Google offers Free music in China Legally

Baidu is the leading search Engine in China. But Google is catching up. Baidu's presence can be said to be mainly because of the free but illegal music it provides and Goole has now found a way to provide music LEGALLY

The U.S. search engine launched a beta version of a Chinese music service called Music Onebox, which is available only in China at www.google.cn.

"We are launching Music Onebox to give users an easy and legal way to find the music they're looking for, and to give music labels and publishers a new channel to distribute, promote and make money off of their valuable music content," a Google spokesperson said.
When visitors to Google's home page search for artists or bands, they are directed to www.top100.cn, a music site, to download or stream music. The site has financial backing from basketball wonder Yao Ming. Google said it would not share in the money made off of ads on the music service. Instead, the ad money would be split between Top100.cn and the music labels and publishers.

The new service is a direct challenge to Baidu.com Inc., at a time when the company is under increasing pressure to pay up for facilitating music piracy, according to technology blog Ars Technica. So far, the selection at Top100 is limited.