Now on Google Music: Download songs to your computer

As much as we like having access to our own music in the cloud, it's also nice to have it on our computers (especially for syncing with standalone MP3 players). Now Google Music lets you download everything you've bought on the site, or re-download anything you might have lost.

Since it debuted as Music Beta in the spring of 2011, (launching formally as Google Music in November), I've been playing around with it, adding it to my online music options (along with Amazon's Cloud Player, Songza and Spotify). But I've always hated that the songs I bought (or got for free) on Google Music were trapped on the cloud. (With $2 album sales, Google Music is the first place I go to now when streaming isn't enough for me.) 

Lifehacker noticed the change, and we're grateful for it.

For Subscribers

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Just hover over the song you want and it'll pull up the arrow to the pull-down menu.

Each song can be downloaded twice from Google Music on the web, but if you have the Music Manager desktop application, you can circumvent the limit. 

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

Android Market gives you full instructions on how to do all this, too.

By the way, if you already use Amazon's Cloud Player (which bolted out of the cloud music gate before Google and Apple), the two-way exchange (uploading/downloading) has always been available.

More stories:

• Google Music: Fast syncing, free songs
• Cyber Monday: $2 albums on Google Music
• Google adds music store to cloud service

On Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.