As part of its first Google I/O 2011 keynote, Google announced two new services: Movie rentals through the Android Market and Music Beta by Google, a digital locker and streaming service.
Much as it did with Books recently, Google will offer movie rentals through the Android Market. It will be possible to stream or download (by ‘pinning’) the movies to your Android devices. Rentals will start at US$1.99 and you will have 24 hours to watch the movie within a 30-day rental period.
A new Movie apps will be available for tablets starting with Android 3.1 and for smartphones with Android 2.2 and up.
Music Beta by Google will let you upload and access your music collection (up to 20,000 songs for now) from any Android device as well as Macs and PCs. With no major studio support, it is unfortunately limited to what you upload. As with movie rentals, you can pin your music to download it to your device of choice to have it available when there is no connectivity. I’ll let the video below explain it:
Google Music is currently in beta and requires an invitation for access. It is free for now but Google has suggested that it will not always be so (although a free entry-level option may remain).