It took a long time, but the Google music service landed in Spain yesterday. And it does so precisely in a country where they have many problems negotiating rights with author agencies. Google Play Music It is here, and it will allow us not only to buy music in the Mountain View store, but also to upload our music and have it in the cloud, although we can synchronize it with our smartphone. And there is still more, since if the song is in the Google database, it will use its own file.
This last detail that we have mentioned is really similar, and it imitates the model that Apple follows with its iTunes Plus. It's as easy as uploading all of our songs, with a limit of 20.000 songs. However, since music is common all over the world, it doesn't make sense for everyone to upload their own song. Google Play Music It has a good catalog of songs, and if the titles that we are going to upload coincide with those that Google has in its store, it will directly be its own file that it will assign to our account, that easy, and being totally legal music. It is said that it is a way of laundering songs, since it allows users to download them from the Internet, illegally, go and upload them to Google Play, and make them legal, since they are the ones who facilitate us access to the file.
How it worked and what made it different
Addition cloud music locker, the service evolved to allow up to 50.000 songs stored free of charge at their most mature stage, expanding the initial limit of 20.000. The system coincidence of themes avoided redundant uploads: if your track was in Google's catalog, it was added to your library at official quality. Songs purchased on Google Play didn't count toward your playlist limit, so you could grow unlimitedly with your purchases.
The platform was accessible from web browser, mobile app and desktop client. In the beginning it could be accessed from other mobile systems as long as they supported Adobe Flash, and was one of the first applications compatible with chromecast, which made it easier to bring music to the television. It also allowed manual and smart lists with automatic recommendations based on your tastes and history.
The ecosystem was integrated with the Google content store: it was possible buy albums and songs, find free titles, and even offered the possibility of return purchases within seven days If the disc didn't convince you. The service added a mode flat rate to listen to music on demand, with Pandora-type radios based on artists or styles and launch promotions in certain countries. There were also artist pages to publish your music and social sharing features.
Catalog, stamps and availability
Producers and distributors of groups as large as Sony Music, Universal, Warner Music and Emi, as well as independent labels, poured their music into the store. At this point, we won't find any notable shortcomings, apart from the major exceptions, such as some historical discographies which were not always available in all markets.
Google Play Music was available on devices Android and iOS, and reached a wide list of countries, including Spain and much of Europe and America. Among the countries where it could be used were: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, among others. Spain was part of the first European wave along with United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, and later extended to Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, consolidating its presence on the continent.
Purchase, returns and library management
In addition to cloud listening, users could buy directly from the store y sync iTunes or Windows Media libraries using the Music Manager. Playlists could be created from scratch or left to be generated by the system. automatic lists by matchAs a differential point, a seven-day return policy for certain purchases and the possibility of listen to streaming or download for offline playback. For those who value the one-time payment, purchased songs were not discounted from the quota from the free locker.
Transition to YouTube Music and migration tools
Over time, Google decided to unify efforts on its main music platform and Google Play Music is no longer availableThe company promoted the move to YouTube Music for streaming music now Google Podcasts for audio programs. To facilitate the change, a transfer tool which migrated libraries, lists, and preferences. Additionally, users could use Google Takeout to download a backup or delete their data if they preferred.
YouTube Music, as a replacement, has boosted features such as custom radios, lists selected by specialists, collaborative lists, and a deep Integration with Android TV, Google Assistant (Google Home and Nest speakers), and Google Maps player on Android phones. This way, the ecosystem maintains the value proposition of enjoying your music on any device, with editorial recommendations and curation.
Undoubtedly, Google Play Music It is a great addition that finally arrives in Spain, and of which we can get the most out of it if we are great music fans. An advantage over iTunesPlus, for example, is that this service is free, it does not require an annual or monthly fee, so it is really profitable.
Seen Engadget Android.
To this day, the evolution Google Play Music's rollout in Spain and Europe is seen as the evolution of a cloud-based streaming service with one-time purchases toward a service focused on on-demand streaming with greater cross-platform integration. Those who used Play Music were able to retain their library thanks to migration tools, while the current ecosystem continues to offer playback on all your devices and recommendations increasingly tailored to your tastes.