Never mind all that. The question is how to go about getting an invitation. I actually sent two of my students to Google I/O, so they'll apparently get invitations (and shiny new 10" Samsung tablets), but I'd like to be able to get more value out of my music collection, and this seems pretty attractive.

What I'd perhaps really like to see, which nobody is (yet) doing is a combination of a service like this with Pandora. I like the idea of Pandora helping you build custom radio stations, but of course there's no way to back up and listen to a song again. Merge that with stuff you "own" (and having a "buy" button that ties it all together in an interesting way), and you could really have something cool.

Of course, Google claims they got no love in negotiations with the music industry, and I believe Amazon has said the same thing. That leaves lawsuits (antitrust?) or Congressional action (unlikely). Sigh.