Google beats Apple to it with streaming music service

With its $9.99/month service, the tech powerhouse makes its first move into a space already occupied by the likes of Pandora, Spotify, and possibly, Apple.

Google launched a music streaming service Wednesday, taking its first stab at the growing industry with a new service linked to Google Play for Android.
The All Access service costs $9.99 a month and you get a 30-day free trial. And it's launching Wednesday in U.S., with additional countries coming soon. If you sign up by June 30, you get it for $7.99 a month.
The move puts Google in direct competition with music streaming companies like Pandora and Spotify, and also potentially with Apple, which has been inching in that direction. Just last week, for instance, word came that Apple had reached an iRadio deal with Universal Music, though it still needs deals with the other major labels.
If Google launches an additional YouTube streaming service, the company could take advantage of the video-sharing network's position as a dominant, legal source of music, particularity for teens.

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Rumors about Google's new All Access subscription streaming service, unveiled at the Google I/O developers' conference in San Francisco, had been swirling around for the last few months.
Previously, Google Play users could stream music they bought from the app, but the new service would let people stream songs they haven't purchased as well. Users can now blend their songs with a catalog with thousands of other tracks available in All Access.
The service provides a never-ending list of related tracks that are also linked to your Google+ account. You can look ahead to what is coming next and if you don't like it, swipe the song away.
"We set out to build a music service that didn't just give us access to great music but to help guide you to it," Google engineering director Chris Yerga said.
Previous reports had Google signing deals with Warner Music and SonyMusic for streaming services on both YouTube and Google Play, according to reports, but it was expected that Google would launch its Android platform first.