Google Offers Free 4-Month Play Music Trial Subscription to Celebrate July 4th

[S3R6i0]

They better pay for four months of free Spotify on Android or I'll stomp my feet and hold my breath.

Must not be nice to not have responsibilities.

 

[tbayrgs]

Just playing around with the iOS app, and can't readily seem to find a way to create a new playlist. Can this be done?

Pick a song to start a playlist with, tap the triple dot menu on the right, will see an Add to Playlist option...go from there. You'll find the playlist under a 'Playlist' tab in your Library.

 

[alexmarchuk]

Now this is good competition, I'll try the product and if it performs in a way I like, that's how you accrue customers.

Good on you Google. Smart move.

 

[S.B.G]

Pick a song to start a playlist with, tap the triple dot menu on the right, will see an Add to Playlist option...go from there. You'll find the playlist under a 'Playlist' tab in your Library.

Sweet, thank you!

I was looking to start a playlist first then add songs.

Mucho appreciated.

 

[aloshka]

Your experience with the "For You" section would indicate to me that something went wrong when you were choosing genres/artists. You can always go back and re-do this. I do not see any of the aforementioned artists in my "For You" section.

As for Google Play Music, I am just now trying it w the trial. Oddly, I am having the same problem as you are with Apple Music. I selected some very not-poppy genres and artists, and all I'm seeing in the discovery section is Top 40 stuff I have no interest in.

Don't believe me? See screenshots below. I do not have a SINGLE pop, rap, country, or otherwise song. Today, Swift didn't show up because I right clicked everything of hers and clicked dislike. Tomorrow she will be on there 4-5 times.

Tell me how Beyonce is on my list? How is Britney spears? My favorites / liked songs are all artists like Rameses B (look him up on youtube and tell me how any of this shhh is even close).

I don't even have popular DJ's for electronic music. Only, and I mean only chillout songs, etc. I even tried deleting my entire library and that just made Rihanna and Swift and Drake show up more. So no, not making up.

Kelly Clarkson? Are you f**ng kidding me? How is that chillstep?

 

[coolfactor]

I tend to stay away from all things Google, but this is awfully tempting. Spotify and Apple Music are both pretty mediocre -- I'll probably give this trial a shot.

Mediocre? Are you suggesting that Google Play's library is much larger? (I figured Apple's library was bigger or the same size).

 

[aloshka]

Now look at Google music? See how most recommendations are show as "similar to Rameses B", "you've listened to this artist", "Similar to Mitis". These are artists I found about that I never heard about before and they are PERFECT.

 

[69Mustang]

Keep in mind Google knows everything they have ever even bothered to look at online in the last ten years even if your browser was set to do not follow.

There's a bit of assumption in your statement. The person I responded to may not even use Google. Even if they did, unrelated web searches have little to do with music suggestions. The music algorithm learns your preferences over time. In fact, it gives you the option to like/dislike recommendations on a more granular level by switching from thumbs up/down to a 5 star system, learning your likes in a more comprehensive fashion.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what you're implying with your comment. It doesn't seem to relate to music at all.

 

[samcraig]

I was a charter member - I pay 7.99 and it included YouTube Red. I have to say - Google Music, for my use, is a whole lot better than what I experienced with Apple Music.

 

[69Mustang]

5 minute, 5 weeks...doesn't matter.....

If that's your thought process, you're right, it doesn't matter. It just sounds like you want to complain about something, because nothing you complained about is required when using Play Music. If all you want is to listen to your own music and your own playlist, that's all possible with Play Music... for free. You can upload up to 50K songs, create your own playlists, and bookmark the tab to have that show first, again all for free.

 

[sleepydinosaur]

My music is analog. Though I use Spotify to audition potential purchases. Not paying for that though.

 

[viperGTS]

Please don't hate on me, I know this isn't the best place to write this and this is JUST my opinion. But I have been with play music for a month now (actually I'm doing youtube red basically 9$/mos gets rid of ALL ads on youtube and also gives you the music subscription) and I really love it and much much than apple music which I've been since it started.

