Play Music App and the Invisible Music

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MikeAqua

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#127294 5-Aug-2013 16:52

I recently added google's Play Music App (the one with the head-phones icon) to Galaxy 4. Curiously the music files I buy and download with it are not visible to any other music player, even the standard music player that is part of android JB.

This is a pain because in the car I use Car Music which is speech/gesture controlled so I can keep my eyes on the road.

To get around it, I used Googles music manager to download all my music onto my notebook and then copied onto the micro-SD.

I have also noticed that despite being set to only stream/download via WiFi, this app occassionally uses large amount of data. Not sure what is going on there. I have since turned off the caching function so will see if that makes any difference.

If anyone is contemplating downlaoding this app my advice is: DON'T

Mike

bradstewart

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#872171 5-Aug-2013 17:00

Are you referring to music from a Google Play Music All Access subscription?

nicnzl

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#872173 5-Aug-2013 17:01

If you have root access to the phone, the music files are located under root/data/data/com.android.music/files/music

They have number file names though, so you have to listen to each song and rename it.
Copy, paste into your usual music folder, and third party music players will be good to go.

But for the average user, this is obviously not an option.

MikeAqua

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#874578 9-Aug-2013 14:00

bradstewart: Are you referring to music from a Google Play Music All Access subscription?

I'm referring to music I bought from the google play store e.g. I bought an album play and downloaded it onto my phone by selecting 'Keep' in Google Play Music App. The file is on the phone, but not visible to any other music player, because google music player stores in an obscure location which other players (even google's standard music player) can't access.

This is a problem because Google Play Music's interface is essentially a web page that is not very well suited to a smart phone screen. Even less so when that smart phone is in a moving vehicle. Hence I use the Car Music Player app, which allows unsighted control of music via gestures/voice.

As nicnzl said if you have root access to the phone you can eventually find where Google Music Player has hidden the files and paintsakingly identify them. My phone is company property so I'm not bold enough to try 'rooting' it in case I brick the thing.

Essentially I think Google are being unnecesarily obstructive. If I buy content from Google Play and download it on my phone I should be able to play it with any player I choose - especially another player I bought from Google Play!

These limitations aren't stated when you install Google Play Music app, but they certainly are annoying! If I had know I would have avoided this app. I have since disabled it.

Mike

nicnzl

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#874584 9-Aug-2013 14:12

MikeAqua:
bradstewart: Are you referring to music from a Google Play Music All Access subscription?

I'm referring to music I bought from the google play store e.g. I bought an album play and downloaded it onto my phone by selecting 'Keep' in Google Play Music App. The file is on the phone, but not visible to any other music player, because google music player stores in an obscure location which other players (even google's standard music player) can't access.

This is a problem because Google Play Music's interface is essentially a web page that is not very well suited to a smart phone screen. Even less so when that smart phone is in a moving vehicle. Hence I use the Car Music Player app, which allows unsighted control of music via gestures/voice.

As nicnzl said if you have root access to the phone you can eventually find where Google Music Player has hidden the files and paintsakingly identify them. My phone is company property so I'm not bold enough to try 'rooting' it in case I brick the thing.

Essentially I think Google are being unnecesarily obstructive. If I buy content from Google Play and download it on my phone I should be able to play it with any player I choose - especially another player I bought from Google Play!

These limitations aren't stated when you install Google Play Music app, but they certainly are annoying! If I had know I would have avoided this app. I have since disabled it.

Agreed. It is a very Apple styled approach from Google. I bought 1 album but I won't be buying another from them, too much hassle.

stevenz

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#874586 9-Aug-2013 14:15

Cloud-based music apps all work essentially the same way (Spotify, Google Play, Amazon). Given that they want you to pay for music, their options are either to "hide" it, or load it with DRM so that you can't just plug the phone into your computer, copy all the music off and then give it to your friends. Unfortunately, both of these solutions are incompatible with 3rd party players.

Even iTunes works this way, ever looked at the filesystem on an iPod? It's total gibberish.

Until they integrate the service into Android in a tighter way, I don't see this changing.

Google Play looks nothing like their webpage on my phone, although it's still a decidedly average app.

@KnightNZ

Oblivian

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#874589 9-Aug-2013 14:18

It's cloud based music storage. So not really designed in the way the DRM enabled iphone store is.

