Mediaboss Marketing

Reporting from San Francisco

The Internet search giant says users can now store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks, download more than 450,000 Android apps and games, browse e-books and rent movies on the digital media hub.

"This is a smart move to position itself as a content provider. Google now has an offering that can rival iTunes," SearchEngineLand.com editor Danny Sullivan said.

Google, a competitor to Apple in the mobile market in which the share of Android-powered phones by some estimates overtook iPhones last year is trying to catch up to Apple in selling digital media directly to consumers.

Apple's iTunes accounts for 70% of the market for digital song downloads, by one estimate. Google took the wraps off a digital music store to compete with iTunes in November.

Amazon.com is also focusing heavily on building a digital destination using its Kindle platform as a gateway to millions of consumers.

Gartner media analyst Michael McGuire said Google is smart to make its digital content easier to navigate and find.

"This is a crucial step Google had to take to keep competitive," McGuire said. "Google is trying to simplify delivering to consumers something they will pay for or load onto their device. Anything Google can do to streamline that is important. Google has got more Android devices in the world, but I don't think it's paying out as much to people who create apps or content."

Google says it will offer a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a reduced price each day for the next week. For example, consumers can buy "Where's My Water" for just 25 cents Tuesday.

"We're creating this notion that the consumer has a single relationship with Google as the ecosystem for their content," said Jamie Rosenberg, Google's director of digital content.

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Google launches shop for digital books, music, movies and games