It’s been almost a year since Google’s YouTube introduced its music-focused subscription service called Music Key. Look’s like the company will follow a similar re-branding as it did by renaming Play Music All Access to Google Play Music Unlimited. Reportedly, Google is turning Music Key to ‘YouTube Red’.
According to a report by Android Police, an update to the YouTube app includes text that describes a product called YouTube Red as the service that enables background playback, a feature that has long been restricted to Music Key (and Music Unlimited) subscribers.
The phrasing which has been changed only in a single piece of text is used in two places; one will be via a notification the first time a user navigates away while playing a video from the app and second, as a dialog box when re-entering YouTube. The change in wording appeared in a tear-down of YouTube v10. 37.
A snapshot of the YouTube app that includes text which describes a product called YouTube Red (Image: Cody Toombs via Google+)
Music key has been in beta version since last November. Re-branding the service and opting for a simpler name could imply that the company is ready to declare the subscription is no longer in a testing mode. Looks the company is aiming for a simpler publicity, especially after Apple Music was widely advertised in the past few months.
As of now, Music Key allows users to save videos for offline playback and listen to them in the background on mobile devices while providing all the features unlimited Google Play Music subscription.
However, the report does point out that changes to the feature set may also come along with the new name, though none of the recent tear-downs include anything that looks like a subscription-oriented feature.
Google is set to host a major event next week, and it is no secret that the company will unveil two new Nexus smartphones along with the rumoured second-gen Chromecast. Now, we can expect Google to offer some more light about the new YouYube Red as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment