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Google Play celebrates its first birthday with special deals

It's been a year since Google Play was born and to kick off the occasion, the Internet giant is offering a week of gift cards and discounts on music, movies, books, games, and more.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read
Google Play celebrates its first birthday with discounts. Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET

Ever wanted something specific from the Google Play store but didn't want to fork over the cash for it? Well, maybe this is the week to do it.

Google announced today that in honor of Google Play's first birthday, it was offering a week of deals and discounts in its media and app store.

"It was just a year ago today that we launched this amazing shop on the interwebs to offer the best in digital content," the company wrote on its Google Play Web site. "Since the best parties are the ones that send you home with a present, today we celebrate our birthday with a festive goodie bag full of gifts."

The Web giant is giving special deals on music, movies, books, magazines, TV shows, and games. Among the offers are a 10 percent discount with Hotels.com, a $15 gift card from the Google+ Sign-In partner Fancy, 99-cent movie rentals, free song tracks from The Velvet Underground and LCD Soundsystem, and more.

Google re-launched its Android Market under the moniker of Google Play last March. Looking to create a more comprehensive source for movies, apps, music, and e-books, the Internet giant decided to fold Google Music and Google eBookstore into one store.

The company has a tradition of celebrating its achievements with gift giving. When the Google Play store hit 25 billion downloads in September, Google launched discounts on a variety of popular apps. The company also promoted collections like 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, and the "25 albums that changed the world."

As far as celebrating its birthday today, Google wrote, "It's been an incredible first year and we look forward to sharing the gift of digital diversions for many more to come."