Google Play Music All Access has landed in Australia and New Zealand today, giving listeners full access to the firm’s subscription-based on-demand streaming service.
These are the first countries to receive All Access outside of the United States, where it was launched to coincide with Google’s initial reveal at its annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco.
The music streaming service will compete with the almost overwhelming number of existing entries in the market, such as Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music and Deezer.
Listeners in Australia and New Zealand can sign-up for a free, one month trial today before opting in for a $9.99 monthly subscription thereafter. For those who register after August 31, they’ll be locked in to a slightly pricier $11.99 monthly tier following the free trial.
The broader Google Play Music platform is an interesting amalgamation of other digital music applications and services. It’s a digital storefront similar to iTunes, giving users the chance to build their own personal (and rather more permanent) collection of records. In addition, it’s also possible for users to upload and access their existing library, thereby making it a single solution for music playback.
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Google Play Music All Access extends this further with an ad-free streaming service, as well as the ability to create ‘radio stations’, or infinite playlists based on a particular artist or genre, similar to Pandora or Last.fm.
The caveat for All Access is that it’s only available from the Web or an Android device. For those who are already immersed in the Google ecosystem, this shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s a huge disincentive for anyone with an iOS or Windows Phone handset.
Towards the end of May, Google’s Sundar Pichai confirmed that Google Play Music All Access would be coming to iOS in the following few weeks, but that promise is yet to be realized. A native app is inevitably in the works, but Google would be wise to release it before tackling any other major international markets.
Listeners in Australia and New Zealand can download the Google Play Music app for their Android device right now, or head over to the Web service to start streaming from their browser right away.
➤ Google Play Music | Android
➤ Google Play Music All Access (Web) | Australia | New Zealand
Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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