As expected, Google focused mainly on three new devices at its press event yesterday: its new Pixel smartphones; the Google Home smart speaker; and a Daydream View virtual reality headset. The smartphones look like polished iPhone 7 rivals, Home’s $129 price makes it strong competition for Amazon’s Echo, and the Daydream View is a very interesting (and fabric!) successor to Google Cardboard, with plenty of support from developers already. But for Music Ally’s purposes, there was also interest in the way Google’s music and video subscription services are baked in to some of these devices. When Google Home goes on sale in the US in November, it will come with a six-month membership to YouTube Red “making it the best way to listen to music from YouTube at home: Access a nearly endless catalog of music from YouTube just by using your voice. All you have to do is speak the name of a song, artist, or genre you want to hear and Google Home will play it”. So an audio device with no screen is paired with YouTube Red rather than Google Play Music out of the box, which is curious. The latter service will be bundled with the Pixel smartphones as a three-month trial, however. In theory, having one service gives access to the other, although we’re checking whether that applies to the new devices.
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Tools: Kaiber
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