Google has taken a big step towards increasing the presence and credibility of its music streaming service YouTube Music by making it a pre-installed app for new Android 10 and Android 9 Pie devices that come with full Google services.
This simply means that most new Android smartphones will now come with YouTube Music pre-installed, and therefore replacing Google Play Music which used to be the default music player.
Ever since the launch of YouTube Music in November 2015, Google has operated two separate music services with the other one being Google Play Music, launched in 2011. Weirdly, YouTube also offered a subscription tier, originally called YouTube Red and rebranded later to YouTube Premium, which would provide access to both Google Play Music and YouTube Music. That’s not all, Google Play’s subscribers would also receive access to YouTube Premium. Plus as of last May, Google also allowed you to buy YouTube Music separately if you’d prefer. All so confusing!
The Mountain View, California-based company made the announcement of YouTube Music being pre-installed on new Android devices through their official YouTube blog. However, Google hasn’t specified which devices will have the app pre-installed but has mentioned that the Pixel series will be included in this new move. Presumably meaning that YouTube Music will be the default music player on these smartphones.
“Music fans on Android phones can now easily unlock the magic of YouTube Music, which will come installed on all new devices launching with Android 10 (and Android 9), including the Pixel series,” said Google.
Although for anyone who doesn’t have YouTube Music pre-installed, it can easily be installed through the Google Play Store. And even though YouTube Music will now be pre-installed on some devices, Google Play Music still remains an option for those who want it and can be installed through the Google Play Store.
“Music listeners with new Android 10 devices can continue to enjoy Google Play Music by downloading it from the Play Store and logging in to their accounts,” YouTube Music’s product manager Brandon Bilinski wrote in a blog post.
In comparison, Google Play Music also has a subscription tier but has a different music library and YouTube Music, on the other hand, gives users access to the entire catalog of music uploaded to the YouTube video streaming platform, giving both video and audio-only streaming for music tracks.
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