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Google Confirms Music Store

Last week, word got out that Google was in negotiations with major record labels to expand its cloud music service, and open an MP3 store. Confirming the reports, Android boss Andy Rubin said this week that the service was in the works and close to completion. Google first introduced a cloud music service with limited capabilities five months ago, after negotiations with music companies for a so-called smart locker service broke down over financial terms and fears that Google wasn’t doing enough to address piracy issues.

Well aware that both Amazon and Apple already sell music and offer cloud lockers, Rubin promised this week, as reported by AllThingsD, that Google’s version “will have a little twist -- it will have a little Google in it. It won’t just be selling 99 cent tracks.” Twist or no twist, however, “Google needs all of the big labels on board, and the most recent reports said only EMI Music was close to a final deal,” AllThingsD notes. “So ‘close’ could be a relative term.”


Read the whole story at All Things Digital »

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