News 

The New York Post claimed that the search giant is considering an 'extensive alliance' with Napster that could amount to acquiring the music service, which has struggled to make much of an impact in the face of the dominance of Apple's iPod/iTunes axis. It is currently the third biggest service behind iTunes and RealNetwork's Rhapsody.

Google said that it has nothing to announce, denying that it will create its own music store from scratch but declining to comment on Napster.

'We can't provide any details related to rumour or speculation,' a Google spokesperson said.

Napster similarly declined to comment, although a spokesperson did say last week that the company is not for sale.

Given that Google recently opened a video store, music would seem to be the next logical step for a company that cannot avoid sticking its finger in every piece of the Internet pie. Analysts are certain that the company has something in the pipeline, although they do not think that includes acquiring Napster.

'We believe Google is in the midst of creating its own iTunes competitor, which we've dubbed "Google Tunes",' Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck told investors recently, adding that he expects the service to go online within the next three to six months.

Gartner analyst Michael McGuire agreed that the Napster link is spurious.

'I'm not sure what Google would get out of it,' he said. 'Napster may have the brand name, but that brand name recognition isn't converting to dollars.'

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kit Spring said that while a Google takeover would doubtless be good for Napster, there would be little in it for Google. It would not, he said, generate much in the way of subscriber growth, given Apple's dominance, Yahoo!'s lower prices and Google's non-existent track record outside the search domain. He said that if Google decides to enter the music market, and he is not convinced that it will, it will develop its own service.