Farewell Google Music?

This was the original process for setting up my Google Home speaker to play my music when requested.

1. Buy Google Home or Nest speaker
2. Purchase music on Google Play Music, or upload my existing music into Google Play Music
3. Say to smart speaker "Play Penny Lane"

Now Google have announced that Google Play Music will be shut down, and replaced with YouTube Music. I have obediently transferred my music from Google Play Music using the transfer option on the YouTube Music web site. Now, here are my attempts to play music as I have been playing it previously.

Attempt 1

1. Change default music provider on smart speaker from Google Play Music to YouTube Music
2. Say to smart speaker "Play Penny Lane"
3. FAIL. Get told that I need to upgrade to YouTube Music Premium

Attempt 2

1. Start YouTube Music app on phone
2. Start playing Penny Lane
   
3. Press Cast button.
4. FAIL. Get told that I need to upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to cast to audio devices.
   

Attempt 3

1. Download Penny Lane as mp3 file onto my phone
2. Start YouTube Music app on phone
3. Go to Device Files
4. Start playing Penny Lane
5. Press Cast button.
6. FAIL. Get told "Sorry, you can't cast device files."

The result is that, when Google Play Music closes down, I don't have good way of playing my music on my smart speaker, which is by far its main use. For now, I've switched back to Google Play Music, and I'm hoping that Google change their plans.

Ars Technica have written about this in more detail.