Google finally released its Google Play Music app for iOS today, with unlimited songs, custom radio stations, no skip limits, smart recommendations based on the music you like and listen too, and more.
That is, of course, with an $9.99 All Access monthly pass.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":861066,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,cloud,media,mobile,","session":"D"}']The free version allows you to upload up to 20,000 songs of your own, presumably from CDs or other sources, and listen to your music on all your devices as well as the web, without syncing, and without ads.
Google Play Music is available in 20 countries, including the U.S. (of course), Australia, France, Germany, Russian, Spain, and the UK (but not Canada). All Access, the paid pass to most music from most major labels, is available in most of those countries, but not Germany. There aren’t any limit on the browsers you can access your Google Play Music from, but you can only authorize five apps, which should more than cover most people.
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The $9.99 pricing mirrors Rdio’s premium pricing, but Google Play Music lacks features that Rdio and Spotify have to listen to music for free, or at reduced pricing with reduced features. After all, the free version only allows you to play your own songs, which Google helpfully says it will allow “without ads.”
The app downloads songs to your local device so you can listen when you don’t have access to the internet, and for new paid subscribers, the first month is free.
Apple launched its stream music service, iTunes Radio, in September. Essentially, it’s a set of radio stations with free, ad-supported music, although the ads disappear if you’re an iTunes Match customer ($25/year).
Google Play Music requires iOS 6, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. An iPad version is coming soon, 9to5Mac says.
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