The Mountain View, California-based company Wednesday launched music search service. For this, the Internet search behemoth has collaborated with MySpace, Lala, EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, Pandora, Imeem and Rhapsody and Gracenote.
Currently, the service has been rolled out in the United States only. To access the service, users will just have to type the name of the song, album, artist etc and Google will deliver results, which will provide links to the audio of the song and also how to purchase it.
In case the user does not know the name of the artist or the album, a line or two of the lyrics entered will deliver results with appropriate links to the artist or the song.
"This feature doesn't just make search better. It also helps people discover new sources of licensed music online while helping artists to discover new generations of fans and reconnect with longtime listeners," stated Google.
Brewing competition in the music market
Google is not directly competing with Apple’s iTunes, but its venture into music world will inject more competition, which could adversely affect Apple.
The reason: the search results will lead users to digital music outlets that are teaming up with Google, thus bolstering them to take iTunes head on.
Lala, for instance, sells Web-only songs for 10 cents a track. The downloadable MP3s cost 89 cents. Contrast this with iTunes’ rate, which charges a minimum 99 cents for a song.
Further, the move is expected to curb piracy, which over the years has adversely hit the music industry.
Readers' reactions
Google’s foray into the music industry is a hot topic of discussion on online forums. Majority of the readers believe that it is a smart move by Google towards global domination.
A reader named RayRay posted his view on engadget.com - “i think everything makes sense for google to pull out this service real soon since chrome os is coming out next year.”
Another reader named tikiteko stated on the same forum, “Hmm, I think Google is heading to become the third-wheel of the computational world. Maybe in the next decade, Google will be making hardware and all that jazz. Google may be heading ti become something like Apple and Microsoft. Is there anything Google won't do?”
“Google rules the free world, this is just another step in their attempts at world domination," commented a reader named ToksterJokster on digg.com.
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