One of the worst kept secrets of the last week is no longer such as Google announced today that podcasts are finally coming to Google Play Music.
Techradar staff reactions to the news ranged from "ooooh" to "yesssss", and subscribers should be stoked at the ease to which it's now possible to listen to podcasts on Android and the web.
Google is sectioning off its podcast streams into contextual categories like Learn Something New, Stuff You Should Know, and How To Do Everything. There's also Getting Lost in a Story and Laughing Out Loud for the times you want to zone out or lol a little bit.
Like its music channels, podcasts are divvied up to fit your mood or what you want to accomplish at the moment, though you can still search for individual podcasts as well.
"Similar to our contextual playlists for music, we want to make it easy to find the right podcast - whether you're a podcast aficionado or listening for the first time," Google said in a blog post.
Subscribing to a podcast will trigger the last several episodes to download to users' devices. Listeners can also choose to get notifications every time a new episode is uploaded.
Podcasts are only available on the web starting today with an Android roll out beginning in the US and Canada, but they do give Google Play Music a distinct advantage over rival Apple Music, which doesn't offer 'casts. Spotify recently brought its podcasts offering out of beta.
Of course, iTunes has had podcasts going on forever, but today's update should be sweet spoken word to Google Play Music subscribers' ears.
