Google Play Music: Free Version of Play Music With Ads Announced by Google
Google has been put on notice by Apple Music. Responding to the new streaming music service, Google has announced that Play Music will be offered in a free ad-supported version, Tech Crunch reports.
Normally $9.99 per month, Play Music is a streaming service that wants to compete with Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and others. The paid version allows users to search for any song in the Play Music library and play it on-demand. The free, ad-supported version will encourage users to choose from pre-curated playlists based on artists or genres, similar to Pandora and iTunes Radio.
The free version will feature themed stations that will play songs based on themes like "Working Out" or "Driving," according to CNET. They will also be able to search by artist, genre or songs and a station will be created based on their choices. The playlists will be curated by Songza, an app that curates music that Google acquired in July 2014.
Until today's launch of the free version of Google Play Music, the service was only offered as a pay service for $9.99 per month in the U.S. The introduction of a free service gives Play Music a chance to compete with Spotify and Apple Music which both offer similar services.
Users of the free service will be given the opportunity to upgrade to the paid service. If they upgrade, they will receive unlimited access to the entire music library, offline listening and background features for music videos on YouTube.
In today's announcement, Google said that users on the free and paid version will be able to store and play up to 50,000 songs for free.
Streaming services are constantly updating their programs.
Spotify now has a new service that is similar to the way the old Spotify worked. Users will be presented with music based on what the program thinks they are doing, like studying or commuting to work.
The free version of Google Play Music will appear on the Web today. The iOS and Android releases will come next week.
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