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Google Play Music on Android updated w/ free ad-supported streaming radio, interface tweaks

After introducing a new free tier of Play Music radio this morning, Google is now rolling out an update to the Play Music Android app to add support for the feature. As we reported this morning, Google’s new free streaming radio feature is supported by ads and they are now present in the Android app with this update.

The ads appear in the form of banners at the bottom of the screen, pop-ups, and large videos. There are certainly a lot of ads and many users will obviously been annoyed by them, but the good news is they don’t interfere with playing locally stored music, only using the radio functionality.

Alongside the addition of ads, today’s update also integrates the Playlists and Radio labels into the My Library section of the app, removing them from the navigation drawer. The New Releases label was added to the navigation drawer, however, as was the Browse Stations button.

Other various changes include new artwork for radio and activity playlists, a new splash screen when you open the app, and some minor interface tweaks.

The update is available now on the Play Store, although it appears to be staged, so it may take a little while to hit your device.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Email: Chance@9to5mac.com

Chance currently writes for both 9to5Google and 9to5Mac, in addition to 9to5Toys.


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