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Google Play Music All Access - Free 30 Day Trial + $9.99/Month before 31 August Aus & NZ

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Google Play Music All Access - Free 30 Day Trial + $9.99/Month before 31 August Aus & NZ
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Flyerone on 18/07/2013 - 17:30 play.google.com (980 clicks)

Despite the new look Google Play store being seriously lacking in features and function, (lets hope they fix it) Google have released the All Access service to Australia and New Zealand with a free 30 day trial. If you sign up and continue with the subscription before August you can keep it for $9.99/month after that it will be $11.99/month.

Google Play Music makes it easy to discover, play and share the music you love on Android and the web.

With our new All Access service (US), you can play millions of songs on Google Play, listen to radio with no limits, and enjoy playlists handcrafted by our music experts.

With both All Access and Standard, the Google Play Music app lets you listen to your music collection anywhere. All your music is stored online, so no need to worry about syncing, storage space or offline playback.
All Access features:

  • Listen to unlimited songs
  • Create custom radio from any song, artist or album
  • Enjoy radio without skip limits
  • Get smart recommendations based on your tastes

All Access and Standard features:

  • Add up to 20,000 of your own songs from your personal music collection
  • Access your music anywhere without syncing, and save your favorites for offline playback
  • Experience music without ads
  • Buy new music on Google Play (18M+ songs)
  • Share a free full play of the songs you purchase from Google Play with your friends on Google+.
  • Learn more about availability of Google Play Music at https://support.google.com/googleplay/?p=availability
  • Learn more about Google Play at http://play.google.com/about/music
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closed Comments

  • kaal on 18/07/2013 - 17:37

    I heard about this on the radio today. How is google music stream compare to spotify?

    • SydStrand on 18/07/2013 - 20:02
      +3

      I tried it for a month using a VPN trial and it's quite good. I think the interface on Android is better than Spotify and unlike Spotify, you can add whole albums to playlist (finally). Adding 20,000 of your own tracks to the cloud is also awesome.

      On the downside, releases seem to lag behind Spotify. I tried looking for the (then) recent Lady Antebellum album and Random Access Memories with no luck on Google Music whereas it was out for a week on Spotify. Google Music also has no official desktop client and has to be managed directly from a browser like Chrome if you're not on a mobile device. I think they both have different minor problems but I'm paying $3 more per month for Spotify and that might be a deal breaker. Also goes without saying that Spotify is available on almost every platform under the sun (even Windows Phone) whereas Google Music is not. You'll also lose the social feature of Spotify if you already have friends you follow there. I tend to listen solitary so that's not a big deal for me, but your mileage may vary.

      • hugs on 18/07/2013 - 23:07
        +1

        Just thought I'd throw in my two cents here.

        I've been subscribed since the day it was released in the US (signed up via VPN/US CC, never needed VPN to stream), and had similar experiences to you.

        I hatehatehate the Spotify playlist-centric approach to organising music, and much prefer the "I'd like to play this album now" feel of GPMAA.

        I also feel like the Spotify desktop app is really trashy, but then again I'm picky about my UIs.
        Since I'm invested in Chrome as an integral part of my OS/workflow, I have no problem with the desktop'd webapp deployed from the Chrome webstore. (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-play-music/…)

        I use an Android phone, and the GPMAA app is better, IMO, than the Spotify or Rdio apps. It's smoother, better designed, better flowing, and easier to get to what I want to listen to.

        GPMAA seems vastly superior to Spotify for my use-cases, especially since I'm paying $8/mo for GPMAA due to US earlybird pricing.

        • Wraith on 22/07/2013 - 16:15

          I'm in the same boat as hugs (early-bird US deal). Agreed on all points that Strand0410 and hugs have made. However, neither has made a big enough deal about how you can compliment All-Access with your own music. You see, I like some bands that aren't on these sorts of services (like AC/DC, The Eagles, Radiohead etc). But I own their albums. So, I can compliment the gaps in subscription services with my own music collection.

          The addition of "my library" to the service (and if you're a subscriber, you can add any album in the subscription to your library) helps Google learn your music tastes. You know how Last.fm gets good at finding new music for you? Well, I find that after only about two months, All-Access is doing that for me. And it's awesome. I don't even know what I'm listening to at work, it's like a radio station that constantly plays good music.

          Frankly, Google is better at finding new music for me than my friends on Spotify ever were, anyway.

