Elias Roman, Google product manager, said that Google Play Music has offered a $9.99 per month subscription service for two years but Tuesday's launch is the first free version of the streaming service. It is available online and will be available on Android and iOS by the end of the week.

Of course Apple expects its fans to fork out $9.99 per month along with a $14.99 per month family plan, with a free three-month trial. Many will. The service has a lot more publicity and Apple is famous for having customers who would gladly shell out thousands for a dog turd if it had an Apple logo on it.

Roman said that the free service this is will expose a lot of people to the merits of Google Play  after all with the Tame Apple Press giving Jobs' Mob free advertising it is unlikely that anyone will ever find out it exists.