Google announced a new music subscription service that integrates with Google Play at its Google I/O conference Wednesday. The service, called Google Play Music All Access, is offered on demand with a catalog of content that users can play and organize as they choose, similar in offering to popular streaming services Rdio and Spotify.
The service can show personalized recommendations and will also offer featured playlists curated by "music editors." Chris Yerga, the engineering director for Android, noted that anything the user can see, they can "immediately start playing," and if the user likes the song, they can start a radio station based off of the track.
The My Library section of the app includes personal music (presumably local tracks and those not acquired via the Google Play store) as well as anything discovered and added from All Access. Yerga emphasized the app's ability to make music recommendations, and will offer top albums by genre as well as "expert power recommendations."
Yerga demonstrated a bit of the radio app, including the ability of users to reorder tracks to their taste; if they don't like a track, they can swipe it away.
Unlike Spotify or Rdio's services , Google strangely did not announce any social integration with All Access, such as the ability to follow friends, view their activity, or subscribe to their playlists. Google also betrayed little information regarding which labels, if any, are partnering with the service.
All Access is priced at $9.99 per month, and all users can get a one-month free trial. Users that sign up before June 30 can subscribe at a rate of $7.99 per month. At rollout, the service will be offered only in the US, though Yerga stated the company plans to roll out to more countries in the coming months.
The Google I/O conference is currently in progress. Ars’ reporters are at the event providing up-to-the-minute information at Google I/O 2013 Keynote.
