Google Play Music arrives in Australia, New Zealand and five European countries

By Trevor Mogg April 10, 2013

Google has just rolled out its Music service to seven more countries – Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Portugal (still no Canada). The Web giant made the announcement on a Google+ page on Tuesday.

Music fans in the new locations will be able to store up to 20,000 tracks in the Google Music cloud for free, making them available for listening on any Android device with an Internet connection, or via the Web using a PC. Songs from a user’s existing collection can be uploaded to the cloud, while more tracks can be added through purchases made on the Google Play store.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Google’s music service was available to users in the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Also on Tuesday, the Mountain View company announced a new look for its Google Play store on Android phones and tablets. Images – larger and more prominent – are at the forefront of the new design, with the Mountain View company hoping the makeover will provide a better online shopping experience, whether you’re looking for apps, movies, TV shows, books, magazines or, of course, music.

Google says it’s also simplified the purchasing process, making it easier than ever to part with your dough. The update, for all devices running Android 2.2 and above, will be rolled out in the US this week, and across the rest of the world in the coming weeks.

Google has been expanding its Google Play store around the world little by little – Google Play Books came to Mexico in March, while Movies were introduced to users in Mexico and India, also last month. Meanwhile, Google Play gift cards launched recently in the UK, offering Android users there another way to purchase digital content from its online store.

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