Google Play Music All Access - The First Week

Okay, so I've dived head first into GPMAA and been trying to survive on nothing else. If you want a run down on the Aussie launch head here.  So how is it shaping up?

First up the web based computer client is definitely easy to use. The search function is very speedy and intuitive with the ability to play full albums or create a radio station just a quick click away. The radio is definitely a highlight due to the playlist being made available to view and edit. Pandora take note. The player seems to be a little temperamental at times with occasional interruptions when opening other applications and having issues when sharing bandwidth. I also spent an afternoon where it simply disconnected and no amount of poking could get it to play again.

So how does the mobile app shape up I hear you ask. Well it is nearly a complete copy of the desktop version with all features available. A quick dive into the settings gives you tick boxes to restrict downloads and streaming to Wi-Fi only which is great given that Australia is not really up with mobile quotas and speed. The search works much the same, if a little slower, on the phone. Oh and it's Android only at this stage but there are rumours of an iDevice version. You can search and flag stuff for offline play on the go and it will automatically download one you're hooked back into the Wi-Fi.

I have headphones with a remote button as well as a Bluetooth compatible car audio system and GPMAA dealt with both smoothly.

I managed to amass a considerable library of tunes within a couple of days, including an impressive amount of Aussie content, and then the first cracks began to show.

I hopped in the car on Sunday morning and it wouldn't play leaving me stuck with the radio like some primitive barbarian. I investigated when I got home and the error was that there was insufficient space available to play music. I checked the storage and sure enough I had filled up the internal SD card on my phone. Since I have a large external card for media I investigated the options for using the big space left after I had removed the music that was previously living there... only to find out there are no options short of rooting my phone and doing some serious tinkering with the file system.

As I wanted internal source for other apps to use I removed a stack of the offline stuff and put some of my own music back on the external card. GPMAA picked it up and I could seamlessly use both the subscription and my own music easily, until the default android player started trying to muscle in when I used my headphone controls.

Enough rambling, if you are skimming this then stop and pay attention now!  It's time for some pros and cons.

Pros

• Big library of music that is easy to manage
• The ability to upload your own music (up to 20,000 songs) if some of the tunes you like are missing
• Being able to see a playlist of upcoming songs on the radio feature
• Android app almost identical to desktop client
• Integrates well with various remote control devices
• A simple tick box to restrict downloads/streaming to Wi-Fi only
• The ability to queue up music out an about and have it automatically download when you get back home
• 1 month free trial

Cons

• No option to use external SD card for storage
• App can have conflict with the native Android music player
• No remote managing of phone files, ie being able to send songs to a registered mobile from the desktop client
• No option to leave a certain amount of storage space free, especially an issue since it won't play if your card is full
• Does not obtain artwork if it is missing on your personal music
• No way to specify what folders it should watch on your phone, so if you have games that use mp3 files then expect that stuff to show up in your playlist
• Horrible name

Overall I do like GPMAA and with a few improvements it would definitely be a much more appealing option. I shall persevere and dig deeper to see if I can resolve some of the cons before my free month runs out.