Skip to main content

Canada finally gets Google Play Music rollout

canada finally gets google play music rollout all access
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Canadian music fans rejoice – starting today, Google Play Music is now available to our northern neighbors, according to a post over at the official Google Canada blog. As in the U.S., Google is offering its cloud-based personal music storage locker for free to Canadians, too. While this alone makes Google Play Music a force to be reckoned with, users who upgrade to the monthly subscription fee will unlock its full potential.

Included in both the free and paid versions of Google Play Music is the aforementioned music storage locker, which allows for storage of roughly 20,000 stream-ready songs. However, those who pay up will be able to listen to and scan through Google’s All Access catalog, with millions of songs set alongside their personal libraries in a seamless interface, along with gaining access to other amenities. 

Shelling out the extra dough for an All Access account will net you the following features and capabilities:

  • Unlimited ad-free listening to millions of songs
  • Create personalized radio from any song or artist
  • Listen to radio with unlimited skips, and always see what’s coming next (Google added offline radio listening for All Access members in February)
  • Get smart recommendations based on your tastes

Every user – All Access and otherwise – can access their tunes with any Android or iOS device – or via browser – and “pin” specific albums, artists, songs, and playlists for offline listening.

As part of a promotional push, Google is currently offering a special launch price of $8 per month for its All Access subscription plan for all users in the U.S. and Canada for those who sign up by the June 30 cutoff. The price jumps up to a monthly $10 for those who sign up any later, which is on par with competing services like Spotify and Beats Music. Both price offerings also come with an initial 30 days of free service.

Google Play Music has begun to cement itself as one of the standard music streaming services that many hardware and software makers alike are baking into their products – Sonos’s multi-room speaker systems being one of the latest to do so. Check back here for the latest news as Google presses forward against Spotify, Pandora, Beats Music and others in the music-streaming battle.

Editors' Recommendations

Alex Tretbar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…
What is hi-res audio, and how can you experience it right now?
Dlyan Wireless Headphones

High-resolution audio, hi-res audio, or even HD audio -- whatever you decide to call it (for the record, the industry prefers "hi-res audio"), it's a catch-all term that describes digital audio that goes above and beyond the level of sound quality you can expect from a garden-variety MP3 file and even CDs. It was once strictly the domain of audiophiles, but now that major streaming music services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz have embraced it, almost everyone can take advantage of what hi-res has to offer.

But what exactly is hi-res audio? What equipment do you need to listen to it? Where can you download or stream it? And does it actually sound better? We've got the answers.
What does the term 'hi-res audio' mean?

Read more
How to download music from Spotify for offline listening
How to download music and podcasts from Spotify: The downloads folder.

If you're a Spotify Premium user paying that premium Spotify fee, chances are you've taken at least some time curating playlists, liking songs, and using the platform's easy-to-use (and recently revamped) user interface to discover new and old music.

But sometimes all that music or your favorite podcasts aren't available if you find yourself without an internet connection to stream them from — like on a long plane ride or weekend camping trip in the sticks. That's where Spotify's offline listening feature comes in handy, allowing you to download playlists, albums, and podcasts through its desktop and mobile apps so you can still rock out while you're off the grid.

Read more
How to switch from Spotify to Apple Music
Spotify and Apple Music transfer on a smartphone.

Spotify is the world's most popular music streaming service for a reason. It has a massive catalog of music and podcasts, is full of cool music discovery and sharing features, and is really easy to use.
However, with its recent price increase and the fact that it still hasn't joined most of its peers in offering a hi-res audio quality option, you may be considering jumping ship for its closest competitor, Apple Music, which counts lossless hi-res tracks, mind-bending spatial audio, Dolby Atmos Music tracks, and a catalog that rivals Spotify's among the many attractive reasons to switch.

But there's one problem: you’ve spent a lot of time creating playlists and marking songs and albums as your favorites in Spotify. Is it worth the switch? Will all that hard work be lost in translation?

Read more