Steve Kovach November 14, 2016
Google Play Music, Google's music streaming service, is getting smarter.
On Monday, an update to the Google Play Music app will kick in a new feature that can predict what you want to hear next.
In fact, Google is so confident in the app's accuracy, that it completely revamped the welcome screen on Play Music so you can just tap to start listening to a playlist suited for you based on the time, your location, and a variety of other factors.
Google says it's able to accomplish this through machine learning, the technology that's starting to power a lot of intelligent services Google makes like Google Photos and the new Google Assistant. It also plays into Google's broader mission to use machine learning and artificial intelligence in all of its products.
Play Music won't know you right away, of course. It has to learn your habits over time and its recommendations will get better and better the more you use it. Elias Roman, the head of Google Play Music, told Business Insider that you'll notice the playlist recommendations get more accurate after just a few days.
The overhaul comes as competition tightens in the streaming music space. Google hasn't disclosed how many paid subscribers it has, but Spotify and Apple are clearly in the lead with 40 million and 17 million paid subscribers, respectively. Amazon also just launched its own paid streaming service. Google also offers another paid music service through YouTube.
The hope with Google Play Music's update is that it'll mark a key differentiator from other services, given that they all pretty much host the same music libraries and charge the same for subscriptions, $9.99 per month.
The update will be rolling out this week to Google Play Music on iPhone, Android, and the web.
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Google's streaming music service can now predict what you want to listen to next (GOOG, GOOGL) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach
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