Google Prepping Music Store 'With a Twist'

Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, confirmed on Wednesday that the search giant is working on an expanded music service.

"I think we're close," Rubin told attendees of the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, as reported by All Things D. The Google version "will have a little twist" that is uniquely Google-esque, he said, and won't be a run-of-the-mill 99-cent MP3 store.

Rubin's comments come several days after the New York Times reported that Google was prepping an MP3 music store that would connect to its existing, cloud-based music storage service. The report said Google was in talks with major labels and was possibly looking to launch ahead of Apple's iTunes Match, which is scheduled to launch later this month.

Rubin told AsiaD moderator Walt Mossberg that the delay with the labels was due largely to perception. Media companies "saw us as a search company," he said. All Things D suggested that this was in reference to requests that Google get tougher on piracy, which the Times also referenced. Last month, Google said it had made "significant progress" on that front.

Google unveiled its music beta service in May, but it was essentially a cloud locker similar to Amazon's Cloud Player offerings. Both companies got some criticism from the labels, who were irked that Google and Amazon did not secure licensing agreements. But Google and Amazon argued that they did not need licenses since they were just offering online storage for music people already owned.

One company that does have licensing deals, though, is Apple, which is getting ready to launch iTunes Match. The service allows users to store their entire music library in the cloud, or iCloud, for on-the-go access to music from any iOS device or computer. A portion of iTunes in the Cloud went live in June during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), while a developer version of iTunes Match was released in late August; the final version is expected later this month.