A full six months after Google initially launched the service on Android and web, the iOS Google Play Music app is here. The app gives access to both the standard ‘cloud locker’ Google Play Music service and as the All Access Subscription Service.
All Access is Google’s attempt to compete with the streaming music giant Spotify. I personally use it and find the service to be very good. It also allows you to download albums, not just playlists like Spotify. You can either choose individual songs and albums to listen to, or use the Radio feature. Unlike iTunes Radio and Pandora you can skip as many songs as you want. Of course, you do have to subscribe to this service at $9.99 a month. You can get a free month of All Access as a new user, so it’s worth trying out if you’re currently on Spotify or another streaming service.
The iOS application has faced months of delay. The app was initially promised to be released a few weeks after the Android app, but obviously they missed that deadline. Google blamed DRM concerns, namely the lack of Flash support for causing the delay.
