RIP Google Play Music, 2011 – 2020

Article note: I still haven't found an alternative I like as well, nothing else has the "local content first-class mixed with streaming library" behavior that GPM had. YT music, especially on mobile, is a shitshow. At least they fixed the commingled history issue, but the UI is unusably sparse, everything is slow, getting basic "play album" "play artist" gets interrupted by random youtube bootleg trash...

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  Goodbye, Google Music. Flower emojis are welcome and may be placed in the comment section below. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

Google Play Music died last week. We've known this was coming for some time, and nothing ever happens across the entire Google user base all at once, but many bereaved Google customers are reporting a total loss of life for Google Music. For me the store is gone, speakers no longer work, the app is dead, and the website is dead. It's all gone.

The shutdown wave seems to be rolling across the Google Music userbase as you read this, and even if you still personally have access to some parts of the service, you probably won't have much time left to say your goodbyes. Google Music, born May 10, 2011, will leave us after nine wonderful years.

The service will now join Reader, Google+, and countless other products in the great Google graveyard in the sky. Covering the Google news beat in this day and age basically means running a full-time funeral parlor, and just as we did for the death of Google Inbox, we're here to peacefully guide Google Music into the afterlife with a proper send-off. Thank you for being here today as we celebrate the life of Google's trailblazing music service.