I'm really satisfied with Google Play All Access. You can integrate your own library and add songs that you like while streaming. Since adding the songs to my library is pretty much indistinguishable from ownership, I basically never need to purchase another song again.

Also, since Google Now began stalking my search habits, I get all kinds of useful recommendations about when artists I like release new material.

The acquisition of Songza will likely make a great product even better.

one reason to purchase is if you want to download the MP3s (or support the artists directly).

The recommendations are really great, though.

I feel like it's more likely they'll be completely separate until Play Music has absorbed all of Songza's features.

I'm quite happy to see this, from a Google Music user perspective.

I was getting quite antsy with the lack of music related features. Google Music was feeling so.. lacking. I was close to switching back to Spotify, or trying something new.

Glad to see something is still being worked on heh

Songaza will shut down, even if they say they won't.

Ooooh a discordant view! How exciting. Can you elaborate?

Most acquisitions that google goes through they shut-down, unless it's really core (like Docs). Songza will be shut down, but the team will join Play or whatever...

Like Docs, Maps, blogger and youtube?

Docs was google's only docs service, and subsequent acquisitions have been squashed into it (e.g. etherpad). Maps is google's only maps service. Blogger was more-or-less google's only blog service until recently, and I wouldn't count on it surviving much longer in the age of google+. Youtube happened the other way around, in that google killed google video and merged it into youtube.

Is play music more established than songza? I think yes, and google is unlikely to maintain both of them in parallel.

I see this as similar to Waze acquisition. Waze continues to operate to this day.

Waze is an important data source for traffic in Google Maps. They didn't want to lose that data by killing the Waze app.

Seems like an aqui-hire.

If there was some split of recommendation by activity / mood, I'd be very happy. I did use the recommendations for quite a while when listening to mostly similar tracks. Then made a mistake of giving thumbs up to one electro track. Apparently it meant "ignore all my library, thumbs up etc. in the general blues / rock category; I want half of my recommendations to be for electro / dance music". Sigh...

Please ask them not to shut down the Windows 8 app :(

I'm just going to assume Songza will become integral to Google Play All Music Access in the future. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

Google is uncool and can't even comprehend cool. They will ruin Songza or shut it down.