Google is shutting down another popular service, nearly nine years after its launch. Google Play Music, a music streaming and podcast service that also provides cloud hosting for users’ entire music libraries, will no longer be available by the end of 2020.
On Tuesday, Google began sending out notifications to Google Play Music users to invite them to transfer their library to YouTube Music, which will absorb Google Play Music and consolidate the two services into one.
Both mobile and browser-based apps will allow for the seamless transfer of music libraries, playlists, and settings to YouTube Music. For the time being, both services will remain accessible, giving users ample time to make the transition to YouTube.
The major difference between Google Play Music and YouTube Music is that ad-free or offline experiences on the latter will cost users $9.99 a month. This might be a tough pill to swallow for those accustomed to Google Play Music’s service that included those perks for free.
YouTube Music also offers access to song lyrics and allows up to 100,000 personal tracks to be uploaded to the music library, an increase of 50,000 over Google Play Music. Playlist length has also grown from 1000 songs to 5000.
Source: YouTube Official Blog