          Downside of All-Access: It's still a little weak on Euro music. I'm sure that's short-term, but given how Euro-centric Spotify is, you may find some of your favourite artists missing if that sort of music is your thing.

      • theguyrules on 18/07/2013 - 23:57

        You've always been able to add whole albums to a playlist on Spotify, at least for the 12 months I've had it.

  • zelda707 on 18/07/2013 - 17:38

    seems ok, but i'm still waiting for google play gift cards!!!

    http://ausdroid.net/2013/07/10/google-to-expand-gift-card-av…

  • CyberGenesys on 18/07/2013 - 17:40
    -5

    The Android app is a bit sucky (at least on my phone). Crashes every time the wifi/data is turned on or off, and stops playing after about 30mins.

    • AzzaD on 19/07/2013 - 00:34
      +1

      must be your phone, works great on my galaxy nexus, nexus 7 and touchpad

    • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 00:43

      Working great On my Nexus 4 and 7. Instead of saying (at least on my phone) it would be more of a help to say what phone you have

    • CyberGenesys on 19/07/2013 - 11:32

      Perhaps I shouldn't have been so aggressive in my comment, seems that negative feedback on a product is not well received and sucky was too strong a word.

      I'll rephrase it, taking into account the replies:

      The Android app seems a bit buggy on some phones. For example, on my LG P705 the app crashes every time the wifi/data is turned on or off (even when the app isn't running, background services I assume), and stops playing after about 30mins. I suggest those intend to subscribe to this service trial the app first. The app is not very well rated and other users have listed other bugs such as device reboots.

      • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 11:47
        +1

        For example, on my LG P705

        That seems to be quite a low end phone, I'm think most apps won't work well.

        • CyberGenesys on 19/07/2013 - 12:08

          Agreed, but there is a difference between not working well and not working. eg di.fm works but lags up the whole device because it uses a stupid amount of memory ie not working well. gPlay music crashes, not because of the device's low end specs but because the data connection has changed. ie not working.

          Playing music is not a strenuous task, even the most basic of phones can achieve this.

        • eug on 19/07/2013 - 12:15

          If it works perfectly fine in other newer phones, maybe it's something LG did when they customized the software on your phone.

          Time for a new phone!

        • CyberGenesys on 19/07/2013 - 12:24
          +1

          Time for a new phone!

          That is so true :)

  • Jackolow on 18/07/2013 - 17:46

    is this purely a streaming system or can you put frequently played songs on your local hard drive and play it off that?

    Also does it work for older ipods?

    • Third_Gear on 18/07/2013 - 18:05

      Streaming only. IPod no.

    • gilbarc on 18/07/2013 - 18:52
      +4

      Yes, you can pin albums for offline playback.

      • Shwayne on 19/07/2013 - 00:54

        Not on your computer though, I hope they make some kind of client for it. :(

  • leonheart1 on 18/07/2013 - 18:11

    It was slightly cheaper if you got in when the US subscription first came out (8 USD p/m).

    You can also upload 20,000 songs and stream those for free.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2013 - 18:53

      Yep, my account is almost fully loaded. The upload speed is atrocious though.

  • Mister Plod on 18/07/2013 - 19:14

    Just tried this out for a bit. On Optus 3G, It used more than 1MB every 3 - 5 seconds of play time… For a country with pretty crappy data limits, this just isn't feasible. Good deal, but it's just not for me unfortunately.
    Also, WiFi (cable) used about 250MB in less than 5 minutes :|

    • eug on 18/07/2013 - 19:34
      +2

      1MB every 3-5 seconds? How are you measuring that?

      I just measured mine, over 4G a 4min 8sec song took up 8.53MB. That looks like a 256kbps file with a bit of overhead for data like album art and whatnot. The data consumption is normal.

      There are three quality modes for mobile streaming. I'm using the highest.

      • Mister Plod on 18/07/2013 - 20:10

        It shows up in Android's data usage for Play Music. 20MB all up under 5 minutes on 3G, 200MB in around 5 minutes on WiFi. Didn't see the quality setting, though it doesn't matter now.

        • eug on 18/07/2013 - 20:18

          It must have been doing something else. Did you check before playing the song and after playing the song?

          This is a good app to properly monitor data usage:
          https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radioopt.t…

        • Marty131 on 18/07/2013 - 20:20
          +1

          When I used it about a year ago, I found that it pre-downloads other songs in the play list / album… Was certainly data intensive.

