Great news for fans of music and unlimited streaming. Google’s Play Music service and app are now available for iOS.
My recommendation: download asap on your iPad and/or iPhone.
When it comes to my smartphone I’m all about Android. I’m on Nexus 5 now (excellent). Before that it was the Nexus 4 (mediocre), Galaxy Nexus (very good), and OG Droid (classic!). But it’s no secret that when it comes to tablets I play the field. Around the Stark Insider office we have all manner of slates, both big and small. The 2013 Nexus 7 is well-priced, fast. The Microsoft Surface? I have to tell you it’s growing on me. The iPad Mini is the finest tablet ever made, and with an 8-inch screen and 4:3 ratio it’s reigns supreme when it comes to content consumption. Plus, with Apple, battery life is ridiculously impressive.
So I find myself frequently hopping between Android phones and iOS-powered tablets.
Now that Google has made Play Music available for iOS my mobile music universe is coming together.
I test drove the new app on an iPad Mini and found all the goodness intact: great interface, gesture controls for song skipping, high bit rates (320 kbps ftw).
One major gap between the Android and iOS version is the ability to buy songs. You can’t use your iPad or iPhone to buy a song via the Play Music app. I think we all know the reason for that. Apple wants a cut of revenue. Just ask Amazon; Jeff Bezos knows a thing or two about working around that wall gardened model.
Still, you can pony-up $9.99 for a Pandora-like streaming service called “All Access”. It is, in a word: outstanding.
Along with Songza (review), and Play Music I’m able to tap into sonic pleasures wherever I am, and whatever device I am using, be it an iPad Mini on a flight, or a Microsoft Surface around home.