Google Play Music

[Dane Trethowan]

So I took some time to do a very basic explore of Google Play Music from 
an Android point of view this morning and I very much liked what I saw.


You can use Google Play Music on your PC with Google Chrome - that's the 
easiest way - or download the IOS App if you want to use it on your 
iPhone etc.


I can tell you that Google Play Music seems to be the most versatile and 
best value for money when it comes to music services on the Internet, if 
Google Play Music doesn't perform the music function you're after then 
it probably isn't too far away or you just haven't found that function 
yet and its waiting to be discovered.


Google Play Music has its subscription component allowing you to play 
unlimited music but that's only the beginning, if you have a sizeable 
music collection then you can upload it to Google Play Music, up to 
50,000 soungs so that's quite a collection.


The audio quality is excellent, far better than Pandora and yes, Google 
Play Music can act as Pandora does when playing tracks, remember those 
"Tumbs Up" and "Thumbs Down" buttons to programme Pandora to your 
musical tastes? Google Play Music has them too.


So that's where I am with Google Play Music thus far and perhaps other 
list members have gone further than I have.



--

**
Those who don't need help are prepared to help themselves

Re: Google Play Music

[Dane Trethowan]

Hi There!

Regarding the PC first, the only way to use Google Play Music from a PC to my 
knowledge is to use the Google Chrome browser, I don’t know of any third party 
client that will support it however on the Android platform there are a variety 
of different methods you can use apart from the actual App itself though I am a 
novice in this department.

If anyone would be interested in following the discussion - or even following 
along with the discussion of Android and its accessibility, various products 
etc then you can subscribe to the vi-android list at
> vi-android-requ...@freelists.org 
> Type subscribe in the subject line.

Anyway I did my exploration of the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S6 
using Android Lollypop as Samsung haven’t yet rolled out the Android 6.0 update 
but I was very pleased with the level of accessibility found in the Google Play 
Music App.

Again, I’m only starting out with Play Music and I’ve probably only scratched 
the surface but I was certainly able to search for the music I was after, play 
the songs I wanted, add these to a playlist and do other manipulation, find out 
about the artist, make the songs available offline and so on, in short a good 
start.

As to what has more content? I appreciate your opinion and comments of course 
Mary however I’ve heard comments about which has more than what all too often.

An example, I know someone who thinks Apple Music is the best thing since 
sliced bread and couldn’t find some material when looking one day.  A mutual 
friend of ours found that material on Spotify so could it be that it pays to 
have a finger in every pie if you love your music?

I’m a subscriber to Spotify too though I don’t use it as much as I really 
should but having said that the subscription has paid for itself well over and 
over by now, Spotify has been there whenever I’ve been after that particular 
track in a hurry, hearing something on the radio for example and not having 
enough iTunes Credit available, that sort of thing.

I think the big question will be for me whether I’ll give up iTunes and the 
associated Match/Cloud services in favour of Play Music, Spotify etc or keep 
them all.


> On 23 Jan 2016, at 9:34 AM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> I haven't tried google music on a pc. I'm not interested in learning
> yet another browser with its add in screen access methods, no thanks,
> chrome vox. And I don't agree that google music is the best of the
> services. I think apple music has it beat. I have tried google music on
> an android device, actually two of them, both running marshmallow, and
> since I find the android experience much less efficient than the ios
> one, my opinion is based in part on that. Apple music on android isn't
> all that much fun either. but their selection is greater than google
> music's, imho. I have found a lot of stuff on apple music that I
> couldn't even search for on google music, given the issues I have on
> android with text typing and editing. On the other hand, if you're a
> youtube person, you get youtube red or read, not sure how it is
> spelled, as part of your google music subscription. So, no ads. I don't
> do much youtube, so for me, that wasn't a draw. But the ease of use and
> huge selection of out of the way stuff I find on apple music makes it a
> big value for me. depends, I guess, on your devices and how you want to
> access stuff and what you want to access.
> 
> Mary
> 
> 

