Google
Music already competes with iTunes Match by letting you upload your
entire music library to the cloud for free, now it's after iTunes Radio
Google has updated its Play Music
app, allowing users to pin radio stations to devices and play them back
even when offline making the app a direct competitor to iTunes Radio which at present won't allow offline radio.
Before the update subscribers needed a data connection for
the app to work, but version 5.4 gives users the option to save stations
on their device and pre-cache whole stations while online to enable
offline playback.
Users need an all access subscription to use Google Plays
Music’s radio stations and the update does not allow offline playback
for the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ radio station.
The update could challenge Apple’s iRadio for dominance as
the radio app of choice, as the iRadio currently doesn’t offer an
offline playback option.
As well as offline radio caching, the Google Play Music 5.4
update fixes bugs and introduces an option to manage devices using the
app. previously after meeting the 10 device limit users had to visit the
web interface to manage devices.
A ‘Play Next’ button has also been added with the update, allowing you to conveniently manage playlists.
Google Play Music 5.4 is available from the Google Play Store.
