Google unveils online music service to battle iTunes, Amazon

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Google has began letting people store music collections in virtual online libraries in a challenge to Apple's popular iTunes shop as well as a similar service from Amazon. Google Music does not sell songs but allows users to store personal collections in the internet "cloud" for streaming to smartphones, tablet computers or other gadgets. Google Music is being rolled out on an invitation-only basis in the United States to test the service, which the California internet giant envisions eventually making available worldwide. In a statement, Google Australia said it didn't "have a timeline to announce for an Australian release". Google also used the opening of its developers conference to announce it is adding movie rentals to its Android Market offering digital content for devices running Android software.Movie rental prices start at $US1.99 and films could then be streamed to any Android-powered device. People have 30 days to view rented movies, and must finish watching them within 24 hours of starting. More than 100 million Android devices have been activated worldwide and 400,000 new gadgets powered by the Google-backed software are activated daily, according to Google product manager Hugo Barra.