Last week, email invitations began popping up to an event scheduled for this Wednesday, November 16th. The invitations simply said “These Go To Eleven” and were sent by “Nigel Tufnel.” This clear Spinal Tap reference has led many to speculate that the event will have to do with the Google Music Store – the long-rumored retail arm of Google’s cloud music service.
Various sources are said to have confirmed that the event, which will be live streamed at 2 pm PST, does in fact deal with Google Music.
But Venezuelan Android site TechnoDroidVe claims to have leaked screenshots of the new Google Music store ahead of its suspected launch on November 16th. According to the site, they were able to access the store via the Android Market.
From the looks of the screenshots, the Google Music Store will play it pretty close to iTunes and Amazon Music by offering tracks for $0.99 to $1.29. There’s also the ability to purchase entire albums, and features for finding similar artists. If the screenshots prove to be correct, then we can expect Google to offer the “Free Song of The Day” to Google Music users. Here are a couple of the shots:
A Google Music Store has been rumored to be in the works really since the launch of Google Music Beta. The cloud storage service launched without the ability to purchase tracks due to Google’s inability to form agreements with the major record labels. We got word that the launch of the store was imminent back in October, and that fact was later confirmed by Google Mobile SVP Andy Rubin.
Since then, there have been rumors that Google Music Store will be highly integrated with Google+, allowing users to recommend songs to their friends and those friends be able to preview tracks before purchase.
I guess we will see how it shakes out on Wednesday. What do you think about a Google Music Store? Is it what Google Music needs? Can it add a fresh dimension to Google+? Let us know in the comments.
