Google offers free music to China; don't hold your breath for U.S. version

In China, Baidu is the powerhouse, the "it" girl, the search engine to beat. It's a treasure trove of music, most of it illegal. But Google may have found a way to increase its market share there -- offering free music legally.

The U.S. search giant 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," said a Google spokesperson.

Read more of 'Google offers free music to China' at LA Times' Technology blog.