Google Releases HTML5 App for Music Beta on iOS

Google has launched an HTML5-based web app for its Music Beta service that can be accessed via the Safari browser on Apple iOS devices.

Thursday Google revealed via Twitter that access to its Music Beta virtual locker is now available on iOS devices, but not by way of the traditional iTunes app. Instead, the rival Android developer is bypassing Apple scrutiny and taxation by granting access within the Safari browser itself using an HTML5-based "web app."

"Music Beta users - try the new mobile web app for iOS4 and listen to your music on the go: music.google.com," the company tweeted.

By accessing the mobile website using Safari on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, users are greeted with a tight layout that's essentially broken down into four lists: Artists, Albums, Songs and Playlists. A "taskbar" running horizontally across the top displays the song that's currently playing, a search option and a link back to the desktop site. To use the web app, users must increase the browser's cache database to 25 MB when prompted.

The drawback to Google's web app is that users can't do anything other than stream songs. Uploading, downloading and editing must be done via the desktop client. In fact, it's nearly identical to the Music app loaded on Android devices in appearance save for the popup options of storing songs offline, adding to playlists, or shopping for artists online. But at the same time, users can browse the internet via other pages while listening to their collection, and they can even "minimize" the browser entirely and still play their favorite tunes.

Google's Music Beta for Apple's iOS seemingly paves the way for the numerous HTML5-based web apps planned for the coming months. Taking the Safari route, these developers have reportedly grown weary of Apple's restrictions and revenue-munching fees, and have thus chosen to reach out to iOS customers by coming in through the back door unchecked: the Safari web browser.

Currently Google's Music Beta service is invite-only. It doesn't have an online store for purchasing tunes, but instead serves as a virtual locker that actually does stream music in real-time unlike other services which merely download (cache) the songs first. Google's online storage/streaming service is also currently free, but that will reportedly change once the company drops the "Beta" label.