Google Home Owners Can Now Stream Songs They Uploaded to Play Music

[MacRumors]

Google has updated its Home smart speaker software so that owners can now listen to music they have uploaded to and purchased on Google Play Music.

Previously, using a free Play Music account through Google Home was limited to playing radio stations, while paying subscribers could listen to tracks in the streaming service's own online catalog. But now both types of account holders can also play music they have personally uploaded to the cloud (up to 50,000 songs) or bought outright on the Play Music store.

As detailed in the company's product forum post, Google Home will now prioritize uploaded and purchased tracks over radio mixes when users ask to play a certain artist, but on-demand content will play before purchased/uploaded content unless paying users specifically ask Home to play something from their library.

The feature is currently rolling out to all regions where Google Home is supported. See Google's help page on the subject for more.

Article Link: Google Home Owners Can Now Stream Songs They Uploaded to Play Music

 

[sshambles]

Good news for Google fans. I'm still buying a HomePod.

How/Why is this on MacRumors? iOS news I can understand, but this? Simply because it rivals a future Apple product? It's a bit of a stretch.

 

[fullauto]

Surely you’ll be able to Airplay your iTunes library to the the HomePod.. I don’t believe it will be exclusive to Apple Music (for long anyway).

 

[deany]

If its as good as Amazon Music Unlimited and a Dot, Google Home users are in for a real treat.

Alexa is very accurate, been testing the last few days on a 4 month trial.

 

[44267547]

Good news for Google fans. I'm still buying a HomePod.

How/Why is this on MacRumors? iOS news I can understand, but this? Simply because it rivals a future Apple product? It's a bit of a stretch.

Macrumors doesn't just report Apple related news. They also report competitor news and technology related articles alike. If you look back on previous main page articles, you will see they report news on a lot of different topics electronic and technology related. Not everything is about Apple and it's nice to know what else is happening in the technological word around us.

 

[MacModMachine]

If its as good as Amazon Music Unlimited and a Dot, Google Home users are in for a real treat.

Alexa is very accurate, been testing the last few days on a 4 month trial.

Alexa....is very crappy.

i have both , google home is far far better.

 

[groovyf]

I *really* hope the HomePod can connect to the music files stored on my Mac Mini server (via iTunes), and play anything in my library...

 

[deany]

Alexa....is very crappy.

i have both , google home is far far better.

Not sure why you are saying Alexa is "crappy" I get pretty much 100% success rate in tests with Amazon Music Unlimited.
Also very high % on basic queries.

I have a middle English accent, UK based, do you have a local to your area or early year upbringing twang?

 

[Scarpad]

I agree Alexa has always been spot on for me. since i'm a prime user $7.99 is a good deal for the service. Although it does'nt let you uploaad your own stuff unless you pay $24.99 a year

 

[Winni]

I agree Alexa has always been spot on for me. since i'm a prime user $7.99 is a good deal for the service. Although it does'nt let you uploaad your own stuff unless you pay $24.99 a year

Well, you can upload 250 songs of your own stuff without paying that extra fee -- and that extra fee gives you space for 250,000 songs. If you prefer to OWN your music instead of always streaming it, then these 25 bucks are not unreasonable, and you don't need to subscribe to a streaming service (that will offer the majority if not all of your music either, which would make the cloud space redundant and obsolete).

I guess it's about the individual use case and what fits your needs best.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I *really* hope the HomePod can connect to the music files stored on my Mac Mini server (via iTunes), and play anything in my library...

Well, you know TV has been out of a very long time now and has had many software updates. Our own local video content indexed by iTunes running on a Mac in our homes can easily be searched via voice control Siri.

Oooops, that's not true. Still waiting for Siri search of our own video content indexed by iTunes.

But let's have some faith that Siri will be able to search for our own audio content indexed by iTunes for a brand new product still several months from launching.

 

[T5BRICK]

Good news for Google fans. I'm still buying a HomePod.

Good for you?

How/Why is this on MacRumors? iOS news I can understand, but this? Simply because it rivals a future Apple product? It's a bit of a stretch.

Not everyone has the same wants/needs as you. I own Apple products. I also own Google products. I also own Amazon products and Microsoft products. When it comes to streaming from one device to another, in my experience at least, Google Casting beats Airplay in almost every respect. I prefer Google music and voice assistant over Apple Music and Siri.

If you don't want to read about what the competition is doing, then don't.

