Google Play, one of the internet’s largest app, software and music distributors, has caught up with its competition by offering a digital streaming service for its music library.
The service, known simply as “Google Play Music,” is free to consumers, supported by ads interspersed among the music. Consumers are welcome to pay for an ad-free experience, with a subscription of $9.99 a month. Paying subscribers would have ads removed from their programming, and choices of songs, albums, and custom playlists. Listeners would also be given unlimited song skips, a feature that even paying Pandora subscribers are barred from.
Custom playlists, many created by employees of Songza, another streaming service, can be filtered using keywords based on genre, mood, decade, and more.
Spotify Ltd., based out of London, has been offering variations of this service since its release in 2008. Amazon, through its payed Prime service, also offers similar streaming music services.
Google Play Music is available online now, as well as an iOS and Android app.
What’s your thoughts on Google bringing this to our devices? As always, let us know in the comments below.