There have been numerous rumours surfacing for the past while hinting that Google was going to enable some sort of offline and/or background playback option for YouTube. The main purpose, it was believed, was to allow users to listen to music via YouTube without draining their battery from the constantly awakened screen or using up all their data from streaming. Well the guys over at Android Police have done some digging and have uncovered a bunch of new details regarding the new service.
First off, the new service will be called YouTube Music Key. The Key will cost you $9.99/month and will include the YouTube Music Key and Google Play Music Key (the new name for Google Play Music All Access). Not too shabby if I may say so myself. Again, the primary purpose of the YouTube Music Key will be to allow users to access the infinite amount of music on YouTube more easily. That means you’ll not only be able to listen to official tracks but you’ll have access to all sorts of covers, live concerts, remixes, etc.
The one piece of information that the guys weren’t able to track down, unfortunately, is a launch date. Given that they were able to find all these screen shots and given that things look pretty polished, a launch might not be too far away.
I’m also interested to know what will happen to current All Access subscribers, particularly those who snagged the lower cost at launch. Will we need to resubscribe or will the new Key automatically take over. I’m hoping for the latter but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