It feels nice that the suggestions are spot on. I don't get Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake, Justin Beiber and Dr Dre non stop in my suggestions. I cannot reiterate how many times I have said "not interested" and "dislike" on Rihanna and Taylor Swift and every single day they show up in my "for you" lists. I get that they are popular, but I thought these were supposed to be based off our preferences and your "likes". And yes, I went through the "choose your artist" thing in the beginning and the suggestions are getting worse. Now I'm getting Kanye. Keep in mind, I don't have a SINGLE pop song in my list.

I think for majority of people that love rap and I guess Apple's real target audience apple music rocks. But I think if your taste isn't Taylor, Justin or rap, then Apple Music is pretty bad and will only suggest what Apple thinks everyone should like.

Google Music suggested that BS in the beginning too, which I get since I didn't have a library or any "thumbs up", but after 1 time saying I can't stand Rihanna and adding more songs/liking in my library, I don't see that sh.. anymore.

I get the privacy issue and the reason google suggestions are so powerful (they are an aggregate of everyone else liking the songs that I like, etc). But honestly, at least I don't feel like Apple being in bed with Swift is being forced on me.

Again, MY OPINION. Wondering if anyone else feels the same.. or if there is anyone out there that isn't in love with rap and whatever genre that Swift switched to recently to make more money.

The fact that you have to beg for people not to hate you because you favor a Google service is very telling of the majority of users on this forum. You are entitled to your own opinion and it's great that you found a service you enjoy!

 

[blasto2236]

Don't believe me? See screenshots below. I do not have a SINGLE pop, rap, country, or otherwise song. Today, Swift didn't show up because I right clicked everything of hers and clicked dislike. Tomorrow she will be on there 4-5 times.

Tell me how Beyonce is on my list? How is Britney spears? My favorites / liked songs are all artists like Rameses B (look him up on youtube and tell me how any of this shhh is even close).

I don't even have popular DJ's for electronic music. Only, and I mean only chillout songs, etc. I even tried deleting my entire library and that just made Rihanna and Swift and Drake show up more. So no, not making up.

Kelly Clarkson? Are you f**ng kidding me? How is that chillstep?

View attachment 638751 View attachment 638752 View attachment 638753 View attachment 638754

One look at your "Tell Us What You're In To" section tells me all I need to know about why you're experiencing this problem. You only picked one genre (electronic) and it looks like no artists have been selected. You need to complete this to get better recommendations under For You. Otherwise, you can like and dislike stuff until you're blue in the face. It only knows to show things from one genre with no artist selections made to know what you like.

Edited to clarify that AFTER you've done this, your likes and dislikes should change the overall display there accordingly.

Additionally, Apple Music in both iOS 10 and iTunes 12.5 takes a much more Google Play Music like approach to the discovery section, as far as how it displays the content (ie, "You listened to this, so we are showing you this") which does help clarify what's happening on the backend a bit more.

I'd also like to clarify that I am by no means trashing your decision to use GPM over AM. More power to you! I just know that it took some doing on my end to get this feature set up correctly, all the way back when this service was Beats Music, so I've had a bit of experience troubleshooting it.

 

[aloshka]

One look at your "Tell Us What You're In To" section tells me all I need to know about why you're experiencing this problem. You only picked one genre (electronic) and it looks like no artists have been selected. You need to complete this to get better recommendations under For You. Otherwise, you can like and dislike stuff until you're blue in the face. It only knows to show things from one genre with no artist selections made to know what you like.

I only picked that, because the rest of the choices are RAP, Country, POP. And the ONLY options for artists are Drake, Rihanna.

I'm not an idiot. If i had the options to choose artists that are not Taylor Swift I would. But there are no options at all. Electronic is the ONLY option that comes even close to non being rap or pop.

And the other thing you are assuming is that Apple Music ONLY suggests music based on this. So it's ignoring my entire library? It's ignoring the "Dislike this" that I click on a daily bases? It's ignoring my "heart" songs? Really?

