Google is moving closer to launching its own online music downloading service that will go head-to-head with Apple’s popular iTunes.

According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, Google is preparing to roll out a music download service tied to its search engine later this year, followed by an online subscription service in 2011.

Details are still slim on the service but the publication goes as far as saying that the company has been "stepping up conversations" about offering music over mobile phones that use its Android operating system.

There’s no word yet on whether or not Google had signed any deals with record labels and the service isn’t expected to launch in the near future.

Would a Google-powered music download service be something that would tear you away from iTunes?