 

[hotgril]

I never tried very hard to understand Google's iTunes-equivalent services. Too confusing, and they've killed off previous iterations of their services too frequently, as they're infamous for doing. This stuff is supposed to be simple. Meanwhile, I've had the same iTunes library since 2003, and I can play music from YouTube same as before.
[doublepost=1499966315][/doublepost]

Not everyone has the same wants/needs as you. I own Apple products. I also own Google products. I also own Amazon products and Microsoft products. When it comes to streaming from one device to another, in my experience at least, Google Casting beats Airplay in almost every respect. I prefer Google music and voice assistant over Apple Music and Siri.

If you don't want to read about what the competition is doing, then don't.

Just because you like Google's services doesn't mean this is relevant to Apple and belongs on this site. But I think this one is relevant enough to be on the side bar.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Not sure why you are saying Alexa is "crappy" I get pretty much 100% success rate in tests with Amazon Music Unlimited.

Alexa is crappy because Apple has rolled out an Alexa competitor product... so naturally all competing products are instantly deemed crappy and similar. I think it's some kind of paramount rule.

There was a time when many of us gushed about the greatness of Spotify... BEFORE Apple decided to bite into that space. Then Spotify had to have more and more things wrong with it as part of doing our part-time job of supporting a corporation no matter what that corporation wants to do.

There was a time when many of us gushed about Google Maps... BEFORE Apple decided to try to bite into that space.

Apple could roll out Salsa... or Toilet Paper... or Automobile Tires... and theirs would immediately be anointed far superior to the existing Salsa, TP and Tires on the market... all of which would quickly become "crappy", "abominations" that "99% don't want" (anymore).

Par for the course.

 

[44267547]

Alexa....is very crappy.

i have both , google home is far far better.

In your opinion. Completely subjective based on experience. Your views are not shared by everybody else's, both devices have advantages and disadvantage is to each other.

 

[mwd25]

Well, you can upload 250 songs of your own stuff without paying that extra fee -- and that extra fee gives you space for 250,000 songs. If you prefer to OWN your music instead of always streaming it, then these 25 bucks are not unreasonable, and you don't need to subscribe to a streaming service (that will offer the majority if not all of your music either, which would make the cloud space redundant and obsolete).

I guess it's about the individual use case and what fits your needs best.

Not only that, but if you have a significant amount of music on your iphone, at least I have everything that I'm currently listening to, Amazon Music app can access all of it while in "offline" mode. So you can play all of that through your echo too for just being prime member. You dont need to even be paying for Music unlimited. I'm someone who already own the majority of music I want and as I'm already a prime member, their Amazon music app I get for free already works for me. So to get access to that and all my own music is perfect. I also have yet to have any issues with Alexa.

 

[melendezest]

Just because you like Google's services doesn't mean this is relevant to Apple and belongs on this site. But I think this one is relevant enough to be on the side bar.

Most Google services are available through my Macs and iOS devices.

It is relevant.

I find it a bit silly to assume that all Apple users have pure, Apple-only environments. Especially when it comes to music.

For example, in my family's use case all my household PCs are Macs (17 & 15 cMBPs and a 27" iMac), a Windows 7 work PC, I have a few older Apple tvs (I rarely use), a Playstation 3 or 4 in every room with a TV, 5 assorted Sammy Galaxy phones, and a first gen (useless) iPad and a 10.5 iPad Pro, and my only sources of entertainment are Netflix and Prime (along with YouTube and the rest of the Internet).

I need something that plays well with everything, so that leaves Apple out in some areas.

 

[MikeAnd]

We just unplugged our Google Home. All we used it for was setting timers, but after two epic failures in not that many uses – once it lost track of a secondary timer, and the second time it just froze up entirely during a timer – it lost all utility.

 

[hotgril]

Most Google services are available through my Macs and iOS devices.

It is relevant.

I find it a bit silly to assume that all Apple users have pure, Apple-only environments. Especially when it comes to music.

For example, in my family's use case all my household PCs are Macs (17 & 15 cMBPs and a 27" iMac), a Windows 7 work PC, I have a few older Apple tvs (I rarely use), a Playstation 3 or 4 in every room with a TV, 5 assorted Sammy Galaxy phones, and a first gen (useless) iPad and a 10.5 iPad Pro, and my only sources of entertainment are Netflix and Prime (along with YouTube and the rest of the Internet).

I need something that plays well with everything, so that leaves Apple out in some areas.

Well yeah, you can use anything cross-platform with Apple's stuff. You can also use the same exact thing with Windows or whatever else, so there's nothing Apple-specific here.