Q/A - Google Music!

fredotf2

To be honest, I have no idea how many people will find this thread helpful, but I was recently quite confused when Google launched its latest line of Nexus products, which was followed by an uproar in the boards community, all suggesting - "16GBs is just not enough for me" "Pfft, 8Gbs, what were they thinking?".
I recently acquired a Nexus 10 and I am about to share exactly why Google are able to pull off such a low storage devices with no one complaining. There is a reason these devices are only sold in selected countries.

Cloud Storage

It's been no secret that Google have focused on the Cloud Storage industry in recent years, they are now working off the fact that everywhere you go, you have access to the Internet. All my device's information such as apps and browser history is synced to the cloud, ready to access whenever I may need it, and now comes the latest development in cloud storage - Google Music.

I have 928 songs on my Nexus 10, this in total takes up 240kb of memory...

If you have not already guessed, Google Music allows me to upload all my songs on my computer (from Itunes, My Music etc.) to the cloud allowing me to access my songs whenever I have access to internet. The Google Play Music app also allows you to download as many songs as you like for if you are going out and don't have access to internet. The app even automatically downloads songs you recently played so you don't have to go through your whole library finding songs you want for when you are on the go, as long as you played them recently, they are ready and waiting for you.

Q/A Time!

Q -What is Google Music?

A -Google Music allows you to upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, allowing you access to these songs provided you have an internet connection on your Android device.

Q - I thought Google Music was not available in Ireland?

A - It isn't...but that doesn't mean there aren't some easy ways around it!

Q - Is it free?

A - Of course!

Q - Where do I start?

A - You will need a proxy server in order to access the Google Music site, I found using an English proxy was much easier for reasons I shall explain later. I suggest using a proxy service like http://www.tunnelbear.com/ It's easy to use and you get 500mb of data free each month, which is plenty for the task in hand. Keep in mind, you only need to use a proxy once.

Q - I have got into Google Music using an English proxy, what's next?

A - Next up, sign in with what ever Google account you currently are using on your Android device(s)

Q - I have signed in, I'm ready.

A - Go ahead and click ahead until you are asked to provide your debit/credit card information, now, in order to stop what we are trying to do, Google have set up some barriers, mainly, you need an English debit/credit card to get access to the service. But this is easy to get around.

You will need to set up a new payment option. You basically need to put in all you debit/credit card details as they are on the card, but when you get to the post code option, you need to put in an English post code (The American site asks for a full address). I used BT36 4PE which happens to be Parcel Motels Antrim address, feel free to use this also.

Now after you have completed setting up the card, go ahead and make that payment of £0.00 and there you go, you're through! You will no longer need to use a proxy from now on, or any time in the foreseeable future with this site.

Q - Ok, so I have accessed Google Music with my account, how do I start to upload ma tunnes?

A - Go ahead and download the Music Manager from the site, this application will be used to upload all your songs. It should all be pretty self explanatory from there on. Just select from the options, where you want to upload your music from and have fun!

Q - How long will it take to upload all my songs?

A - This solely relies on your upload speed and also how many songs you plan to upload. Buts its safe to say, a good few hours.

Q - I have uploaded all my music to Google Music, but when I go into the Play Music app on my Android device, there is nothing there.

A - It seems that for some people, in order to for the app to recognise that you are now using Google Music, you must first uninstall any Play Music App updates from your device and then launch it. (Look it up on Google Play and select Uninstall updates) It might take a minute or two but it should automatically recognise you are using the service. Once it does, feel free to re-install those updates.

Q - Can I upload my songs to more than one Google account from my computer.

A - Google states that you can use up to 2 Google Accounts per computer. I have never used more than 2, so I have no idea what happens if you do.

Q -I have recently bought some more songs on Itunes (*cough*illegally downloaded*cough*) do I have to upload my whole library again?

A - No, Music Manager gives you the option to upload songs recently added to Itunes.

Q - Can I have my library on more than one device?

A - Providing you are logged in with the same Google Account you set Google music up with, of course!

Q - I am leaving the house, but I don't want pay to use mobile internet to play my songs.

A - Simple, the Play Music App allows you to download any songs you want to your device before you leave, so you can listen to them on the go. Note: The App also gives you the option to automatically download recently played songs in the settings, so you only have to simply play the song and it will be downloaded.

Well that's about all I know, feel free to ask any more questions in the comments and I will do my best to add them to the Q/A.

I hope this helped at least one person.

Have a nice day!

