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Google Play Music got a huge new upgrade today that you’ll definitely want to get your hands on. The first thing you’ll immediately notice is a new material design layout, giving us a taste of what’s to come in many of Google’s other apps once they’re all updated and ready to go for Lollipop’s eventual launch. The makeover includes a much cleaner look and a redone Listen Now page that makes it easier to find recently played tracks and albums and discover new music.
Also loaded up in this update to help you discover new music is Songza integration. The company — which Google bought last year — employs the expertise of dozens of music artists, DJs and experts who curate lists of music that go perfect with an activity or mood. You can be treated to a playlist that’s perfect for working out, or get a load of music that’ll help cheer you up on a bad day. Pretty neat way to find some new music and help you through any situation you might find yourself in.
Unfortunately the activity-based suggestions are only available for Canada and the United States at this moment in time, though the changes on the Listen Now page should be available for all countries where Google Play is available. Just head to the Google Play Store to get your download, and if it hasn’t shown up yet then we’ve got you covered with this handy APK download link. Let us know how you’re liking it!
[via Google]
This article: “The company — which Google bought last year”
Linked blog: “This is our first integration with Songza, a company we acquired this summer”
Glad you provided the link so I can read the real deal.
Recent Activity is a much needed add.
Already using it, love it!
Will this new layout come to the ios version of google play??
And its live…
you just got flagged good buddy!
Love it :D
Odd, mine has the Orange band at the top. How come yours has the album cover up to the status bar?
Yeah that is odd, the orange bar goes away when I scroll to the top. It reappears once I scroll past the album art. I posted that by the way, disqus is weird, thought the picture didn’t show up at first, so I was going to delete and repost, but instead of actually deleting the post it just gets rid of your name…
Min has nothing got on the status bar
The status bar isn’t matching orange :(
It’s not supposed to.
I didn’t expect it to, but it would be a lot prettier if it did. And look at the screenshot in the article. I’m guessing that’s because of Lollipop, but it would be nice if they were orange in the KK version too (if that’s the difference).
I don’t think KK has an API for a solid status bar color. And in Material Design, the status bar is supposed to be darker. I agree, it’s bit jarring at first but you do get use to it.
There are plenty of apps with a colored status bar in KK. Look at Pushbullet. Or an app Phandroid wrote an article a few days ago, OneCalc.
http://phandroid.com/2014/10/13/onecalc-material-design-calculator/
But that’s not a solid color, that’s the weird translucent status bar that KK introduced. You mean the app does that shading instead of a solid slightly darker orange on KK? If so, I agree that sounds gross.
No, its solid black. I’m assuming that colored status bars the same API, no matter the shading, or at least similar, because on HTC devices its solid, as a part of their skin. There is also an Xposed Module that allow you to change the shading type.
http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.woalk.apps.xposed.translucentstyle
Ah, but I haven’t seen any apps in KK have a solid bar without Xposed. Perhaps it’s just part of Sense that allows that. Perhaps it is new and you have to have Lollipop. Oh well, since most devices that have KitKat will probably be updated to Lollipop it won’t matter to much. Also, the module probably does some modifications. Perhaps all of my hypothesis are wrong. Who knows.
Songza is my favorite app for listening to app generated play lists. I have been waiting for this news since we first heard that Google purchased Songza.
I do not see the update on my Nexus 5 device :(. Any ideas why? I have it on my web app, but not android app….