Google launches family plan for Play Music subscription service

PanARMENIAN.Net - Back in September, Google announced that it would offer a family plan for its Play Music subscription service, and the company finally launched it Wednesday, December 9, Engadget reports.

Just like Apple Music, $14.99 every month will get you and up to five additional family members access to the Google Play streaming music library. That includes access to 35 million songs on demand, ad-free playback and the ability for each family member to stream simultaneously on their own devices.

This ends up being a better deal than Spotify if you want to get more than two people on the same plan. Spotify charges $14.99 a month for two family members and lets you add on additional users for $5, while Google and Apple both keep you at a flat $14.99 even as you add more people. In fact, Google Play Music has quietly become one of the best deals in streaming music. Beyond access to Google Play Music, a subscription will also get you the benefits of YouTube Red and will unlock the full features of the just-launched YouTube Music app. That's a pretty impressive deal for $14.99.

Google says that you should be able to sign up for a family plan on Android this week, and it'll work across Android, iOS and the web. We don't expect signups in the iOS app to go live (as Apple would take its 30 percent cut of that subscription revenue), but it seems logical that you'd be able to sign up over the web. We reached out to Google to check on that last point. If you've been waiting for this subscription option, just keep your eyes peeled -- users in US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France and Germany can sign up this week, and more countries should be added soon.