February 1, 2006

Will Google acquire Napster or will it build its own version of an online music service?

Is the possibility of Google entering this popular market just another unsubstantiated rumor or is there some validity to it?

Whatever happens, there seems to be many questions and very few answers.

Though Napster's stock spiked by as much as 50 percent yesterday in the wake of a report that said Google might acquire the online music service, Napster's shares fell after Google denied it had any interest in buying the company.

That may have settled one rumor, but there is yet another one in the works.

According to the same story in the New York Post that originally reported the possible Napster relationship, Google has also been looking to develop its own music service.

Google did not return calls seeking comment.

While the truth has yet to be revealed, what we do know now is that Google introduced a music search feature that will return relevant information about artists, including links to sites where their music can be purchased, last December.

At that time, Google noted that the feature does not represent a move toward becoming a music retailer, but rather establishes it as a middle man, referring searchers to places where they can buy songs.

Google Search Quality Product Manager David Alpert said that the more information the company can make easily accessible with a simple search, the better.

Google is working to refine the service to enable users to type in a song name or album name and get the same streamlined results.

Google actually partnered with Apple's iTunes service, along with RealNetworks, Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon.com and WalMart.com, on its music search initiative. The search giant's motive? It said it gets a lot of search traffic on music terms.

However, the Post report suggests another motive. The Post said Google wants to offer a monthly subscription service to its music store because it believes that is where the market is headed. Apple, by comparison, has captured about 80 percent of the market selling individual songs.

Would Google now turn on its new partner and launch a competitive music download service? Analysts said it is certainly possible.

"I'm sure Google will start a music service at some point. It's an obvious move, and I'm sure they could compete.

I haven't seen them put anything out in terms of timing, however," search engine expert Danny Sullivan, managing editor of Search Engine Watch, told TechNewsWorld.

Google rumors abound, but not all of them are true. Google was in talks late last year with Time Warner's AOL unit. Many speculated that they were engaged in takeover discussions that would make Google an AOL property. Instead, Google invested US$1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL.

Still, analysts are putting more weight on this particular rumor.

"When has Google ever confirmed rumors in the past? They've denied nearly all of them, even those that have later happened," said Evan Roberts, director of advertising for Labitat, a Web 2.0 startup focused on niche market data mining.

"Its quite logical that Google would move on to music," he told TechNewsWorld. "Google already has pictures and videos. Sound is just another medium for their next iteration of advertising."

Source: eCommerce Times

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