Google Play Music Store Shuts Down In YouTube Music Transition

If there's one thing Google has been consistent with over the decades is that nothing is really permanent. It often changes names and brands but is also notorious for switching products or even discontinuing projects rather abruptly. Google's messaging services and apps have become the dominant example but the most heated discussions of late have come from Google Play Music users who are now being told that they can no longer buy tunes now that the Play Music Store has closed its doors forever.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise since Google gave the schedule back in August. And with its irreversible push to make YouTube Music its one and only music subscription service, the ability to buy songs for a service that will soon shutdown anyway makes little sense. The Google Play Music app is set to become inaccessible before the year is over.

Play Music users are now given three choices going forward. They can transfer their library to YouTube Music, with the understanding that the two are completely different beasts that may not have feature parity just yet. They can also opt to download their purchased music with Google Takeout should they want to retain access to the content they paid for.

Finally, they can also opt to just delete their Play Music library, losing access to those forever. If they don't do any of the above by the time the Google Play Music app becomes unavailable before the year ends, Google will automatically delete those anyway.

The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music hasn't exactly been smooth sailing but there is no turning back the clock. For its part, YouTube has been pushing out updates and new features to its Music subscription service to welcome Google Play Music users, at least those that haven't jumped the Google ship yet.