~fredotf2

Fresh Pots

Good job fredo

projectgtr

good man surprised not many use Google Music over here.

Gran Hermano

I've been using it since I picked up my nexus 10. I also used tunnel bear to install the music manager programming from Google music onto my laptop. I don't recall having to do the step with registering a credit card, it seemed to work for me on several android devices straight away, the only region check I encountered was the initial IP check in downloading the PC programming and nothing on the actual android devices.

This was the guide I used http://www.modaco.com/page/news/_/android/weekend-project-try-google-music-cloud-streaming-outside-the-us-r760

I believe Google are also using scan and match to analyse your music collection, they only physically upload songs from your collection that are not already in Google's 'master' collection. Helps on upload time and bandwidth.
http://techland.time.com/2012/12/19/google-play-musics-scan-and-match-service-comes-stateside/

fredotf2

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I've been using it since I picked up my nexus 10. I also used tunnel bear to install the music manager programming from Google music onto my laptop. I don't recall having to do the step with registering a credit card, it seemed to work for me on several android devices straight away, the only region check I encountered was the initial IP check in downloading the PC programming and nothing on the actual android devices.

This was the guide I used http://www.modaco.com/page/news/_/android/weekend-project-try-google-music-cloud-streaming-outside-the-us-r760

I believe Google are also using scan and match to analyse your music collection, they only physically upload songs from your collection that are not already in Google's 'master' collection. Helps on upload time and bandwidth.
http://techland.time.com/2012/12/19/google-play-musics-scan-and-match-service-comes-stateside/

Yeah, I have a few friends who also didn't have to include their credit card details however, all did this a good few months ago and as I did this more recently and encountered the problem I thought I better include it in this Q/A just in case it is a new barrier and more people come across it.

Thanks for confirming that last part, I had a lot of unrecognisable songs because of my questionable music taste, hence I'd say my upload time took perhaps a lot longer than others :P

pickarooney

It baffles me how this could be considered a good idea. The only time I use my phone to listen to music is when I'm commuting and obviously I don't have wireless permanently when on the move. And everything sounds like such a load of hassle as opposed to simply copying all my music to a 32GB SD card in half an hour and having it forever.

nedd

I have been using this for years at this stage, have over 17,000 songs uploaded and listen to it daily while commuting. Also have a google tv box that can access the music and my computer in work.

That said, I have an unlimited data contract with O2 that I am holding onto for dear life. Average monthly usage is about 4gb's, this jumped to 6gb's last November when I signed up to Spotify for a month :-)

PogMoThoin

pickarooney wrote: »

It baffles me how this could be considered a good idea. The only time I use my phone to listen to music is when I'm commuting and obviously I don't have wireless permanently when on the move. And everything sounds like such a load of hassle as opposed to simply copying all my music to a 32GB SD card in half an hour and having it forever.

Why not have both?

Anyway, you won't fit 20,000 songs on 32GB. The limit is songs, not size, I have some mix albums which are over an hour long ripped as a single song. I have managed to upload ~6000 songs so far (I'd say 25-30GB). I use it all the time since I broke the radio aerial on the van and am now streaming lots of the time.

pickarooney

It seems awfully wasteful to me, paying for data just to listen to music which I could have in my pocket anyway. It would take me almost ten years to listen to each of 20,000 songs just once while commuting

Skill Magill

pickarooney wrote: »

It baffles me how this could be considered a good idea. The only time I use my phone to listen to music is when I'm commuting and obviously I don't have wireless permanently when on the move. And everything sounds like such a load of hassle as opposed to simply copying all my music to a 32GB SD card in half an hour and having it forever.

Fair enough but its a back-up of your music also. Unlikely that it will fail as these servers are backed up themselves. Its free, its good :cool:

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

It seems awfully wasteful to me, paying for data just to listen to music which I could have in my pocket anyway. It would take me almost ten years to listen to each of 20,000 songs just once while commuting

Paying for data ?

Ha!

I barely use 10% of my monthly quota.

If you cannot see the benefit to Google Music then you are blind to the future my friend. Blind :cool:

Oh and i can login to MY music from any PC in the world and play my tunes. Handy for partys where the music selection is less than desirable.

Patsy fyre

I have to agree with Rooney on this one. Don't see the point unless you want to keep thousands of songs on your phone. I have around 200 of my favourite songs stored on the sd card.
I've started to use Spotify recently as well and find that pretty good. I can download playlists to listen to offline.
I'm limited to 1gb of data as well and I get close to that as it is each month.

pickarooney

listermint wrote: »

Paying for data ?