Like I said, the only option that wasn't pop or rap was electronic. And for artists, there was only one that I could select and that was barely close to what I like. I had to unselect Taylor swift, rihanna & Beyonce and drake for the obvious reasons. And yet.. look?!? They are suggested.

So one look at this and you would think it would suggest more than just 1 artist that is electronic. Yet, ALL of the suggestions are pop & rap. You can't defend this clear cut evidence. Or are you saying Kelly Clarkson is electronic?!!?

 

[John Mcgregor]

Even if it was free for full year,

 

[aloshka]

Additionally, Apple Music in both iOS 10 and iTunes 12.5 takes a much more Google Play Music like approach to the discovery section, as far as how it displays the content (ie, "You listened to this, so we are showing you this") which does help clarify what's happening on the backend a bit more.

I'd also like to clarify that I am by no means trashing your decision to use GPM over AM. More power to you! I just know that it took some doing on my end to get this feature set up correctly, all the way back when this service was Beats Music, so I've had a bit of experience troubleshooting it.

I don't think you are trashing my decision. I'm just trying to show real evidence of how shi**y apple's music service is when it comes to suggestions. And I'm dying to see why Apple Music thinks Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce are things I'd be interested in. By the way, I even contacted iTunes support and their response was that the lists are innovative and the very first in the world that uses human created-lists and advanced algorithms, but sometimes they can get a song or two wrong...

 

[M. Gustave]

I think for majority of people that love rap and I guess Apple's real target audience apple music rocks. But I think if your taste isn't Taylor, Justin or rap, then Apple Music is pretty bad and will only suggest what Apple thinks everyone should like.

I don't like rap, and Apple Music has never suggested that I listen to rap. My "For You" feed is filled with Apple curated classical and jazz playlists, and they're actually really well done. It sounds like you didn't spend any time giving it a chance or adjusting your preferences.

Yeah "Beats 1" is for kids who like rap, but please don't make it out that Apple Music and Google Play are somehow worlds apart in how they function, because they're not.

 

[blasto2236]

I don't think you are trashing my decision. I'm just trying to show real evidence of how shi**y apple's music service is when it comes to suggestions. And I'm dying to see why Apple Music thinks Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce are things I'd be interested in. By the way, I even contacted iTunes support and their response was that the lists are innovative and the very first in the world that uses human created-lists and advanced algorithms, but sometimes they can get a song or two wrong...

I only picked that, because the rest of the choices are RAP, Country, POP. And the ONLY options for artists are Drake, Rihanna.

I'm not an idiot. If i had the options to choose artists that are not Taylor Swift I would. But there are no options at all. Electronic is the ONLY option that comes even close to non being rap or pop.

And the other thing you are assuming is that Apple Music ONLY suggests music based on this. So it's ignoring my entire library? It's ignoring the "Dislike this" that I click on a daily bases? It's ignoring my "heart" songs? Really?

Like I said, the only option that wasn't pop or rap was electronic. And for artists, there was only one that I could select and that was barely close to what I like. I had to unselect Taylor swift, rihanna & Beyonce and drake for the obvious reasons. And yet.. look?!? They are suggested.

So one look at this and you would think it would suggest more than just 1 artist that is electronic. Yet, ALL of the suggestions are pop & rap. You can't defend this clear cut evidence. Or are you saying Kelly Clarkson is electronic?!!?

I am not saying you are an idiot, but yes I am saying that Apple Music will not start taking your library and likes/dislikes into account until you have completed the setup, which your screenshots show you definitely have not done. Click next, pick an electronic artist or two, and the makeup of your "For You" section should change drastically. You have not finished the setup, therefore it is still set in a "default" mode, which is why you are seeing a bunch of pop stuff not relevant to your tastes.

Also, not saying that For You is perfect! I rarely find much in there that is new to me anymore. I find that Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists are vastly superior to what's on offer at AM as far as discovery goes. However, I still prefer AM overall, and it looks like there are major overhauls to the For You section coming soon, including the addition of a weekly discovery playlist.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Agreed! Google Play music easily beats Spotify and I'm so happy that it doesn't rely on crummy desktop applications and runs in-browser (albeit using Flash). I'd like a bit better sound quality from it, but GPlay is everything I ever hoped that iTunes/iTunes Match would turn into. YouTube Red is just gravy on top.

