The music streaming industry in India is still not quite developed as compared to other nations, that have the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, but we have our own Saavn, Wynk and Gaana to satiate our needs. Apple Music is available in India now but did not quite take off as expected.
What India needs is an app that can play music on poor networks and not gobble up much data. However, such an app is not in the works in the near future, and we can only hope Google launches a music streaming service like that. However, for the time being, the software giant has launched Google Play Music Store in India, which allows you to purchase music and store it offline.
The music store has been available in a lot of other countries, so the service is not something new. The app Google Music on Android is the default music player that comes with a music store options, which had been disabled until now.
Having personally used the music app, I am quite excited about the Play music store as it is allow me to purchase music within the app itself, without downloading other third-party apps. A lot of Android users might be using Saavn, Wynk and Gaana for the same, but I am more of a Google Play Music user.
Unfortunately, right now you can only purchase music on the store, and not the subscription service, which ideally is cheaper. However, the subscription service will definitely come to India as more and more users join the bandwagon.
Google Music vs. The Rest: Price Comparison
Considering there are so many music streaming apps in the market now, it is hard for one to differentiate itself from the rest. Usually there are a host of songs in regional languages, and many international ones. Google Music Store also follows a similar philosophy, with a lot of international songs.
With Google Music, if you have purchased the music, you don’t need to have data afterwards to listen to it (as the song can be downloaded and listened to on the device), so that is a big plus. The song prices start at Rs. 15 and can vary depending on the artist. The albums also start at Rs. 30 and can go higher as the number of songs increases.
Since there is no subscription service for Google Play music in India yet, we can only compare individual song prices. Wynk has music starting at Rs. 5, whereas Saavn has music downloads starting at Rs. 10. Both these services have attractive plans starting at Rs. 99 per month.
If Google Play Music really wants to make an impact then it must offer subscription services, as it seems to have been priced a little higher than the industry standard, and better integration with YouTube and other similar services. Wynk, Gaana and Saavn already have the segment heated and a new entry will not harm their services much. And, what goes against Google Play music is the fact that they don’t offer free streaming of songs as of now, which many of incumbents offer.
In any case, it is good to see Google focussing on the Indian market. Let us see how the company prices its subscription service, as we figure out how much value it is adding over its competitors.
…yes, but I tried it, and unfortunately it’s *tracking* you – the first thing it did was to take me to a “login” page!! The last thing I want is for fukking *GOOGLE*, a corporate giant with a bloody AIRPORT of it’s own, to know what music I listen to – and if they start doing streaming, then *when* I am listening to what song!! Never in 3 lifetimes will I ever USE this thing, and neither should you!!