Ha!

I barely use 10% of my monthly quota.

I imagine you pay for it whether you use it or not, no?

I'm an awful skinflint in that respect though, so my €2 a month call/text only plan + having my music with me suits me perfectly.

Oh and i can login to MY music from any PC in the world and play my tunes. Handy for partys where the music selection is less than desirable.

People invite you over and let you hog the music? :pac: I can't see how YouTube/Spotify/Grooveshark or plugging a speaker into your phone wouldn't do the trick. I'm all for innovations that make life better but all I see with this kind of application is a solution for a supposed problem that was invented just to make the solution worthwhile.

Anyway, I'm probably pulling what's meant to be a helpful thread off-course so I apologise for that.

listermint

Patsy fyre wrote: »

I have to agree with Rooney on this one. Don't see the point unless you want to keep thousands of songs on your phone. I have around 200 of my favourite songs stored on the sd card.
I've started to use Spotify recently as well and find that pretty good. I can download playlists to listen to offline.
I'm limited to 1gb of data as well and I get close to that as it is each month.

Why would anyone want to limit their song choice to what theyve remembered to load to the SD card ? I can access all of my music from well.. anywhere! How is that not good ?

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

I imagine you pay for it whether you use it or not, no?

I'm an awful skinflint in that respect though, so my €2 a month call/text only plan + having my music with me suits me perfectly.


People invite you over and let you hog the music? :pac: I can't see how YouTube/Spotify/Grooveshark or plugging a speaker into your phone wouldn't do the trick. I'm all for innovations that make life better but all I see with this kind of application is a solution for a supposed problem that was invented just to make the solution worthwhile.

Anyway, I'm probably pulling what's meant to be a helpful thread off-course so I apologise for that.

If your paying 2 Euro a month for your phone

1) i dont think its aimed at you

2) how in the hell are you paying 2 Euro a month for a phone ? sounds made up tbh.

pickarooney

listermint wrote: »

If your paying 2 Euro a month for your phone

1) i dont think its aimed at you

2) how in the hell are you paying 2 Euro a month for a phone ? sounds made up tbh.

The advantages of a competitive mobile market (France).

Patsy fyre

listermint wrote: »

Why would anyone want to limit their song choice to what theyve remembered to load to the SD card ? I can access all of my music from well.. anywhere! How is that not good ?

I tend to listen to music I enjoy rather than searching for other music but when I feel the need I have Spotify; 20 million songs to choose from.

Gran Hermano

I enjoy the multi-device/multi-location aspect.
Yes you could stick the music on a memory stick/card but by using the same google account on
numerous devices I can have the same collection availabe as and when I need it. If I'm reading a book
on the Nexus 7, I can stick in some earphones and listen to what I want. If I'm on the phone I can listen
to a different sub-set of my collection.

listermint

Patsy fyre wrote: »

I tend to listen to music I enjoy rather than searching for other music but when I feel the need I have Spotify; 20 million songs to choose from.

I only own music i enjoy.... and this service is free so i can choose anything from my collection anytime i want.

Im perplexed as to they negativity towards a free obviously useful service.

ongarite

It think its a fantastic service and its free. I used to use AudioGalaxy before this.
If you don't want to stream your music all the time, you do have the option to download the songs/albums to your device so that that when you listen to said song again, its on your phone.

jester77

I have both Spotify and Google Music, and Spotify is in a different league. I now only spend €10 a month on a sub instead of purchasing multiple albums per month which would be the case with Google Music.

It's a nice setup here, my Spotify sub is through my phone provider and this allows me unlimited music streaming at no extra cost and doesn't go against my data limit, which leaves me with a much cheaper phone bill.

pickarooney

listermint wrote: »

I only own music i enjoy.... and this service is free so i can choose anything from my collection anytime i want.

Im perplexed as to they negativity towards a free obviously useful service.

One obvious negative about it is that it's the kind of thing used to justify phones with small storage and no expansion slots. No matter how hi-spec or cheap Google makes their Nexus devices I would never go near one if I'm going to be limited to a few GB of storage and thus coerced into using a cloud system requiring an expensive data plan. And the more manufacturers that follow suit the worse it will get.

