Google might have arrived late but it sure did arrive in style. The technology giant officially announced its advent in the lucrative music streaming business by launching the brand new 'Google Play Music All Access' service at its annual developers conference in San Francisco.
The subscription service, launched in the United States on Wednesday and expected to cover other countries in time, costs users $9.99 per month and comes with a 30-day free trial. One can also avail it for lesser, at $7.99, if subscribed to by the end of June.
The "Radio without rules" as the company calls it, allows Android-powered smartphone and tablet users to stream unlimited number of songs. As always with Google, the emphasis here is on personalization. The 'Explore' feature builds entire play lists or radio stations from a single choice of song, based on genre, expert recommendations or what other people who liked similar music listened to as well. Users can do away with tracks that might not interest them by looking ahead and turning them down.
The service further allows people to fuse their personal music library with the streaming list of songs. Commenting on the feature, Google engineering director Chris Yerga said,"We set out to build a music service that didn't just give us access to great music but to help guide you to it"
Though not any breakthrough innovation, the development has reasons enough to keep industry heavyweights Pandora and Spotify, and possibly, Apple engaged. Google, known for its tenacious ways of monopolizing various aspects of consumer technology, might just deliver a knock out blow thanks to the hundreds of millions of loyal Android users.
Further, it has been surmised that the company has joined hands with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment in this venture.
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