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| Google reveals Play Music All Access subscription service | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Google has unveiled a streaming music subscription service. | |
| Google Play Music All Access offers users the ability to listen to millions of tracks in addition to the ones they already own. The firm described it as "radio without rules". | |
| The facility is set to compete with Spotify, Xbox Music, Rdio and other similar products. | |
| However, unlike several of its rivals there is no free-to-use option beyond an initial 30-day trial period. | |
| Instead users face a $9.99 (£5.60) monthly charge to access a library containing millions of songs on their Android device or via a web browser. Early adopters are being offered a $7.99-a-month discounted rate. | |
| Pricing and availability outside of the US have not yet been announced. | |
| The news came at the firm's I/O developers conference in San Francisco. | |
| Streaming music | |
| All Access Music allows users to manually add songs to a playlist or allow a feature called Explore to offer them recommendations. Playlists can also include songs which the user owns which would otherwise not be available. | |
| One industry watcher suggested Google was wise not to offer an advert-supported free-to-listen option. | |
| "One of the things that has really slowed Spotify down is its freemium tier" said Alice Enders, a music industry expert at consultants Enders Analysis. | |
| "It helps familiarise people with a streaming music service, but it immediately means you are selling online advertising and that means in a fragmented market that you have to have local sales teams. | |
| "Let's face it, a freemium tier is a very expensive marketing device." | |
| However, another analyst said the service's success was not guaranteed. | |
| "This will be the fourth big music play that Google has launched over the years and every time they do it people get excited, because it is Google, but most of the products to date haven't had the massive impact people thought they would," said Chris Cooke from trade newspaper CMU Music Network. | |
| "I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that this is a Spotify-killer or a total game changer. | |
| "But what is interesting is that Google already owned the most successful music streaming service in terms of hits and revenue in YouTube - it's just that it comes with videos and doesn't integrate into Google Play". | |
| Video games | |
| Other announcements included new video game features for the firm's Android operating system (OS). | |
| They include the ability to synchronise a player's progress across different devices and the ability to compare scores on leaderboards managed via its Google+ social network. | They include the ability to synchronise a player's progress across different devices and the ability to compare scores on leaderboards managed via its Google+ social network. |
| It also announced a service to make it easier to write multiplayer games, but a tech demonstration failed. | It also announced a service to make it easier to write multiplayer games, but a tech demonstration failed. |
| The leaderboard feature will be offered to gamers playing on Apple's iOS devices or using web-based titles. | |
| Google also revealed new figures related to the growing popularity of Android. | Google also revealed new figures related to the growing popularity of Android. |
| It said that it had now recorded 900 million activations of the OS. That compares to an equivalent figure of 400 million revealed this time last year. | It said that it had now recorded 900 million activations of the OS. That compares to an equivalent figure of 400 million revealed this time last year. |
| In addition it said that more than 48 billion apps had been installed from its Google Play store and that on average users were spending two and a half times more on it than they were a year ago. | In addition it said that more than 48 billion apps had been installed from its Google Play store and that on average users were spending two and a half times more on it than they were a year ago. |
| Details of other innovations including an update to its Maps service and more news of its Glass augmented reality eyewear are expected before the end of the three hour presentation. | Details of other innovations including an update to its Maps service and more news of its Glass augmented reality eyewear are expected before the end of the three hour presentation. |