Much as expected, Google is to start selling music downloads competing with rivals iTunes and Amazon. The music store will be part of the Android Marketplace on PCs and Android mobile devices.
Again much as expected, Google hasn't yet signed up all the big record companies, so there will be fairly big gaps in its offering to begin with. It's got EMI, Sony and Universal...but missing is Warner.
Not only will Google Music let you buy albums, it will also let you store your music - all of it, not just stuff bought from Google - in the cloud.
As I said, this all comes as no great shock, but what is surprising is a pledge to let individual artists and bands sell their own music in the store without having to go through a record company.
Artists will be able to write their own description pages, upload tracks and decide what price to sell them at. Google will take 30%.
You get the feeling that everyone and their dog will be sticking their home-made tracks on-line. Did someone say MySpace?
Google Music is late entering the market and its offering isn't even complete. Will it wash away iTunes and Amazon in its wake?
The short answer is, err, no. It will probably go the same way as Google Books. Remember that?
Oh...and the whole Google Music thing is - not surprisingly - restricted to the US for the moment.
You can follow IJSMblog on Twitter Facebook and Google+
Comments