Magnifier: Google Music's free stuff!

Google Music has just launched their free service, which will allow you to upload 20,000 of your own music files, and then provide additional room for purchased and free music from the service which can then be streamed over the Web or to your Android device (and presumably other platforms in the future). In conjunction with the service, they have a Web site called Magnifier, which they use to advertise free music. Right now there are some examples up from David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, but that's part of the promotion for the launch. Typically, during the beta period, they've had up-and-coming bands that are publishing free tracks as a way of advertising.

I've discovered a few gems through Magnifier including:

• Empros by Russian Circles, an instrumental hard rock piece that reminds me of some of the earlier pieces from one of Jamendo's most popular commons artists, PeerGynt Lobogris
• Baby by Alice Smith & Aloe Blacc, an American cover of a 1969 Brazilian pop tune
• Marathon by Tennis, a wonderfully upbeat and strange ballad about a sailing trip

I recommend throwing Magnifier into your RSS feed reader (e.g. Google Reader) of choice; I know I have!

I'm also keeping an eye on other services, and intend to do a post about the free stuff available elsewhere sometime this week.