Hackers have uncovered Google's long-awaited online music locker service for Android, which will let users store all their music on Google's servers and then stream it to any device.
The service is a nice selling point for music fans who can't fit all their tunes on their phones, but probably won't make much difference to average users. Google first demonstrated a similar service at its I/O conference last May, but has struggled to reach the necessary licensing deals with music companies.
A user on the XDA Developers Forum first noticed the feature when he installed the music player found in Android "Honeycomb" -- a version that is optimized for tablets -- on a phone running an earlier version of Android. The phone began syncing tunes back to the cloud-based service almost immediately, and by the next day the user could listen to those songs from the service even if they weren't on the phone.
The service hasn't officially launched yet, even though the first tablets with Honeycomb debuted last month. There's no word from Google on when the service might launch or what exactly it will include; the company declined to comment on this story.
Apple is said to be considering a similar service for iPhones and iPads, but it may only work for songs purchased from the iTunes store -- not for users' entire music libraries.
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.
