Google may have direct iTunes rival in months

Google's recently teased online music store could be active as soon as the fall, music business contacts said late Monday. The service would give both music downloads and streaming access. Downloads and streams might also be tied to search results as an offshoot of Google's struggling playable music search project.

It's understood by CNET that YouTube general counsel Zahavah Levine is a key architect of the project and would draw on Levine's experience working on Rhapsody's unlimited music service in the past. YouTube itself may have influenced the decision as it's already considered a major hub for music with its sister site, Vevo, dedicated solely to music videos.

The platform, which could be called Google Music, would be intended primarily to give Android phones a viable music service regardless of carrier. US-based Android phones often have the option of downloads through Amazon MP3, but no easy sync option exists to transfer purchases from a computer to the phone or vice versa. Android 2.2 now supports "intents" that push a request from the web to the phone, which would let any user buy music and have it land directly on an Android device rather than have to connect to a computer.

It's unknown what the catalog might be, but labels are expected to flock to a Google-run store as a viable alternative to iTunes. Despite its stature, Amazon MP3 is still a distant second to Apple's iTunes in online sales and has mostly cannibalized smaller competitors. Google would have the advantage of producing its own mobile OS and of reaching beyond a dedicated web store; it would also take a different approach than that of Apple, which is rumored to be web streaming only and not the hoped-for locker due to rights issues.

By Electronista Staff