already have access to the music, and all they need to do is navigate to the Google Play Music website and start uploading their music to the service. Users can also upload their music through the desktop clients that Google offers, or through Chrome extensions.
Google does also offer a paid subscription service for Google Play Music called Google Play Music All Access, which allows users to listen to unlimited music from Google's library for $10 per month.
The announcement highlights the growing competition in the music streaming industry of late, with Apple expected to launch a re-branded Beats Music later this year.