**
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the 
halfwits in this world behind.

Re: Google Play Music

[Mary Otten]

I haven't tried google music on a pc. I'm not interested in learning
yet another browser with its add in screen access methods, no thanks,
chrome vox. And I don't agree that google music is the best of the
services. I think apple music has it beat. I have tried google music on
an android device, actually two of them, both running marshmallow, and
since I find the android experience much less efficient than the ios
one, my opinion is based in part on that. Apple music on android isn't
all that much fun either. but their selection is greater than google
music's, imho. I have found a lot of stuff on apple music that I
couldn't even search for on google music, given the issues I have on
android with text typing and editing. On the other hand, if you're a
youtube person, you get youtube red or read, not sure how it is
spelled, as part of your google music subscription. So, no ads. I don't
do much youtube, so for me, that wasn't a draw. But the ease of use and
huge selection of out of the way stuff I find on apple music makes it a
big value for me. depends, I guess, on your devices and how you want to
access stuff and what you want to access.

Mary

Re: Google Play Music

[Dane Trethowan]

Just to clear up something, vi-android meaning Android for the Visually 
Impaired and not for the Samsung S6, Nexus p6 etc.

The list is a fairly low traffic list but the great thing is that the people on 
the list - just about every one - knows exactly what they’re talking about so 
there’s a huge pool of knowledge both to be tapped and to contribute to.

I renewed my iTunes match for another year last week, that service has saved my 
bacon so many times not to mention making the organisation of my Music library 
across IOS devices so much easier.

I have documented how I use the Match service to help me find better versions 
of recordings I have sampled from LP or managed to get from other sources, for 
that reason alone iTunes Match is worth its weight in gold.


> On 23 Jan 2016, at 10:58 AM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> I wasn't aware that there is another android-related list for the VI.
> I'm familiar with the eyes-free list, which is a google group and has
> lots of traffic. I don't see myself giving up iTunes match. I have a
> lot of stuff in there, and Apple recently raised the song limit to
> match others, so no problem there. I suspect it depends on what you're
> looking for as to which service you like better. There were some folk
> on the android list, which has a certain anti-apple tone to it rather
> often, who admitted that in their view Apple Music had more songs than
> Google. But the impression you get from an unsuccessful search or the
> opposite undoubtedly contributes to the opinion.  I had spotify for a
> while and dropped it. Same for Pandora. My pc is old and not connected
> to anything in the house, not even via airfoil. So even if I were
> interested in google music from the pc, it wouldn't be this pc. 
> 
> 
> Mary
> 
> 

**
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the 
halfwits in this world behind.

Re: Google Play Music

[Mary Otten]

I wasn't aware that there is another android-related list for the VI.
I'm familiar with the eyes-free list, which is a google group and has
lots of traffic. I don't see myself giving up iTunes match. I have a
lot of stuff in there, and Apple recently raised the song limit to
match others, so no problem there. I suspect it depends on what you're
looking for as to which service you like better. There were some folk
on the android list, which has a certain anti-apple tone to it rather
often, who admitted that in their view Apple Music had more songs than
Google. But the impression you get from an unsuccessful search or the
opposite undoubtedly contributes to the opinion.  I had spotify for a
while and dropped it. Same for Pandora. My pc is old and not connected
to anything in the house, not even via airfoil. So even if I were
interested in google music from the pc, it wouldn't be this pc. 


Mary

Re: Google Play Music

[Mary Otten]

I figured you meant visually impaired, not 6. The list I am referring
to that is a google group is also for the blind/vi. 

Mary

Re: Google Play Music

[Dane Trethowan]

Well the more lists we have then the merrier.

The vi-android list is based in Australia so that means without a shadow of 
doubt that its very good - if not brilliant - .

> On 23 Jan 2016, at 11:56 AM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> I figured you meant visually impaired, not 6. The list I am referring
> to that is a google group is also for the blind/vi. 
> 
> Mary
> 
> 

**
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the 
halfwits in this world behind.