Why Google Play Music Won My Time, Attention, and Money
Google designed the music app I’ve always wanted.
A few days ago, my friend Paul Armstrong wrote about his frustrations in finding a new streaming music provider in the wake of Rdio’s collapse. The TL;DR version is that Paul is reluctantly going to go with Spotify, despite his view that “If Spotify’s design were a taco, it would be from Taco Bell, and consuming it will give you hate shits.”
About a year ago, I started to get the sense that Rdio was in bad shape and decided to bail in search of a more permanent home for my music. That means I have about a 12 month head start on most of the folks who are suddenly scouring the internet in search of a not-crappy music service. And let me tell you what: I’ve found one. It’s called Google Play Music, and it’s fantastic.
Now before I tell you why I love Google Play Music, let me set the stage a bit by telling you that it isn’t going to replace all the things you loved about Rdio. Google Play Music isn’t a social service. You’ll never see what your friends are listening to, or read reviews, or share playlists (or at least rarely). (If those sorts of features are your main draw, stick with Spotify.) Google Play Music is, however, the best designed and most personally tailored music service available today.
So having gotten that out of the way, let me tell you what I dig about it.
Material Design makes Google Play Music a joy to use
I know, I know. Not everyone likes Material Design. It’s controversial — and it’s certainly a huge departure from Rdio’s aesthetic. But a lot of people (myself included) love it, and if you’re one of those people you’ll love Google Play Music.
As has become the trend with all of Google’s products, Play Music’s apps are essentially consistent across platforms. You could move between the web app, the iOS app, and the Android app and never really notice the difference. In every context, the app is easy to navigate, light on clutter, and offers strong visual hierarchy, etc.
The Listen Now view
“Listen Now” is probably the single most important part of Google Play Music. With it, Google is trying to help you decide—well—what to listen to now. And it’s damn good at it.
I often find that even though I know what I like, I don’t always know what I am in the mood for. I’m busy working, or driving, or whatever, and I just want some good music. Now. Google gets that, and instead of presenting me with a long list of albums, or suggestions about what my friends are listening to (both of which require me to make a considered decision about what to choose), they offer me essentially three options:
- A set of mood- and activity-driven radio stations powered by Songza (more on that below);
- A reverse-chronological selection of the stuff I’ve listened to recently, in case I’m still in that headspace; and
- A series of recommended albums and radio stations—some from my library and some I’ve never heard—based on my listening history.
I would venture to say that I choose what to listen to from these recommendations about 70% of the time. They’re that good.
A service built on machine learning, not on “social” discovery
One of the things that makes Play Music’s recommendations so good is that they’re based entirely on my own listening habits. There’s no “social” component to the service (you can’t follow friends, etc.), and that means that I’m not being bombarded with every friend’s bad music choices, recommendations about what to listen to based on my friends, etc. Instead, Google’s constantly learning what I like and helping me explore new artists in that space.
I know that the social aspect of Rdio was one of its biggest successes, and as such it’s one of the things that people leaving the service are most looking for. But Spotify’s half-assed approach to social just isn’t the same—not even close. And my view is that I’d rather have a highly-tailored personal library than a junk drawer of other people’s playlists and “currently listening” info.
Frankly, most of the people I know on Facebook don’t share my taste in music, and Spotify makes it so hard to find people who do share my taste in music that their “social” features feel like more of a nuisance than a feature. With Google Play Music, none of that is an issue. It’s a totally different approach, and it’s executed wonderfully.
A station (playlist) for every moment, powered by Songza
As I mentioned before, one of the core features of Google Play Music is its “stations” — which split into three categories:
- Curated playlists powered by Songza, which Google acquired in July 2014;
- Suggested playlists based on artists or albums that you like; and
- User-created stations (much like any other streaming music service would offer).
But it’s the Songza stations that really stand out. If you’re not familiar with the approach, let me walk you through it.
First, Google Play Music will offer you a few moods/activities that are appropriate to the day of the week & time of the day/year. These are not a fixed set of choices, and vary throughout the day. And they’re surprisingly spot-on.
Once you’ve picked an activity—I chose “unwinding”— you’re presented with a few genres to choose from. I chose “Mellow Indie.” (Don’t judge.)
Lastly, you’re offered a choice of three (no more, no less) different “stations”—i.e., playlists—to choose from.
In more than a year of using the service, I’ve consistently found the quality of curation in these stations to be exceptional. Whole days go by when this is the only way I listen to music. It’s one of my primary methods for finding new artists, etc.
“I’m Feeling Lucky Radio”
Alright, so the curated stations are fantastic. And they’re timely and appropriate to your taste and the time of day. Cool. But like I said before: sometimes I just want some music and I don’t want to think about it. I just want something good. Now.
Well, Google’s got me covered with “I’m feeling lucky radio.”
This is like a “magic station.” Based on what you like—the stuff in your library, the stuff you listen to, etc.—Google will make a personalized radio station just for you. And every time you click the button, it’ll refresh the station.
For me, sometimes it’s 80s music. Sometimes it’s indie. Sometimes it’s pop punk. Movie scores. Etc. It’s genuinely random, but it’s always good, which is the perfect feature for those times when you honestly just don’t know what you want.
You can bring your music with you
I don’t personally make extensive use of this feature, but it’s a big deal: Google lets you upload your own MP3s to your Play Music library, and those tracks (or full albums) will be available for streaming anywhere. That means for you audiophiles who’ve spent years building up iTunes libraries of obscure, hard-to-find music, you’ll finally be able to access it in the cloud.
What’s striking to me about this is that Google’s “limit” is 50,000 tracks. Fifty thousand. Spotify, by comparison, seems to cap your personal library at 900 albums. That speaks to a fundamental difference in approach between the two services: Spotify wants to make your experience about playlists and tracks, while Google wants to make your experience about building a personalized music library.
Plus, a bonus: if you’ve bought Taylor Swift’s “1989” you can upload it to your library and play it anywhere. I know. I did.
The Bottom Line
Honest to God, I could go on and on listing “little big details” that I love about Google Play Music (like how it automatically caches streamed music on your mobile device so your recents are available offline, whether you’ve manually saved them or not), but I think you get the point. I’m a big fan of the service.
Before you hop from Rdio (R.I.P.) to Spotify, do yourself a favor and try Google Play Music for a month. Don’t just settle for the service you actively disliked only a week ago. Google’s approach is different—no doubt about it—but I think you’ll like it.
