Google Play Music is officially dead, with YouTube Music standing firmly in its place. The newer music streaming service has been billed as the successor to Google Play Music for some time now and, naturally, has several superior features. However, there are some areas that may make users wish they could still stream via the now-defunct service.
Google announced that YouTube Music would be taking over back in August 2020, officially starting the countdown for nine-year-old Google Play Music. To help with the transition, Google created a transfer tool that allowed users to migrate their music libraries, preferences, and playlists over to YouTube Music. By December 2020, Google Play Music had shut down, though the transfer tool is still temporarily available before any trace of the service disappears completely.
Among the improvements YouTube Music has over Google Play Music are a fresh and modern interface and the inclusion of music videos for songs. Google Play Music, however, had a simpler search functionality for some and was a better option for casting to third-party devices like Sonos speakers. YouTube Music is ultimately the better service and that's a major reason why Google chose it to be its lone music streaming platform. But Google Play Music still had some nice perks that unfortunately were laid to rest with the service.
What YouTube Music Can Still Learn From Google Play Music
YouTube Music has already adopted several of Google Play Music's more sought-after features, including the old service's ability to provide users easy access to their personal music libraries. YouTube Music also took most of the themes of the Google Play Music user experience and gave them a much-needed aesthetic boost. Additionally, YouTube expanded the capabilities of its free version compared to Google Play Music's, allowing users to stream content for free as long as their display is turned on and the app is pulled up. Google Play Music, by comparison, took a more limited approach by only allowing listeners to access what were essentially random mixes of music for free.
To better compete with other services like Spotify or Tidal, however, YouTube Music may need to take a page out of Google Play Music's playbook. While YouTube Music can cast to Chromecast-compatible devices, the ability to stream to products like Sonos speakers and other connected speakers is an important feature to many. Google Play Music let users stream music to Sonos speakers directly from the Google Play Music app, something that's not currently possible with YouTube Music. With the cost of Sonos and other whole-home audio products consistently being driven down, it would make sense for YouTube Music to introduce the kind of simplified integration that Google Play Music listeners enjoyed for years.
Source: Google