A while agone, Google announced it would discontinue Play Music this twelvemonth. The company promised to work hard on making YouTube Music a viable alternative, and it looks like it's at present happy with what the new app has become. As such, Google shared today that it will discontinue Play Music starting this September.

Google wouldn't exist Google if at that place wasn't a rollout involved. Play Music will first close down in New Zealand and South Africa in September, and the balance of the world will follow in October. Y'all'll be able to extract your data and music files all the mode through Dec this year via Google Takeout. That's an pick regardless of whether or not you're switching to YouTube Music or a competitor, but if you get for Google's new streaming service, you lot tin can too use its dedicated migration tool for a more seamless transition. The tool will remain bachelor for 30 days subsequently you lose access to Play Music. If you don't use it, Google will notify you that it will automatically stop billing you once Play Music is gone.

In late August, Google will hinder y'all from purchasing or pre-ordering music through the Play Store, and you lot won't be able to upload or download music via the Music Manager. That means that Google is completely abandoning the music download market, offering only streaming going forward. That's not too surprising if you ask me — the Play Store Music department has been rather hidden since the new bottom bar rolled out to the distribution platform, remaining in the hamburger menu under "Browse Music." You lot can all the same use YouTube Music's upload feature in the futurity to add music y'all've purchased elsewhere, though.

Google is eager to let everyone know how much it worked on making YouTube Music a worthy replacement for Play Music. The company highlights what it's added to the platform in the course of the last few months (our own coverage linked in the cited text below):

  • Playlists: We're continuously evolving the way listeners can create and savor playlists, including:
    • Assistive Playlist Cosmos - Quickly and easily create playlists by adding recommended songs based on existing songs in the playlist, likewise equally personalized signals, such every bit sentry history and likes.
    • Collaborative Playlists - Interact with other music fans to create shared playlists for whatsoever occasion.
    • New Programmed Playlists - Explore newly launched programmed playlists like Highline, Caribbean Pulse, Weather condition Hole-and-corner, and more.
  • New Features and Improvements:
    • Player Page Redesign - Updates to the player page, available for Android mobile users, provides a more mod design that allows better playback controls and easier access to related music and other features like song lyrics.
    • Explore Tab - The new Explore tab, available on both mobile and the spider web is the consistent destination to detect new releases including albums, singles, and music videos, likewise as browse our vast catalog of diverse playlists through the Moods & Genre section.
  • More Means to Enjoy YouTube Music:
    • Android TV - An update for Android Idiot box brings YouTube Music to the big screen, letting listeners enjoy videos and live performances from their favorite artists, along with all their favorite music.
    • Google Maps - The Android integration lets listeners seamlessly listen to music and get personalized music recommendations within the Google Maps interface.
    • Discover music with Google Banana - Yous can now inquire your Google Home and Nest smart speakers, "Hey Google, play recommended music from YouTube Music." Then, Google Assistant volition share personalized recommendations based on your favorite artists and genres.

I still think there'southward a lot of piece of work ahead, and there are a few things that oasis't made it into YouTube Music yet. Information technology'south non possible to offset your own playlists or uploaded songs via the Assistant, the YouTube Music "app" on Android TV is a serious downgrade from the Play Music experience, and more. There are also some awkward changes, like the strict separation of YouTube Music streaming content and uploads. While the latter is likely an intended change, I still hope that Google will work on getting everything else right.

Source: YouTube (1), (2)

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Manuel Vonau (1638 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's non writing articles for Android Police, he's probably out and about every bit a videographer.

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