According to the New York Times, Google executives have claimed that they will be opening a Google Music MP3 store in the coming weeks. Likely to be connected to the current Google Music Beta offering, the service would compete with Apple and Amazon to allow users to purchase and store music files in the cloud. (Cue the lawsuits in 3, 2…). While Google officially declined to comment to the Times, as did any of the Music labels, the idea makes perfect sense. We know Google wanted to get content agreements for music, and after publicly criticizing the music industry Google decided to follow the route taken by Amazon and offer users storage for their own files. In addition, the songs that are offered for free on the existing service certainly aren’t royalty-free, so some arrangements have to be already standing. If the rumor is true, this may be something we hear about on Oct. 19 at the Ice Cream Sandwich event. We’ll keep you posted if anything further develops.
Source: New York Times; via CNET. Thanks, Derek!