Indications are that YouTube Red and Google Play Music are going to merge, eventually. It makes sense, since a Google Play Music subscription gets you access to YouTube Red and YouTube Red subscription nets you access to Google Play Music, but Google suspects that the majority of folks out there aren’t aware that the two music streaming services are intertwined and plans to merge them together.
Google made an official statement after The Verge reported on revealing comments made by YouTube executive Lyor Cohen during the New Music Seminar in New York. The word from Google is that it will be bringing these two products together, but for now, nothing will change, and we’ll all get plenty of notice before something does change.
In the meantime, if you weren’t aware that Google offers this buy-one-get-one free deal on streaming music and ad-free YouTube videos, well, now ya do.
Finally today, Android Auto users who also happen to be fans of the real-time navigation app Waze have something to celebrate – well, sort of. As of today, Waze is officially available for Android Auto, but this early iteration of the app appears to be buggy, according to comments at the Google Play Store.
If you’re not familiar, Waze uses real-time traffic reports and user data to help route drivers around traffic snarls using alternate routes, and lets users report police presences, road hazards, crashes and more. For most folks who use Waze, it’s necessary to interact with the app using your phone, which is now illegal in 15 states due to distracted driving laws.
By integrating Waze with Android Auto, however, the interface is moved to a dashboard screen, which requires little to no interaction to function. And interactions are made simple thanks to Waze’s work to restrict certain features like Map Chat, and make the app easy to use with huge buttons for reporting accidents and such.
It’s a step in the right direction for those who don’t care to use Google Maps. But until the bugs are worked out, it might be best to hold off on using it. Oh, and Bad news for CarPlay fans: It seems Apple isn’t interested in letting third-party maps apps into its coveted walled garden. So, you’ll have to keep mounting that phone on your dash and resist the urge to touch it.
