Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

[ehh]

I don't know how I missed this, given that I'm an IT Pro and read industry news daily, both consumer and business-related. I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread in here either.

In May Google launched their own all-access music service which is very, very similar to Spotify (18 million songs supposedly). It's a mouthful for sure, "Google Play Music All Access". Same deal as Spotify, you get unlimited plays and mobile access for $9.99/mo.

For me, the biggest kicker as a now-former Spotify user is that metadata is transferred via Bluetooth in my car, so I can finally see the track title and artist name on my car's display. Spotify's Android app has never had that capability. Once I discovered that I cancelled my Spotify subscription in the blink of an eye.

It's web-based, no software to install. The web interface is responsive and clean. The Android App is sharp and smooth, no complaints yet. Not sure there is enough to steal many Spotify subscribers since it's so similar.


Anyone else a subscriber?

[trobinson97]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

My trial runs out in the next week or so and I think I might keep for a while at 7.99 a month. I've been able to check out a lot of stuff I've missed thanks to the radio option and general browsing. Even the free version is pretty cool as I have my entire music library uploaded and can listen to it wherever as long as I have an internet connection.

[ehh]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

What's the cost associated with Google hosting your music? I've greatly trimmed down my music collection over the years and only have 60 GB these days.

[trobinson97]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

It's free. The song limit is 20,000 with a maximum of 300MB per song. I have about 9700 tracks uploaded, around 53GB.

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

I haven't given it a shot, though I am just a regular Google Play Music user. I prefer Google Play Music mainly because I began "collecting" music years ago and having everything available on the cloud instantaneously for free is perfect for me. I currently have 13k+ songs uploaded.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

Is there any danger to putting music "acquired" on their system?

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

Nope. Not that I know of. My collection has been on there since it launched and I've had no issues.

[Blue]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

I noticed that the Motorola Droid line that hits stores in August comes with a 6 month trial, I may be getting the Ultra so that could be my chance to try it out. I've loved the Google Music app, have almost 15,000 songs on the cloud.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

How long does it take to upload? I think I have somewhere around 50gb LOL.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

So is it $9.99 for the PC based version too? Cause one thing about Spotify is you only pay if you wish to use the mobile version. The application on the PC and the Web based version are free.

[trobinson97]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

How long does it take to upload? I think I have somewhere around 50gb LOL.

It's been a while but I think it took me about a day to upload around that amount. It would depend on the speed of your connection though of course, mine is I think 10Mbps upload.

Also, not all songs are uploaded, only the ones that Google can't find a match for in their database. Songs and albums that are already in the database are just automatically added to your library so the actual files on your HDD aren't uploaded.

That saves a lot of time but it has a big problem with it. When Google matches, it tends to add the edited version of a song. I added an Outkast album and noticed it was the clean version when I went to play it although I added the explicit version. The fix for this is quite annoying IMO as you have to highlight each song and select "Fix incorrect match". Instead of simply adding the explicit version of the matched song from the database, it actually then uploads the song from your HDD.

So is it $9.99 for the PC based version too? Cause one thing about Spotify is you only pay if you wish to use the mobile version. The application on the PC and the Web based version are free.

For access to Google's entire database of music, it's $9.99 (7.99 if you signed up for the trial before the end of June and stayed on). If you just want to upload your music library and listen to it anywhere, it's free. That's including the web and mobile app.

[Brandwin]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

I don't really see a reason to switch to this from Spotfiy for me. I only use Spotify over mobile. If this was cheaper or something, maybe I would switch.

[slickdtc]

For access to Google's entire database of music, it's $9.99 (7.99 if you signed up for the trial before the end of June and stayed on). If you just want to upload your music library and listen to it anywhere, it's free. That's including the web and mobile app.

Hmm, that's a good selling point. My iPhone is full with mostly music. I'd love to delete them off my phone but still have access via this.

[Bellsprout]

Re: Google Play Music All Access (Spotify Rival)

I wish the app on my phone would let me store music downloaded for offline listening to my SD card, but that's my only real complaint with this.

[gschwendt]

I wish the app on my phone would let me store music downloaded for offline listening to my SD card, but that's my only real complaint with this.

Search for Cloud Music Importer. It lets you download music from your Google storage and tell it where to store it. I think it's $1.99 but for me it was well worth it.