Google Play, Google Play Music, Google Play Music All Access, YouTube, YouTube Music Key, YouTube Red, YouTube Music. Google doesn’t really care about keeping things simple, does it? Not only are some of those services just renamed versions of one of the other services, many of them do pretty much the same thing. It can be hard to understand if you haven’t been following Google’s new releases and renamings, which is why Lifehacker has gone to the trouble of explaining what all of these services do and how they’re different from each other.
Last week, Google launched YouTube Music to a few cheers, a few groans, and a lot of “don’t they already have a music service?” In fact, they have several: Google Play Music and YouTube Red, for starters. But don’t be fooled—they seem separate, but they actually complement one another. Between the new YouTube Music, recently-unveiled YouTube Red, Google Play Music, and the Google Play Store, no one could blame you for being a little confused about where you should listen to your music and where you should spend your money. Toss the old names for some of these services into the mix, like “YouTube Music Key” (now YouTube Red) and “Google Play Music All Access” (now just Google Play Music and both great examples of how badly Google sucks at naming things) and it’s no wonder people are confused. Even so, take another look at the big four there and you’ll see they really fall into two categories: YouTube and Google Play. The real question is where you like to get your music and how you like to listen to it. That’ll decide which of these two is best for you. Bonus: If you sign up for one, you get the other included in your subscription.
