Google (News - Alert) Music has introduced a new version of Music Manager that allows users to download their music files from Google Music. Users can download both the songs that they have uploaded themselves as well as songs they have purchased in the Android (News - Alert) Market. If a computer crashes, then users will have the option to retrieve any files that they have lost as long as they have uploaded the files to Google Music.

Music lovers who have worked with Google Music know that they can upload up to 20,000 songs to the service at no cost and then stream the tracks onto their Android devices. However, until now, they have not had the capability to retrieve files, especially those purchased from the Android Market. With the new version of Music Manager, users will be able to download all of their songs, which gives them an option in case of a hard drive failure.

Google has added an additional feature that allows people to share YouTube videos of the songs in their library via Google Plus. Google Plus had already allowed the sharing of music between friends, but the music video feature is nice for people who prefer to stream all of their media from YouTube (News - Alert).

For people who are constantly connected to the Internet via their computer or Android device, a cloud-based music service is easy to use. Music is easily cached for faster download. However, in places with no Wi-Fi or poor cell phone reception, Google Music users are still unable to stream their music. Although the update to Music Manager does solve the problem of file backup, it doesn’t resolve some of the access limitations that are inherent to the cloud setup.

Google Music started out as a beta that was open to users via invitation only. Last November, Google opened up access to all U.S. residents and added its music store as part of the Android Market. Users can also create playlists that sync between devices and can get song recommendations from Instant Mix based on tracks they have downloaded in the past.

Google Music is still only available to U.S. residents. The online giant has not yet released a date for allowing international access to the service.

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