At yesterday’s “Google For India” conference, the Internet giant that just turned 18-years old announced a slew of initiatives for the Indian users. Interestingly, Google didn’t mention anything about the Play Music in India at the event yesterday, but has silently made the service live. The Play Music is currently offering single songs and albums with DRM rights, something that Wynk Music player has been doing from quite some time. The single songs are priced at Rs 15 while the albums are priced anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 140. For the sake of context, streaming apps like Gaana let you download unlimited songs by paying up Rs 100 every month. The songs are categorized into Best of Bollywood, Indian Pop Hits and also regional languages. Tracks can be purchased by either punching your Google Password or by using Fingerprint authentication.
However, the Play Music still misses out on the option to let Indian users stream the music on their device by paying a monthly subscription fee like Spotify or Apple Music. The streaming option is available in 63 countries across the world including Australia, Brazil, European countries, New Zealand, Russia, the US and the UK. The subscription at these places costs $9.99 which seems to be a bit steep considering the Indian context. Personally, it kind of makes sense to download the songs since I am not connected always and the offline playlist is a boon when you are on that weekend road trip and want to jam along.
Google’s other Indian-centric initiatives included a YouTube Go which will not only let one download the videos to view it in offline mode but also transfer the same using Wi-Fi direct. The Google Station program is aimed at providing Wi-Fi hotspots at public spot including cafes, malls, and railway stations. And also a new version of Play Store which is optimized to be used on slow connections.