Google = Celestial Jukebox

The mighty Google is a wonder to behold, but when it comes to finding music, the G-Spot has been less than satisfying. I've been in the habit of starting my search for instant aural gratification on YouTube - which wasn't much better, but at least I could listen to the search results.

Not anymore. In October, Google quietly rolled out its new music search service, and today, at the SF MusicTech Summit in San Francisco, Google exec RJ Pittman offered a closer look at what the company has in mind. In keeping with the corporate goal of "organizing all the world's information and making it universally accessible," Google Music Search affords one-click access to free streams delivered by its partners, conveniently linked in a pop-up box with an option to pay for a download. It exactly what you'd expect from Google: Simple, intuitive, and - well, it's not comprehensive yet, but the potential is there. "We're at version 0.9, beta 2," Pittman said.

"Sometimes you're away from a computer when you discover music," he continued. "You might not know who performed the song or who wrote it, but we want to make sure you find it." The service isn't quite there yet, but it's on its way. If you type in a snippet of lyric, Google frequently returns a link to the song it came from, though it may not top the results. (However, it failed my test "a butterfly child, so free and so wild," despite two recordings of the British Invasion-era hit "Jessamine," by the Casuals and the Bystanders.)

Emphasizing the strategy he called "search-driven, partner-delivered," Pittman led a panel of partners through a discussion of the challenges facing digital music distribution. Reps were on hand from MySpace, iLike, Gracenote, Pandora, and YouTube (missing in action: Lala, iMeem, Rhapsody, EMI, WB). The themes here were integration and reach. MySpace, for instance, is making sure that any music posted by its community ends up in Google search results, while Pandora is intent on delivering streams anywhere, any time. Pandora CTO Tom Conrad said the company has been busily certifying consumer electronics that carry the service and hinted that an "automotive solution" would ship in 2010. Meanwhile, Gracenote senior VP is bent on folding metadata - everything from liner notes to what's in your iTunes library - into the Google Music Search experience. The fact that YouTube is on the partner list suggests that search results eventually will include video clips.

Clearly, the new service is in its early phase. The catalog is spotty, licensing issues are thorny, and it doesn't yet differentiate between cover versions and songs with the same title. But it's a big step forward, and a boon to anyone who just wants to hear a song quickly, free of charge, without filling in registration forms or surrendering personal details - and presumably, when the dust settles, to recording artists and songwriters as well.