In addition to relying on a desktop app (itunes), I too didn't like the manufactured controversy between Apple and Taylor Swift. It felt really obvious and gross, so much so that I never activated the 3 month trail of Apple Music on my iTunes account. (I also didn't want my local library to get destroyed...)

I'm currently on a 1-month trial with GPlay, so now I wish I'd waited two weeks to sign up. Will be keeping this service anyhow... They really nailed it! (And I say that as someone who actively avoids Google if it all possible.)

I LOVE Google Play music.... the YouTube Red (ad free YouTube) and YouTube music make it even more worth it, and the music storage.

I have no issues with the sound quality. You can adjust it in the settings... as well as the quality of streaming music, and downloads are always higher quality.
[doublepost=1467591776][/doublepost]

No CD quality streaming no deal.

Then sign up since it does that... imagine if they had this thing called settings that let you pick the bit-rate.... oh wait, they do!

 

[aloshka]

I am not saying you are an idiot, but yes I am saying that Apple Music will not start taking your library and likes/dislikes into account until you have completed the setup, which your screenshots show you definitely have not done. Click next, pick an electronic artist or two, and the makeup of your "For You" section should change drastically. You have not finished the setup, therefore it is still set in a "default" mode, which is why you are seeing a bunch of pop stuff not relevant to your tastes.

Also, not saying that For You is perfect! I rarely find much in there that is new to me anymore. I find that Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists are vastly superior to what's on offer at AM as far as discovery goes. However, I still prefer AM overall, and it looks like there are major overhauls to the For You section coming soon, including the addition of a weekly discovery playlist.

I was just redoing that section to show you what I had selected. You keep saying take pick an artist or too. But what do you want me to pick? Taylor Swift or Rihanna or Drake or Dr Dre when those are my only options? Kelly Clarkson? I don't like any. I keep hitting dislike/remove and only new pop artists show up. Katy Perry. If you keep right clicking and saying don't like, eventually the screen goes blank and there are no options. So how do I finish this wizard when there are no artists that are no pop or rap?

Trust me, I have macs, iPhones, etc and I actually love iTunes/iCloud. I WANT this to work, but it doesn't. My point is that if you are not the typical, rap, pop or country person, you are screwed with Apple Music. Google seems to know there are more artists than just Taylor Swift (pun intended), Apple clearly doesn't. I think the people that love that sh** absolutely adore Apple Music because I can imagine those suggestions probably work for them. But running out of artists to select in the initial wizard because I don't like any of the top 20 artists is problem. And you are ignoring my comment about how Apple chooses suggestions. If Apple ignores your library, your likes, and the constant clicking of dislikes and only suggests artists that are on that initial set up (even if you said you disliked them), then that makes Apple music truly the worst music service there is. If that's all it does, why not just search for the artist you like and play them all the time.

You really can't defend this. There is just no options for Apple Music outside the typical stuff people like. The reason why it's popular is I really believe 90% of all people love Rihanna and Taylor Swift. Their net worth proves that.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

I think for majority of people that love rap and I guess Apple's real target audience apple music rocks. But I think if your taste isn't Taylor, Justin or rap, then Apple Music is pretty bad and will only suggest what Apple thinks everyone should like.

What a load of crap. My two primary music tastes are metal/hard rock/classic rock and synth pop. For You is uncanny in the recommendations it gives me. Please explain how this is possible when you're claiming Apple Music is only for people who like Taylor, Justin or rap.

I don't think you are trashing my decision. I'm just trying to show real evidence of how shi**y apple's music service is when it comes to suggestions.

You mean shi**y in your specific use case. Of the countless reviews of Apple Music there are a couple things that they have in common: there are bugs that need fixing, the UI is not the greatest, and the curation works excellent. For you to claim AM curation is shi**y because YOU'RE having a problem with it in no ways means curation is just plain bad for everyone.

