Google Play music alternative?

March 1, 2013 10:49 AM

Can I access my music in the Google Play Music cloud with something other than the Google Play Music app?

I compared Google Play Music, Amazon's cloud thingie and the iTunes cloud thingie, and decided to try Google since it's free for 20,000 songs. I have 17,000. Uploading them all to the cloud is taking a while but should be done today. The app on my Droid 1 phonekeeps freezing, forcing close, and generally making my phone run very slowly, not to mention the fact that it's not showing me everything I actually have in the cloud. (And when I tell it to refresh, the app forces a close.) Is there another app I can use to access my music in Google's cloud?

(on Verizon, still have an unlimited data plan, phone is running Android version 2.2.3. Let me know if the kernel version, baseband version or build number is of any use.)

posted by thrasher to technology (8 answers total)

As far as I know, no, but the force close close on your Droid is almost certainly due to memory issues, the Droid only has 256mb of RAM and even the index for 17,000 songs is going to be huge.

Long story short, you just need a new phone.
posted by Oktober at 11:10 AM on March 1

Google Music has no official API, so you're out of luck on alternative apps I think.

Part of the problem may be that you are stuck on an older version of the Music app, although you'd have to confirm that as I'm not sure how long Google maintained versions for Froyo. You could root the phone, install a ROM with a newer version of Android, and try the newer Play app, but that seems like a lot of work for something that might not help you.

To be honest, I find Google Music really annoying for a number of reasons (mainly since you can't tell it to store it's music with your other music, on the SD card), so I just bought a big-ass micro SD card and put all my music on there. They're quite cheap now.

You could also investigate using something like subsonic to stream your music from the machine itself. I used to use Audiogalaxy for that but I gather they're dead now.
posted by selfnoise at 11:23 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Your old phone is the sticking point here. Just fyi there are several apps for the iPhone that do interface with your Google Play music. They aren't as reliable as Google's native app, but if you're invested in the Play account and wanted to jump to an iPhone you have that option.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:44 PM on March 1

Thanks all. I know a new phone would serve me better, but I don't want to pay full price for one in order to keep my unlimited data plan when my old Droid has been handling my needs.... til now.

I think selfnoise's idea of just getting a big-ass micro SD card is the best option. 128GB micro SD isn't out yet, is it? 64GB it is!

Thank you again!
posted by thrasher at 12:51 PM on March 1

Check your phone's specs before you buy a big-ass MicroSD card. Listed support is limited to 32GB. 64GB cards are often problematic and buggy, especially in older devices.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:56 PM on March 1

Google Music may not have an official API but it does have an unofficial one. I can't remember off the top of my head which Apps support it though.
posted by pharm at 2:00 PM on March 1

BubbleUPNP is one of them though.
posted by pharm at 2:07 PM on March 1

Hadn't thought of that - thanks for the warning about the 64GB card.... and thanks for the info on the unofficial API/apps! More research to do...

In the meantime it would appear my phone has managed to index the entire collection and seems to be running a bit better. Not sure how, but, cool.
posted by thrasher at 12:22 PM on March 2