Google is in the process of consolidating its music streaming services — a few months ago the company launched a tool that would allow Google Play Music users to migrate their data to YouTube Music. And now Google has announced that it will begin shutting down Google Play Music in September.
That’s when the service will go dark in New Zealand and South Africa. It’ll shut down in the rest of the world in October. And if you don’t plan to transfer your data and/or want a backup, you’ll have a little more time to download everything — Google Takeout will offer Google Play Music data downloads through December, 2020.
If you want to use the Google Music Manager desktop application to do a bulk download of music in your Google Play Music account, you should probably do it soon though. That app will stop working later this month.
YouTube Music has picked up many of the features found in Google Play Music. You can use the service to stream online music and music videos, create playlists, or use it as a cloud storage locker for uploading and streaming your personal music collection.
But there’s one thing you won’t be able to do anymore: purchase and download MP3s. While Google Play Music was a hybrid service that combined streaming and an MP3 music store, Google has gone all-in on streaming with YouTube Music.
You can either stream music for free using the ad-supported version of YouTube Music, or pay a subscription for an ad-free experience. The basic subscription price is $10/month, but there’s also a $15/month family plan and a $5/month student plan.
via Android Police, 9to5Google, and Engadget
Don’t forget that, at least for now, YouTube music is included in YouTube premium.
Thank you for the update – the migration tool actually works for my account now and I was able to move my music over.
It’s a shame they’re going all-in on streaming, but not really surprising.