Will Google launch a music service?

Times Online has the latest on the mounting speculation that Google is poised to battle Apple's dominance in the online music market by buying Napster, the one-time illegal music website.

Google told Times Online today: "No, we have no plans at this time to develop a music store, or to compete with existing online and offline music retailers.

“Google developed the music search feature to provide users faster access to music-related information they are searching for. Our goal has always been to put users directly in touch with the information they're looking for as quickly and easily possible.”

However, on the subject of a tie-up with Napster, Google came up with a more opaque "we have nothing to announce”.

Yet?