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Google gets in the music groove

<b style="color:#900;">week in review</b> Google launches its music store effort, while debate rages over anti-piracy bill. Also: Kindle Fire hits the streets.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
Steven Musil
3 min read

week in review Google is getting into the music business.

The Web giant launched Google Music, a service that takes advantage of Google search technology as well as its ability to tap the tastes of a user's friends to recommend songs. With three of the four major record labels now participating in the service, users will also be able to buy music.

The beta version of Google Music, which debuted in May, didn't include the ability to buy songs from labels. But users could upload their entire music libraries to Google's servers, making those tunes available to stream from any browser or Android-based device, such as a phone, a tablet, or Google TV.
•  Google Music hits almost all the high notes
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