Google nearing music service launch?

Google may be nearing the launch of its own version of the iTunes Music Store. A new research report says that late last week, Google met with a group of music industry executives. While it was described as a private event as merely for "networking," research firm Caris & Company suspects that Google is getting ready to launch an online music service, according to Forbes. "The music industry is broadly unhappy with the fixed pricing and lack of subscription options at the market-leading iTunes Music Store and likely to support alternative services," wrote the analyst in a recent report. Forbes notes that the company has recently told analysts that it has plans to expand revenue opportunities by entering into media downloads and localized ad-search. The research firm also noted that Google has expanded the availability of its experimental local AdWords to all customers in the U.S., Canada and Britain, which will allow targeting ads based on the user’s location when integrated with Google Maps. In addition, the report notes that Verizon has become an AdWords reseller, further enabling Google to expands its revenue base.

iPod users lead cell phone media trend...

iPod owners are more likely to listen to music on their mobile phones, according to a new survey. M:Metrics today released data from its February 2006 Benchmark survey that showed that owners of portable music devices -- especially owners of the Apple iPod -- are more than twice as likely than average mobile subscribers to use music and video applications on their mobile phone. In addition, owners of such devices, including Apple's popular iPod, express a willingness to pay for such services in the future. While just under 15 percent of mobile phone users own an iPod, they account for nearly 30 percent of those who reported listening to music on their mobile phones and 30 percent of those who watched video on their phone. Additionally, owners of portable music devices were almost three times more likely than the average mobile subscriber to transfer music from their computer to their mobile phone.

"iPod-style" player ad in Canadian paper

A major Canadian newspaper has published an advertisement offering a free "iPod-style" player with the purchase of any computer system. MDG of Canada is touting the "iPod style personal audio & video player" with a 1.5-inch color display that can play compressed movies. The iPod clone can display e-books, play music, supports synchronized lyric display, offers an internal microphone recording function, and includes digital FM radio. The device also functions as a standard USB mass storage drive, includes a built-in lithium-ion battery, and powers off automatically. The ad shows a picture of the player, which looks remarkably similar to Apple's own iPod nano, but does not offer a brand name or storage capacity for the gadget. A MacNN reader wrote in to tell us that "I'm used to seeing these things from Korea, etc. but when they're advertised in major Canadian newspapers, I had to [do] a double-take..."