Google, Facebook to offer music sales
IDG News Service - Facebook plans to let users buy music and other virtual products on its Web site, the company said Wednesday, expanding its sources of revenue as the company seeks to turn its huge popularity into fiscal profit.
Separately, Google will let users sample and buy songs directly from its search results page with a service it plans to announce next week, according to reports. The move comes as Google looks to hold its dominance against Bing, which has stolen around 9 percent of the U.S. online search market since its launch earlier this year, according to Internet monitoring companies.
Songs and official sports icons are among the new virtual gifts Facebook will add to its store, the company said on its blog. Users in the U.S. will be able to pay US $0.10 to send friends a song that can only be listened to online, or $0.90 to send a copy that can be downloaded and transferred, the company said.
The service, powered by music streaming site Lala.com, will be available by the end of this week, a Lala representative said in an e-mail.
Google will let users stream songs from Lala and iLike.com, which is owned by MySpace, according to a report in the The Wall Street Journal. A Lala link will let users stream a full song once for free and pay about $1 to download a copy, the report said.
Google already has an ad-supported music search service, offered only in China, that lets users stream and download songs for free. A Google executive earlier this year said the company had started work on applying the model in other countries.
Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Lala declined to comment on any deal with Google.
Google's rivalry with Bing was visible as both countries announced search deals with Twitter on Wednesday. Google said it would launch a search service for Twitter messages just hours after Microsoft announced a similar deal for Bing.
Reprinted with permission from
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.
Google music
Additional Resources



Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.
White Papers & Webcasts
Southern Company
Download Now
Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.
Defending Against the Storm
Download Now
Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.
Share our Strength
Download Now
Preparing Your Business Services for the Future
Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service?
IPAM: Slashing Network Costs
Slashing Network Costs by Consolidating and Automating Core Network Services
Essential Archive Requirements for E-Discovery
Register Now!
Horror stories: Managing IT Across Multiple Locations
How one extra sharp IT manager eliminates daily agony, hassle and repetition.
Computerworld Reports
Disaster Recovery & Cost Savings Zone
Thousands of customers world-wide have turned to virtualization solutions from Riverbed as a way to reduce costs.
