14 DAY TRIAL // Google more or less announced plans to get into the music business at Google I/O 2010, many months ago when Android 2.2 Froyo was being launched. A music store in the Android Marketplace, sync with your computer, streaming and all manner of wonderful things were displayed. Since then though, it's been very quiet.
Rumors say that Google has been having trouble securing licenses from the major record labels, but whatever the reason, the company hasn't said anything since.
Recently, things are beginning to take shape, indicating that the Google Music store and related goodies on the mobile front are finally becoming a reality.
A screenshot of an Android 2.3 device with the "Sync Music" menu item enabled in Data & synchronization has been making the rounds as a clear indicator that Google hasn't forgotten about its music store.
Interestingly enough, the feature had been hiding in plain sight for a few weeks now, it seems that the feature is enabled once you install the leaked Android 3.0 music app, which showed up a few weeks ago, and have the streaming options enabled.
One menu in the leaked app has to do with streaming music and provides a pretty accurate picture of the features to expect in the upcoming update. Users should be able to stream music from their libraries, though it's not yet clear what those are.
There is also the option of caching streamed music, for offline access, which explains the existence of the Sync Music entry.
Of course, not much of this is new. In fact, Google already showcased the main features, music streaming and syncing as well as the Marketplace-integrated music store.
But the existence of the app and its capabilities indicate that Google is still working on this, despite the lack of new details. Of course, it's anyone's guess as to when the new music app and the plethora of new features and services it brings will be launched.
It's been billed as the new music app in Android 3.0, but it is running on Android 2.3 and earlier builds. It may be that the app is launched along with the tablet-focused Honeycomb, but it is very likely that it will be available as an upgrade for existing Android users, at the very least those running 2.x.