Google released their Google Podcasts experience in app form this morning to the surprise of Podcast lovers everywhere. Before now, Google had a podcast-collecting experience available in their Search app, but it wasn't particularly comprehensive. Now there's an app for that, and it's free, and we're expecting apps like Pocket Casts and Sticher to be ... disappointed, to say the least.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Tidal exclusive lasted less than 48 hours, with Everything is Love unexpectedly arriving across a variety of streaming services today. The album dropped over the weekend, sending Tidal subscribers - and new sign-ups - dashing to the streaming music platform partly owned by the pair.
Spotify is sending out a survey to certain users that contains an interesting question: would those users be interested in a data-only mobile plan from Spotify that includes the streaming service as a bundled feature? The company doesn't currently offer any such plans, but the question hints at a business idea Spotify has behind closed doors.
Spotify is dumping its controversial artist conduct policy, which saw R. Kelly and others denied promotion on the streaming music service. The company had launched its new guidelines around hateful content and conduct only a few weeks ago, effectively threatening to bury the music of artists with little route to recourse.
Back in October, Microsoft signaled its intention to pull the plug on Groove Music. The service officially shut down on December 31, 2017, but Microsoft kept Groove's mobile apps up and running so users could still access their uploaded music. Those mobile apps aren't long for this world, as Microsoft has announced that it will be retiring them later this year.
Pandora has launched a new premium family plan that gives subscribers access to higher quality audio with certain benefits including offline music access. The new plan allows for up to six individuals to access and use the account, bringing the total per-person price down to about $2.50/month. Subscribers can easily send invitations directly to family and friends.
This week we're taking a peek at the first release of YouTube Music Premium. That's not the same service as any one of Google's various Music-entwined services. Instead, it's an amalgamation of the parts that've worked for Google in the past. In our first look at this app and the full features it serves, I've come away cautiously optimistic.
Chinese company Fiio has launched a new high-res audio player called the M7. The new Fiio M7 model has a stylish, blocky design with both a touchscreen and physical buttons, as well as one big, important feature: USB-C. With this, buyers can use a pair of USB-C headphones with the audio player rather than traditional 3.5mm headphones.
YouTube Music's 2018 reincarnation just launched, and it's available for SOME users. If you live in the United States, Mexico, Austalia, New Zealand, or South Korea, you might be in luck. Today Google launched "early access" to YouTube Music for some users - but not ALL users.
Massive Attack's album Mezzanine is 20 years old. To celebrate, the band is working with scientists to store the album on DNA. Once coded, the band's classic album could last for at least hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years or longer. The technology that allows this was developed at ETH Zurich, and that's where the band went to get their business done.
Today Google "revealed" YouTube Music and YouTube Premium - but it's not that simple. This is a re-branding and a changing of the guard. Much like previous Google app products (we're looking at you, chat,) Google's released several products that are relatively similar. Today we're going to make sense of the whole lot.
![YouTube Music launch next week will test brand’s profitability [UPDATE: it’s official]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/youtube-iconsbkgd-980x594.jpg)
YouTube may be the household name when it comes to online videos and some music but when it comes to monetizing that popularity, it has nothing on Netflix, Spotify, or even Apple Music. YouTube Red was Google's attempt at turning the free video streaming service into a business, lumping together a variety of subscription-only features, whether you have need for all of those or only some. So far, however, it hasn't exactly taken off, pushing Google to launch a new YouTube Music service that will hopefully make things a bit less confusing.