Google Launches Free, Legal Music Downloads in China

Wired is reporting that Google has a launched a new music download service in China to better compete with the leading search company there, Baidu.com. Offering some 350,000 songs, a number set to rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.1 million in the coming months, the library includes both Chinese and foreign artists signed by Sony Music, EMI, and Universal Music. Proponents of the new service are also hoping it will combat illegal music downloads simply by offering higher quality songs for download. There are no immediate plans to expand this service beyond China.

Comments

Re:Link?

[sakdoctor]

Ok, there's also a flash based youtube/winamp-like player so you can preview very quickly.

Then there is a right click context menu for downloading mp3s. The ones I got were all 192kbps.

Best fucking music download site ever! Roll out world wide please.

Re:New business plan

[Locke2005]

Not new at all. Google's business plan has always been:
1) Create content that people want online.
2) Give content away for free.
3) Charge advertisers for ads delivered alongside content.
4) Profit!
As their profit is measured in the billions, offhand I would say this is a pretty good business plan.