This week Google officially announced that the Android Market is out and Google Play is in.  Yes, you read that right, the Android Market is now known as Google Play – a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet.

The new Google Play is entirely cloud-based so no more lost files and no more hassles in transferring them from one device to another.

Google Play lets you:

• Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
• Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
• Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
• Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles

Google Play is the integration of Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore, so everything you need on the web and on your Android device can be found in this new hub.  And to kickoff Google Play they have the “7 Days to Play” where they will be offering different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week.  In the US, they are offering the collection of top 40 hits Now That’s What I Call Music 41, the popular game Where’s My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each.  You can also enjoy great collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, some of our editorial team’s favorite movies from 99 cents, and our favorite apps from 49 cents.

Google Play contains various elements in different parts of the world.  In the US it houses music, movies, books and Android apps; in Canada and the U.K. it houses movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; in Japan, movies and apps; and everywhere else it will be the new home for Android apps.

“Our long-term goal is to roll out as many different types of content as possible to people around the world, and we’ll keep adding new content to keep it fresh,” said Jamie Rosenberg, Google Director of Digital Content in the official blog post.

The marketing around Google Play will be key for Google’s extended cross-device strategy, as it competes with Apple’s App Store and amazon’s booming ecosystem as well.  Content is king, now that Android and iOS have established themselves as major players in the mobile realm, and finding a way to boost the content ecosystem is vital to their success.  Apple’s revolutionized digital content sales and marketing, reshaping industries from publishing to music.  Time will tell who can build a better experience around content, but it’s clear Google’s in it for the long haul.