You can play on multiple devices.. if you are cloud syncing and only use one at a time.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1291788?hl=en
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/3139562?rd=1

But as pointed out, its deisgned to be an online sync'd player (probably why its using a lot of data on you) as apposed to an offline file downloader

/edit dammit steve! Beaten to punch while typing out

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MikeAqua

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#874604 9-Aug-2013 14:49

All good points but google could have made it a lot easier.

I can download all my cloud music onto my computer without restriction - that part of the system is very good, and I have full copies on both my computers.

From there I can copy all of that music into the appropriate music folder my phone without any restriction and I have done that too.

They haven't stopped my doing anything, just made it harder than it should have been. So as I see it - rigmarole for no real benefit to anyone and buyer beware.

Mike

nicnzl

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#874611 9-Aug-2013 14:57

I personally think if you are paying a subscription fee to listen to unlimited music, such as Google All Access or Spotify, then fair enough, they can hide the music and limit it to their app etc. But if I'm paying $17 for an album, I expect to be able to move and play that music wherever I so choose.

Disrespective

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#874666 9-Aug-2013 16:31

Is there a .nomedia file in the folder if you browse to it? I know that if you put one in any folder on the phone then android will not recognise the media inside it.

I wonder if there is something similar going on but the google music app can see through the file?

stevenz

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#874681 9-Aug-2013 16:45

Are we talking purchased music, or music that you have uploaded to Google? There are differences in the portability of each in relation to Google Music.

It should be a .nomedia file, the Media scanning system just won't look in the data store as there shouldn't be any user-added media in there generally speaking.

This comes back to format-shifting and fair-use rights etc. You're not buying an MP3, you're buying a license to play it. I totally agree that it's annoying, and there are ways around it, but they're just trying to protect their income.

@KnightNZ

JonoNZ

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#874688 9-Aug-2013 17:01

nicnzl:
MikeAqua:
bradstewart: Are you referring to music from a Google Play Music All Access subscription?

I'm referring to music I bought from the google play store e.g. I bought an album play and downloaded it onto my phone by selecting 'Keep' in Google Play Music App. The file is on the phone, but not visible to any other music player, because google music player stores in an obscure location which other players (even google's standard music player) can't access.

This is a problem because Google Play Music's interface is essentially a web page that is not very well suited to a smart phone screen. Even less so when that smart phone is in a moving vehicle. Hence I use the Car Music Player app, which allows unsighted control of music via gestures/voice.

As nicnzl said if you have root access to the phone you can eventually find where Google Music Player has hidden the files and paintsakingly identify them. My phone is company property so I'm not bold enough to try 'rooting' it in case I brick the thing.

Essentially I think Google are being unnecesarily obstructive. If I buy content from Google Play and download it on my phone I should be able to play it with any player I choose - especially another player I bought from Google Play!

These limitations aren't stated when you install Google Play Music app, but they certainly are annoying! If I had know I would have avoided this app. I have since disabled it.

Agreed. It is a very Apple styled approach from Google. I bought 1 album but I won't be buying another from them, too much hassle.

Not too sure why you would say it's an "Apple styled approach". Music purchased from the iTunes Store is DRM free and named logically in folders just like you might do yourself. If you have the music on an iOS device it is available to any app that can play music.

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MikeAqua

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#878741 15-Aug-2013 12:47

stevenz: Are we talking purchased music, or music that you have uploaded to Google? There are differences in the portability of each in relation to Google Music.

It should be a .nomedia file, the Media scanning system just won't look in the data store as there shouldn't be any user-added media in there generally speaking.

This comes back to format-shifting and fair-use rights etc. You're not buying an MP3, you're buying a license to play it. I totally agree that it's annoying, and there are ways around it, but they're just trying to protect their income.

They have already had their income. Every song I have on my S4 has been bought and paid for by me.

I'm complaining about the lack of freedom to choose which app I use to play my songs (ie exploit my rights under the license) on my device.

It's also just silly because Google is happy for to provide me "Music Manager' which enables me to download the songs onto my laptop, then store them in any folder and play them with any player I choose.

Anwyay back to the point of my original post. If you like choice and dislike rigmarole don't get Google's Play Music App.

Mike