Google's new music service, slated for launch on Wednesday, October 28, is creating a buzz with intense speculation surrounding the nature of the product. Photo Credit: AFPOctober 21, 2009, (Sawf News) - Google's new music service, slated for launch on Wednesday, October 28, is creating a buzz with intense speculation surrounding the nature of the product.
The service is believed to be called OneBox. Other possible name bandied include Google Music and Google Audio.
There was earlier speculation that OneBox would be a music store modeled on Apple's iTunes and iPhone combine. It would work with devices that Google planned to market in the future, such as an Anderoid based smartphone and a Chrome OS based Netbook.
However, many analysts believe Google isn't a content provider and is unlikely to venture into the business, especially with music, the business model around which is floundering.
Google specializes in search and that is what it will stick with.
OneBox is more likely to be a service that allows users to search for music and then stream it from partner sites such as Lala.com and MySpace's iLike.com. Other possible stream providers mentioned include Imeem.
The tie-up for streaming content would be aimed at keeping users on Google longer. Google will not sell the music, but facilitate purchase from its partner sites.
Currently a Google search for a musician brings up YouTube, Wikipedia and musician site links, all of which take a user away from Google.
By allowing users to sample a singer's music, Google would keep them on its site longer, allowing them to view more ads, which constitute the core of Google's business model.
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