        • hugs on 18/07/2013 - 22:56
          +1

          GPMAA on Android automatically pre-caches the next song or two in the playlist. He would have noticed 20MB for 5 minutes, because the first 3 songs add up to 20MB. The data-usage would have likely dropped to zero for the next five or ten minutes.

          It's a little bit smarter than this in that they've fixed it precaching unintelligently under certain circumstances. (It won't, for example, start pre-caching the next song if you're listening to one of those monolithic entire-album-in-two-track kinda things.)

          Although, as with all of these things, YMMV depending on flavour of desert and how badly your device manufacturer has borked the implementation of Android.

        • eug on 18/07/2013 - 23:00

          Ahh, that makes sense.

          I suppose the solution is to tap on the menu overflow button on your phone's playlist and select "Keep on device" while you're on wifi. Your whole playlist will be downloaded for offline listening.

    • serideth on 18/07/2013 - 21:50

      Yea that doesn't sound right, that means a 4 minute song will be ~48MB that's the same as a 92kHz FLAC file. Are you trying on your computer? If so Windows might be downloading updates or something is using your network in the background.

    • Shwayne on 19/07/2013 - 00:56

      It was probably pre-loading the song, it will download an entire song when you press play, not stream it 1:1 over the air.

  • cannedhams on 18/07/2013 - 19:40

    I tried it and it kept saying music temporarily unavailable, insufficient space, or some such.

    Just like everything Google, rough edges aplenty.

    • eug on 18/07/2013 - 19:42

      How much space free space do you have on your phone?

      • cannedhams on 19/07/2013 - 00:30

        about 700mb internal, about 15 gig on the sd card.

  • meatgasm on 18/07/2013 - 19:57

    Might be useful to set a reminder to do this on the 29/30th of august.

  • lbsyc on 18/07/2013 - 20:01

    Google music, Spotify and Sony unlimited, hmm choices choices

    • ragflan on 18/07/2013 - 21:29
      +2

      Being a PS+ member, I seriously want to like Music Unlimited from Sony because it works out to be only 50 bucks a year or around 4 bucks a month compared to Google Music or Spotify which are around 10 bucks and 13 bucks respectively. But it's very slow. Spotify starts playing music instantly and Google Play All Access takes around 1-2 seconds, whereas Sony's Music Unlimited takes around 10 seconds to start playing the first song, changing tracks takes around 10-20 seconds, and the flash plugin on their website crashes frequently. Similar experience with their Android mobile and tablet apps.

      I would say that Spotify, Rdio and Google Music have a great collection but Google Music offers a superior experience with better designed apps, and my own music collection can be uploaded as well. But like others have pointed out, Spotify seems to be quicker in adding new music than Google Music. It all depends on personal preference.

      But I'm happy that we finally have enough choice to be picky. Amazon MP3 being available in Australia is the last thing I could hope for from music services.

      • syme321 on 19/07/2013 - 08:40

        Agreed re Music Unlimited speed - I only really use it in offline mode where it seems fine, also don't have to worry about data limits.

  • plasmapuff on 18/07/2013 - 20:08

    How does this compare with Pandora which is free?

    • eug on 18/07/2013 - 20:16

      You can't listen to whatever song you want with Pandora. You can't create playlists either. Pandora is like a radio station, this and Spotify is more like you having your own private 10-million-song-or-whatever music collection.

  • deeevan on 18/07/2013 - 20:20
    +1

    I'll wait for my Spotify trial to expire before starting this. I assume the $9.99/month is paid via Play Store.

    Are there restrictions on what we can bill to our Telstra mobile account? ie. Have I found a use for my leftover prepaid credit?

    • Plentiful3271 on 18/07/2013 - 20:41

      Yeah you can bill it to your Telstra account… i'll be using this to burn up my unused prepaid credit.

      • leonheart1 on 18/07/2013 - 21:07

        How? I tried before and it didn't give me the option.

        Do you do it from the Google Music app? Or the browser?

        • rarelyscene on 19/07/2013 - 12:20

          Anyone able to answer this?

        • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 12:37
          +1

          I haven't tried it though I'm guessing you'd have to pay it through the app while using mobile internet as it has the same payment options when purchasing any other app.

          Edit: Maybe it doesn't work, http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1814881&p…

        • leonheart1 on 19/07/2013 - 13:06
          +1

          Hey shifty, turns out you can. When you go to the payment page from the Google Music app, you'll see this.

