New iOS app allows Google music streaming

Thanks to the newly-released gMusic: A native Google Music player app ($1.99, iTunes), iOS device owners can stream music from Google Music Beta rather than iTunes Match. Like the official Android app, it lets users access as many as 20,000 songs stored in the streaming music locker. An Offline mode caches store songs locally on the device's memory without having a data connection.

The app, made by Interactive Innovation Solutions, behaves largely like Apple's native music player. Some teething issues experienced by Gizmodo include crashing twice within ten minutes and attempting to play music while in the Airplane Mode resulted in an error message that would only go away once the app was restarted. The offline playback mode also won't work in Airplane mode.

Apple's decision to allow the app could be a mistake and see it quickly withdrawn. However, the company doesn't have a moratorium on competing cloud music services and lets Rdio, Rhapsody, Slacker, and others operate; they don't rely on uploaded music but otherwise share the same basic concept of on-demand streaming.

by MacNN Staff