You’ve probably heard by now that Google is attempting to trump Apple once again by getting into the online music scene. Google Music is meant to be (in Google’s eyes) a top music download competitor. While this music site was met with some skepticism, there are some things that Google has done correctly. If you are interested in Google’s new offering, there are just a few things that you should know first. While the best way to find out how the Google Music site works is to test the site for yourself, this brief guide will help you get started.

In this reviewer’s opinion, Google often gets everything right aside from user-friendliness, and you might find Google Music a bit hard to navigate when you first get started – more on that in a bit. Here’s what you need to know if you want to give Google Music a spin.

Getting Started With Google Music

Google has made it relatively easy to download a tune. All you really have to do is search for the song you’re looking for, and double-click on that album title in order to access download options. If you click on the small triangle towards the right of the song name, you can set up playlists and tweak some other features.

Google has also done something that consumers are going to love. Google Music includes a free section that lists a bunch of free songs (songs you will actually want to listen to). You will find free tunes lined up for you each month, so make sure to take advantage of this Google Music feature. It’s also important to note that you must visit Google Music in order to download songs. While it seems logical, you can’t download music from the Android Marketplace, since Google Music is a separate site.

Availability

Sorry, iOS users, Google has made it clear that Google Music is for Android users only (for now). You can’t download the Google Music app to any iOS phone, but you can download it quite easily to any Android phone. If you have an iOS phone and you want to check out Google Music, there’s a way around this problem: simply use the Google Music web app.

You will be able to download tunes without much difficulty. Then again, you do have access to iTunes, so you’ll have to decide if all the trouble is actually worth it. Here’s another restriction that many will find frustrating. Sure, Google Music is all ready to go and plenty of people are already using it.

But, you won’t be able to tap into any Google Music if you are not living in the United States. Yep, big surprise here. All too often, users who reside outside of the U.S are not allowed to access a site, and Google Music is no exception to this rule. If you live in another part of the world, you’ll have to wait and see if Google will bring Google Music to your corner of the earth. For now, you’ll have to stick with iTunes or some other download service.