Something Old
Back in August, we learned that Google Play Music would be replaced by YouTube Music by the end of this year.
Now, that end seems to have finally come. If you try to open the Google Play Music app and it will tell you to transfer your data to YouTube Music. You can also download your music through the “Manage Your Data” button. Even the Google Play Music web client is officially blocked, offering a transfer to YouTube Music or a download/deletion of your music library.
Something New
In October, Google put a $1 billion plan in place to pay publishers that appear in the “News Showcase” carousel. The other day, Google News updated with some important additions.
First, Google’s plan pays publishers to provide access to some paywalled articles for free. This is a way for readers to get interested in the publisher’s content and possibly register/subscribe with the publisher.
In addition, News Showcase is currently available on iOS and will soon be available on news.google.com.
Google has over 400 publication partners, with many seeing much stronger reader engagement.
