It's Tuesday afternoon, and whether you're stuck at the office, driving the kids to a playdate, or home sick, Google Play Music now has a curated playlist to fit your mood.
The tech giant is putting its summer acquisition of music-streaming service Songza to use. Starting today, Music All Access subscribers will be prompted to play music for a specific time of day, activity, or mood, based on Songza's algorithms. Whether waking up for the day, hanging out with family, or unwinding alone, tap the appropriate selection, and you'll find several station options to match.
"Each station has been handcrafted—song by song—by our team of music experts (dozens of DJs, musicians, music critics, and ethnomusicologists) to give you the exact right song for the moment," Google Play Music product managers Brandon Bilinski and Elias Roman wrote in a blog post.
Users can download their favorite stations for offline listening, see what song is coming up next, and add, remove, or reorder tunes to suit their tastes.
The new feature—available in the U.S. and Canada on Android, iOS, and the Web—is accessible only to All Access subscribers. Take the premium system for a test drive with a 30-day free trial, then pay $9.99 per month for all-you-can-listen access to more than 30 million songs, as well as your own saved library.
As part of today's update, Google also redesigned the "Listen Now" page, adding cards for recently played tunes, new releases, and radio stations based on your listening habits. Look for it in the 45 countries where Google Play Music is available.
This move comes a week after Google launched its next-gen Android operating system, Lollipop, which will arrive first on the new Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet.
For more, see PCMag's review of Songza. Also check out our 2013 interview with co-founder Elias Roman and Why Google Bought Songza.