LOS ANGELES - Google unveiled its much-anticipated digital music store in the U.S. Wednesday as it opened a new front in its battle with Apple to provide services over mobile devices.
For the first time, Google Inc. will sell songs on the Android Market, its online store for apps, movies and books.
Some songs are free, while others were priced at 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Some examples of artists whose work is available right away include Coldplay, Drake and Pearl Jam.
Google is offering 13 million tracks, from three of the four major recording companies: Vivendi SA's Universal Music, EMI Group Ltd. and Sony Music Entertainment, along with a host of independent labels. Warner Music Group was the major recording company left out.
Google is allowing sharing of purchased songs over its social network, Google Plus. Friends will be able to listen to each song once for free.
Once someone buys a song, it is automatically uploaded for free into a customer's online locker. The song can then be streamed over computer and mobile phone browsers, including the Safari browser that comes on Apple Inc. devices such as the iPad.
Google's director of digital content for Android, Jamie Rosenberg, took a dig at Apple's iTunes Match, which costs $25 a year. Google's cloud storage service is free for up to 20,000 songs.
"Other cloud music services think you have to pay to listen to music you already own. We don't."
