Google to Integrate Songza Streaming Service With Google Play, YouTube

Google stepped up its streaming music prowess Wednesday with the purchase of the Songza music service that organizes music by mood, time of day and other themes designed to help listeners discover music in different ways. No “immediate” changes to Songza are planned, Songza said on its website. Users should see in the near term that Songza becomes “faster, smarter, and even more fun to use,” it said.

Google Play called Songza “a great service which uses contextual expert-curated playlists to give you the right music at the right time.” It reiterated that it doesn’t plan immediate changes, but that over the next couple of months Google will “explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music.” It will also look for ways to bring Songza’s “great work” to the music experience on YouTube and other Google products, it said. Songza is a free service.

Google/Songza comes on the heels of a news release from much-hyped European streaming music service WiMP, which said Tuesday it would make available music teasers to U.S. listeners in the form of 30-second music and music video clips playable on a Web player. WiMP, which touts “hi-fi quality audio” and has been eagerly awaited by audiophiles in the U.S., is available only in Denmark, Germany, Norway, Poland and Sweden “so far,” a spokeswoman told us. She didn’t comment on questions regarding a timetable for launch in the U.S. or what’s required to get there, noting only, “It’s not possible to use the service in the U.S. yet (other than the 30-second preview of the web player).”

Users who access the player at http://play.wimpmusic.com are told they can only access 30-second clips, versus an entire track, if they're not members of the service. We tried to sign up but were blocked, presumably due to our U.S.-based IP address. The whet-the-appetite strategy worked for us, on a 30-second clip of George Ezra’s “Budapest” that sounded a step up from the standard streaming music file.

The WiMP spokeswoman told us the company differentiates itself “through a quality approach” defined on its website as “lossless music” and is the only service offering integrated editorial, magazine and video. Music editors “hand-pick” most of the music on the service, which is customized for each country, she said. WiMP streams ALAC (Apple Lossless) for its approximately $19.99/month service and about $9.99/month for the standard AAC+ 96, said the website. For Android 3.1 and later devices, it uses FLAC, the company said. WiMP is available on Sonos and Lenbrook’s Bluesound platform, among others, in WiMP-compatible countries.