Google’s Music Store Could Launch this Week, Google+ Sharing Seems Likely
Sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal are taking Andy Rubin’s statements from last week a bit further. Google’s music download store is said to be launching sometime in the next two weeks, with a chance we could see the new service by the end of the week. Rubin confirmed in statements during his appears at the AsiaD conference last week that a digital download store would be launching soon, adding that a “twist” could be expected. Was that twist, perhaps, the addition of Google+ sharing? The feature is mentioned in the latest WSJ report, a system that would allow users to share a purchased track with others in their circle.The shared track would have a limited number of free plays.
It is such sharing combined with a cloud storage model that has major labels still in dispute. It is likely Google will launch their music store without the support of all the main music houses. EMI seems likely for launch, with Universal possibly working out a deal shortly after, but Sony and Warner aren’t biting after concerns of privacy revolving around the cloud storage locker. Google has focused efforts on independent labels in the wake of poor major label response.
[via WSJ]