        • rarelyscene on 19/07/2013 - 13:57

          Thanks guys, was already trying it out so this definitely sways my decision to a yes.

      • deeevan on 18/07/2013 - 22:36

        So this is really $3.33/month? Woohoo!

      • rockman117 on 19/07/2013 - 17:15

        Can anyone confirm you can bill with telstra even if signed up with a VPN for US account for $8/month?

    • Flyerone on 18/07/2013 - 20:47

      Don't forget it will be $11.99 per month if you don't take up the subscription by 31st of August.

      • deeevan on 18/07/2013 - 22:44

        By take up the subscription by August 31 do they mean start the trial or start the 'Please take $9.99 from me'?

        And do you have to wait for the 30 day trial to end to be able to pay? When Cerberus became free, I was unable to get it on my existing account because I was still in trial mode.

        • Cyb3rGlitch on 19/07/2013 - 00:33
          +1

          Taking the trial starts the subscription, so I believe starting the trial on the 31st still gets you the discount.

        • Shwayne on 19/07/2013 - 00:57

          That is correct, you get whatever price you signed up for.

  • annoynimous on 18/07/2013 - 20:48

    all these music monthly services, do ppl really have time to go through that much in a month by month basis :O

    i lurve my 90's collection, no point listening to the garbage on radio these days

    • eug on 18/07/2013 - 20:53
      +3

      that's why you get these services - so you don't have to listen to the garbage on the radio.

      That said, I do like some of the garbage on the radio. :)

  • scotty on 18/07/2013 - 21:06
    -1

    Thanks. Just signed up the trial although the collection is a bit disappointing…

    Edit: After playing 2 songs I am getting "Unable to reach server"…

  • chris24803 on 18/07/2013 - 21:34
    +2

    MOG is also an alternative and is partnered with bigpond, so streaming is unmetered for Telstra users.

  • auna on 18/07/2013 - 21:46

    I'd rather mog. Unlimited streaming if you're a telstra customer. $11.99 a month.

  • uder on 18/07/2013 - 22:53
    +1

    Only issue with MOG is terrible Android app. iOS one is decent.

    • NoApostrophePlurals on 21/07/2013 - 03:01

      How horrible is the Android app! Luckily, I can forgive MOG as the app was actually developed by a class of Certificate II Information Science students as their first term assessment. Well.. that's what it seems like at least.

  • Ronnnie on 18/07/2013 - 22:58
    -6

    I like mog, you just download the songs, so if you are stuck on a long trip without reception you still have music to listen to.

    • eug on 18/07/2013 - 22:58
      +6

      You can do the same thing with Google Play Music and Spotify.

    • AzzaD on 19/07/2013 - 00:40
      +2

      you sound just like Apple announcing Android features and presenting them as unique (I know I'll probably get down-voted for this, but I couldn't help myself)

  • paloverde88 on 18/07/2013 - 23:02
    -1

    The 30 days trial is pretty standard, spotify does it, Mog does it Sony Unlimited does it and Pandora is totally free.

    • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 00:44
      +2

      The deal is more about the promo price which is $10/m instead of the $12/m it will be after August.

  • p3t0r on 19/07/2013 - 07:16

    Anyone know if Google Play Music allows for >1 device (my wife wants access!)? I know spotify allows for more than one, but whatever music you make available offline, is downloaded on both devices I think. I might have to experiment..

    • p3t0r on 19/07/2013 - 07:29

      ok, I tried listening to music on >1 device and it kicked me off my original source. damn it :(

      • rockman117 on 19/07/2013 - 10:30

        Oh really? That's disappointing because I share music with my bro who uses an iPhone so I've been waiting for the iOS app to release to experiment if it could work with two devices.

        Can anyone else get GPMAA into offline mode like spotify (so 2 devices could play simultaneously)?
        If not, I guess I'll have to swap back to spotify :(

      • eug on 19/07/2013 - 10:36

        Hmm, I'm streaming on two android devices and my desktop's browser, so that's three devices simultaneously.

        It's been about two minutes and listening to three songs at once is getting really annoying, so I might stop now. It hasn't kicked me off. Spotify does so immediately.

        I picked three songs that I definitely don't have the mp3s for.

        • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 10:56

          Hmm, I'm streaming on two android devices and my desktop's browser

          Aren't you using the same Google account though? p3t0r and his wife were probably using two separate accounts.

