Where are my uploaded music files on Play Music app?

May 7, 2019 7:44 PM

Truly cannot believe how stupid the app is not to make this easy.

I uploaded many files from OneDrive, from my PC. Now on my android smartphone, where do I find them? I know nothing about caches, etc., or about external/internal... Have no "card."

posted by noelpratt2nd to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

There might be other ways to do it, but the way I use Google Play Music is

1) upload my music files (that I own) into the Google cloud from my PC using the Music Manager PC app that comes with Play Music.

2) make playlists (optional)

3) access the music files and playlists from my smartphone Google Play Music app.

4) you can optionally download some of the music files or playlists to your phone when you're on wifi, so you can access them without paying network fees when you're out somewhere with no wifi.
posted by Umami Dearest at 8:33 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I agree that the app is not intuitive in terms of finding your uploaded music. I have uploaded 21, 000 songs and cannot find any of them at times. They keep wanting me to use their friggin radio stations. Almost all of my music is live music mostly Grateful Dead shows. What I end up doing is downloading concerts or play lists and playing them locally.

If you are asking how does Google Play Music find your music, you need to first upload it into your Google account cloud.

Or better said, what Umami Dearest said. They are spot on.
posted by AugustWest at 9:04 PM on May 7, 2019

If you search for the tracks you uploaded, they will show up in the "in my library" results. From there, you can download them to your device. Otherwise they'll just play from the cloud, though your phone will cache about 2GB of your recent tracks.
posted by Candleman at 9:26 PM on May 7, 2019

Response by poster: What I mean is I can't find the music in My Library. Looking at this further, is it saying I have to subscribe at $9.99/mo? I thought the playing of my uploaded music was free. Am looking for free, like Groove was.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 5:05 AM on May 8, 2019

Best answer: When I go to Music Library and choose Albums, I see the albums I uploaded as well as anything for which I clicked "add to library." I do pay for a subscription. It worked this way before I started paying, but maybe the free features have changed since then?
posted by beyond_pink at 5:48 AM on May 8, 2019

I'm on the paid version but used the free tier before that. Are you sure that the files successfully uploaded?
posted by Candleman at 6:15 AM on May 8, 2019

Also if you somehow used OneDrive for uploading, that means your music files are sitting on a Microsoft server somewhere, not on your phone and definitely not accessible via a Google app.
posted by Umami Dearest at 7:37 AM on May 8, 2019

Response by poster: No, I have a slow connection but I'm using the Music Manager and all the stuff's still uploading. BUT: I figure there should be the 1000 or so songs already completed. After all, I can play them on the desktop app. I don't see em on the phone app, just a couple of albums I dragged onto it direct from the computer one day.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 7:52 AM on May 8, 2019

Best answer: Check this help page: https://support.google.com/googleplaymusic/answer/7076350?hl=en

A manual refresh of your library from your phone should have them show up.
posted by dobi at 8:07 AM on May 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Meanwhile, there's also MusicPlayer for OneDrive as a desktop, but can't find an android version either.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 8:08 AM on May 8, 2019

Response by poster: Hey, great! The Refresh worked -- thanks much !
posted by noelpratt2nd at 8:12 AM on May 8, 2019