Thoughts on Google Play Music All Access

Almost day dot since its being made available in Australia, I've been utilising a little service called "Google Play Music All Access". It mightn't be news to anyone who reads this, but it's essentially a pay-by-the-month music subscription service, much like Spotify - only users are able to combine music into playlists in conjunction with their own music library "locker", which can comprise of up to 20,000 songs.

I admittedly was apprehensive before I decided to take Google's 30 day free trial plunge, not because it was free - or that I was too stingy to fork out $9.99 a month, which is the current going rate for first subscribers, but because I was concerned I wouldn't be able to live without it.

What do I mean by that? Well, I've made no attempt to hide that I still often use my iPod either when I'm out and about, or at home on a cheap twenty dollar stereo dock. The reason being was because it was easy first and foremost, and it was offline. "Offline" is a key word here, because streaming music while out and about has its nasty drawbacks (as I will mention later on). Having all my own music on me was a major plus, along with a few favourite TV shows. But all good things have to come to an end unfortunately, and sometimes for the better. My iPod classic has a meagre 29GB left of its 149GB it shipped with. I've been meaning to move on for some time now - and Play Music does a fair job of filling that void.



I've migrated what I perceive to be my entire music collection to the cloud a couple of months ago - just to get a feel for how the online service operated, and sort out how I'd transition and grow accustomed to some of Play Music's more obvious setbacks in tow with upsides.

It was tough initially, and this was largely due in part to my own habits - being I often listen to music on shuffle, which is something more of a challenge if you're limited by your monthly data allowance. Having to make sure you have in mind (and download over WiFi) what you want to listen to for the day is rough, and it's not often I ever feel in the mood to listen to a particular artist. Asking a music player to "surprise me" is far easier and lazier for anyone, and it's the way I've been wired after years of listening this way. The chore of having to sift through my entire legitimate collection can be tiresome for someone who can never make their mind up, and without spontaneous selection, I usually end up listening to the same old songs and artists over and over. I need to be stimulated, and this is where All Access enters stage right.

I'm new to subscription music services, mostly because I am a student and up until this point, have been pretty tight with my wallet - that, and I held the belief that the industry was full of money hungry execs and producers at record labels, and there wasn't the need to spend a ton of money if a majority was going to the aforementioned instead of the artist / band. It's a pretty crafty way of saying I like to weasel my way out of buying things, and it's true to a point - I don't like to pay for all the music I love. I will (on rare occasion) purchase CDs of artists and bands I hold near and dear to me, but there's only so much love my wallet can give.

A measly ten dollars then, is a fair sum for access to essentially another realm entirely. It also puts an end to the guilt that's been burdening me for all these years, without the need for me to take up occupation in the poor house (at least for the moment).

From the get-go, you're presented with a plethora of artists, genres and eras that span well beyond my own years, which is great because I tend to live musically in the past, and there's no shortage of avenues for exploration and discovery of smaller bands of the past, and the odd gem along the way. Discovering for the first time a band that one may come to cherish over time is one of the single-most gratifying moments in many peoples' lives, and I certainly share the same sentiment. It goes beyond this however, allowing you to familiarise yourself with artist(s) / band(s) you may not have given much of a chance before - in my case, one of my best mate's favourites, Johnny Cash. Until very recently, within my general sphere of music I appreciate, country music placed rather low on my list of personal preferences, and was a genre I had to be in the mood for. This view is changing more and more each day with thanks to the service.

Not only that, but the "Radio" feature, which strings together a seemingly endless array of related songs into stations based on a particular song chosen by the user is a worthy substitute for the "Genius" playlists found in iTunes. Radio stations don't always hit the mark, but that's to be expected when a music service strings together songs outside of your own music collection, like for instance selecting an R&B song from Big Boi of Outkast, and to have it follow with 50 Cent, an artist I loathe on a whole nother level. Thankfully, songs can be removed from these playlists, and it makes up for mistakes in song selection that are out of the service's control.

Having the ability to add albums and songs to your own Play Music library is liberating, particularly knowing that ones' 20,000 song cap isn't inclusive of songs from All Access, and affords the opportunity for ones' lifelong music collection to grow and grow and grow.

If only data limits weren't as much a concern. Using All Access and Play Music in general out and about will incur hefty data penalties for most. In one day's usage, with streaming quality set on 'Normal', I raked in over 600MB, and this was something I only noticed when I was warned via text message by my carrier that I was dangerously nearing my often comfortable 1GB cap. One of the drawbacks to swapping between old handsets often is it's hard to grasp exactly what level of data you've utilised, and in my case, I was too late, and currently awaiting a slap in the face from my carrier in the mail.

Not only that, but there's a reason the option to download songs for offline use is restricted to WiFi by default - regardless of playback quality, any number of album downloads will not spare any data in delivering you some tunes to bop your head to. WiFi is the only way to go in these situations, unless you're extremely confident your data allowance will suffice for an entire months' usage.

Nevertheless, and in an effort to combat this somewhat, I'm exploring smaller operator vendors, and looking into more data friendly pay-by-the-month plans (which in my opinion is how it should always be).

Up until the point I signed up for Google Play Music All Access, my music library was in a state of flux. I was generally disinterested in finding new music, and couldn't be bothered going through the effort of getting hold of albums and songs. Not only that, but of the music that had piqued my interest, more often than not - their availability online was scarce or non-existent. Pirating ain't the same it used to be, and in its place we're being granted more affordable and legal options for stumbling upon, and adding tunes to our collections. I will most definitely continue my subscription to All Access for months, and years to come (provided it's still running far into the future).

For the cost of a lunch at most average restaurants, you can have millions of songs fed to you instead, and for that trade-off, I'm far more inclined to make myself a snack and take it with me to accommodate a service which satiates my appetite in other regards much longer.