Earlier this month, the Internet rumor mill generated word that Google was planning to launch a music download service that would, in theory, compete with similar services from Apple and Amazon. Earlier this week, Google"s mobile head Andy Rubin seemed to confirm those rumors and added that Google"s music service would have some kind of "twist" that would make it different than other similar download offerings.
Now Business Insider claims via unnamed sources that the "twist" in Google"s music download business will allow its users to send and share the music they download with others. The source claims that after a music track is purchased from Google"s service, a person will be able to send out that music track for free to friends. The article claims that this music sharing feature will have some limits. They might include only being able to listen to the shared song a certain number of times or perhaps for a limited amount of time.
Google has been in negotiations with the major music publishers to optain the rights to sell their music tracks on this new service. In fact, the story claims that Google is offering the music publishers a lot of up front money in order to secure the rights to not just sell the music tracks but to share them as well. Google"s service will apparently not have a subscription side like Spotify but will be a straight music download service like Apple"s iTunes online store. Google is expected to launch its own music download service by the end of 2011.