        • eug on 19/07/2013 - 11:16

          Mmm? The All Access pass is attached to only one account. You can't buy a pass for yourself and share it with another account.

          You can add more than one google account to a device though - I assume p3t0r added his account to his wife's phone.

  • wired00 on 19/07/2013 - 09:14

    how does this compare to the music.google.com service that i've had access too (sign up via VPN) for a few years now? I upload my music through google music manager and can then stream and play music either through browser or nexus device. Will this previous version of the service be cutoff or is the new streaming service separate and more like spotify?

    • scotty on 19/07/2013 - 09:17

      All Access is an extra service on top of Google Music. It allows you to listen to not just your own uploaded music but also Google's collection, similar to Spotify or Rdio.

      • wired00 on 19/07/2013 - 09:29

        Right thanks, the only service i've used which is similar is 8tracks not sure i'll bother with this one especially for 10 bucks

  • hluu0111 on 19/07/2013 - 09:24

    I don't like them taking my credit card detail, but it seems that I have to give it if I want to try it out …

    • eug on 19/07/2013 - 10:11

      Your credit card number is probably safer with google than it is with the random restaurants or stores you've used your card at.

  • Koolbargain on 19/07/2013 - 09:31

    I've got my songs stored in the cloud, and I can confirm this eats data like there's no tomorrow. Making it pointless in Australia's crappy data limits. So unless you've got unlimited or like 1GB+ I seriously wouldn't bother. In streaming about 30mins I used like 100-200mb easily.

    • Koolbargain on 19/07/2013 - 09:32

      Having said that, its great if you can handle the data usage

      • parta on 19/07/2013 - 10:07

        Looks like you can download the music you want to listen to while you are on wifi :)

        • Koolbargain on 19/07/2013 - 14:16

          yes this is correct..But you cant stream any song for offline listening later.

      • eug on 19/07/2013 - 10:12

        If you use playlists, you can download your playlist beforehand and store it on your phone.

  • Ronnnie on 19/07/2013 - 14:38

    Mog is free for me and thus beats any competition. I've used Spotify and rdio ect. Mog beats them all but only because it's free and data doesn't gets counted. Come back to when you have something as good and gives me money. :p

    • leonheart1 on 19/07/2013 - 14:56

      How do you get it for free? Do you have to use Telstra credit? Because you can also use Telstra credit for Google Music as well.

      • Ronnnie on 19/07/2013 - 16:01

        the only advantages i can see with this is fractionally cheaper, better ui?, bigger song library? and better quality (but that can also be a disadvantage). Streaming via mog is unmetred, which gives it a huge advantage over the other music streaming apps for telstra users.. I guess if you use boost or optus it might be viable alternative, but a lot more expensive.

        The only reason i mentioned the downloads in my original post, was I am surprised by how fast I could stack up a few hours music worth of music via mog vs the other music streaming apps. I used spotify and its slow, but obviously better quality. No way i could stack up a few hours of music in a few mins like i can with mog.

        Also they're apps that offer streaming for free, but they have crap ui and doubt are legal, but are in the playstore. They also have a lot more content than any of the paid subscription streaming apps. lol

  • Colombian on 19/07/2013 - 17:54

    Can somebody explain to me about Google Music Subscription? I have google music since they were launched in US and I uploaded something like 15gb in music. I have never paid anything for the service. If I want to continue using it after 31 August will I have to pay?

    Sorry, I have been trying to find some info but still confused.

    • eug on 19/07/2013 - 18:08
      +1

      Your setup won't change. With your setup, you'll only have access to the songs you've uploaded.

      This All Access pass is if you want a spotify-type service, i.e. you can stream or download (cache) any song you want from their library of however many million songs, for as long as you're subscribed.

      • Colombian on 19/07/2013 - 18:12

        Thanks eug. So I don't need it. I have enough with the music I have in the cloud or in my phone. I have never had the need for streaming services from companies like spotify.

        Cheers

    • ozhunter on 19/07/2013 - 18:09
      +1

      http://play.google.com/intl/ALL_au/about/music/

      Basically you can stream any song on from Google Music buy you don't actually own any of it. After August the All-Access subscription will increase by $2, you won't have to pay anything to listen to your own music.

  • loveyoulooongtime on 16/08/2013 - 11:16

    Trial is up today if you signed up on the 18th of July. Here's how to cancel:

    https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/3122088?hl=en-A…

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