 

[aloshka]

I don't like rap, and Apple Music has never suggested that I listen to rap. My "For You" feed is filled with Apple curated classical and jazz playlists, and they're actually really well done. It sounds like you didn't spend any time giving it a chance or adjusting your preferences.

Yeah "Beats 1" is for kids who like rap, but please don't make it out that Apple Music and Google Play are somehow worlds apart in how they function, because they're not.

They are worlds apart. I have been using Apple music since the beginning. Are you ignoring the screenshots I show? Or you think I'm lying and the other screenshot of the music I like is a lie? Would I really change my ENTIRE library just to try to make AM seems bad just for those forum?

I think AM is good for the typical user. Jazz is typical, sorry. Chillstep is not. If you don't like what everyone else likes, you are screwed. Google is WORLDS ahead/apart when it comes to suggesting things that aren't typical.

 

[M. Gustave]

You can burn through the content of some of their "radio stations" in a couple of days of regular listening though. Their selection is some genres seems pretty shallow. I'll probably cancel it at the end of the summer.

That was my experience also, when I tried it for a month last summer. Same albums and songs came up over and over again. It didn't feel curated at all, unlike Apple Music.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

I was just redoing that section to show you what I had selected. You keep saying take pick an artist or too. But what do you want me to pick? Taylor Swift or Rihanna or Drake or Dr Dre when those are my only options? Kelly Clarkson? I don't like any. I keep hitting dislike/remove and only new pop artists show up. Katy Perry. If you keep right clicking and saying don't like, eventually the screen goes blank and there are no options. So how do I finish this wizard when there are no artists that are no pop or rap?

Trust me, I have macs, iPhones, etc and I actually love iTunes/iCloud. I WANT this to work, but it doesn't. My point is that if you are not the typical, rap, pop or country person, you are screwed with Apple Music. Google seems to know there are more artists than just Taylor Swift (pun intended), Apple clearly doesn't. I think the people that love that sh** absolutely adore Apple Music because I can imagine those suggestions probably work for them. But running out of artists to select in the initial wizard because I don't like any of the top 20 artists is problem. And you are ignoring my comment about how Apple chooses suggestions. If Apple ignores your library, your likes, and the constant clicking of dislikes and only suggests artists that are on that initial set up (even if you said you disliked them), then that makes Apple music truly the worst music service there is. If that's all it does, why not just search for the artist you like and play them all the time.

You really can't defend this. There is just no options for Apple Music outside the typical stuff people like. The reason why it's popular is I really believe 90% of all people love Rihanna and Taylor Swift. Their net worth proves that.

Now I know you're either lying or just incompetent. I went into iTunes and selected Electronic and deselected every other genre until that was the only one left (as your picture above shows). I then clicked "Next" to go to the artist page and found a whole bunch of artists I never heard of before (since I'm not into Electronic). There was no Taylor, Justin, Dre or any pop or rap artists listed AT ALL.

Sorry, I'm calling 100% BS on your claim that the only choices you were presented with are "Taylor Swift or Rihanna or Drake or Dr Dre".


EDITED: Here's some of the artists I was presented with: ODESZA, Squarepusher, M83, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Tycho, Arca, Four Tet, Clasixx, Lunice...

As I said, I don't know who any of them are, but they're clearly not hip hop, rap or Justin or Taylor.

 

[blasto2236]

I LOVE Google Play music.... the YouTube Red (ad free YouTube) and YouTube music make it even more worth it, and the music storage.

I have no issues with the sound quality. You can adjust it in the settings... as well as the quality of streaming music, and downloads are always higher quality.
[doublepost=1467591776][/doublepost]

Then sign up since it does that... imagine if they had this thing called settings that let you pick the bit-rate.... oh wait, they do!

I could not find this in the settings. I saw a setting for "Mobile Playback Quality", where I could choose between "low, med, and high" for cellular streaming only. And no indication of the actual bitrate. This tells me the "High" setting for mobile is probably the default on Wifi, but I have no way of knowing what that is.