Dudda

Streaming music reminds me to a lesser extent when iTunes launched a number of years ago and made popular the idea you could buy and download tracks. Some people preferred the physical product while some loved the convince of a digital download. There were lots of arguments both for and against at the time.
This is similar in many ways. It's a different way of storing and accessing your music which is more useful for some than others. I personally am one who is embracing the streaming of music but then I also use cloud products Dropbox and Google Drive daily. Everyone has their own preferences but the fact that it's free and an option is good.
I would really like to see it officially supported in Ireland.

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

One obvious negative about it is that it's the kind of thing used to justify phones with small storage and no expansion slots. No matter how hi-spec or cheap Google makes their Nexus devices I would never go near one if I'm going to be limited to a few GB of storage and thus coerced into using a cloud system requiring an expensive data plan. And the more manufacturers that follow suit the worse it will get.

Im sorry but ive had x4 smartphones now to date. of the 4 my most recent one the Galaxy Nexus didnt have expansion storage (sd card). My nexus has 16 Gb of storage and its nowhere near full.

Of all my previous phones i never once upgraded or removed the SD card storage from it because it was unecessary. The expansion slots argument is a fallacy.

I ask you.... how many times do you take your SD card out of your phone ? if ever?

pickarooney

Your phone is not full because you don't put all your music on it! Other people do and thus aren't relying on a permanent internet connection to access their music.

I'm not sure why I would want to take out the SD card regularly? When I read/write to/from it I use Airdroid or connect it to the PC. Same with my tablet, it would be useless with no SD card as I'd only be able to fit a couple of films on it with the small internal storage a lot of devices have.

lord lucan

Just an FYI,i set up my Google Music yesterday using the OP's method and it did ask for a credit card. I used my UB Visa Debit that i already use with Google and set the postcode to suggested one above and it all went through without a hitch.

Danger781

This is exactly what I was looking for weeks ago - Thank you OP

neacy69

Cheers OP...Just set up my google music there now and all is going smoothly so far...Thanks for the easy guide!

Sully

I have Google Play Music on my SIII and Nexus - just came directly from the Google App Store. I have music I downloaded onto the SIII but its not showing on the Nexus and I don't see any way of getting it. Any ideas?

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am fully registered with Google Music and so on but do am I only upload music using the Google Manager - thus any directly downloaded songs onto my phone wont upload?

Skill Magill

Sully wrote: »

I have Google Play Music on my SIII and Nexus - just came directly from the Google App Store. I have music I downloaded onto the SIII but its not showing on the Nexus and I don't see any way of getting it. Any ideas?

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am fully registered with Google Music and so on but do am I only upload music using the Google Manager - thus any directly downloaded songs onto my phone wont upload?

It seems you can only upload from a computer
If thats what your asking

Sully

eoing1 wrote: »

It seems you can only upload from a computer
If thats what your asking

Yup, twas indeed! Awkward seeing as Kies won't work and I download music mostly on devise and not a computer!

Skill Magill

Never bothered with kis when I had a samsung, just dragged and dropped and let whatever music app I was using sort it out

fredotf2

eoing1 wrote: »

It seems you can only upload from a computer
If thats what your asking

Thanks for helping out!

Great to see so many people are finding this helpful!

paradiddler86

Has anyone any idea when google music will officially be available in Ireland?

Dudda

paradiddler86 wrote: »

Has anyone any idea when google music will officially be available in Ireland?

Google have a large conference Google I/O in May. I'd expect them to launch some new additions to Google Music during that and I think a wider rollout in Europe (with hopefully a native iOS app) will be it.

Back in November Google signed an agreement with Armonia, one of the largest alliances of music publishers in the world, giving it access to 5.5 million tracks across 35 European Countries.

This was an important deal as usually agreements are on a country by country basic which is why you'll have Google Music, Movies and books in some countries but not in others and all launched at different times.

As May is 6 months after the Armonia deal it would be enough time to cross the 'T' and dot the 'i' enabling a full European launch.

Well... fingers crossed anyway.

dastardly00

Just got around to installing this. It was very easy when following the instructions!

Thanks fredotf2

HTML5!

pickarooney wrote: »

Your phone is not full because you don't put all your music on it! Other people do and thus aren't relying on a permanent internet connection to access their music.

I'm not sure why I would want to take out the SD card regularly? When I read/write to/from it I use Airdroid or connect it to the PC. Same with my tablet, it would be useless with no SD card as I'd only be able to fit a couple of films on it with the small internal storage a lot of devices have.

You don't need a permanent internet connection!

How has this not been said already!?

You can make music available offline too.

Google Music is great. I've been using it for since it went live in the States (2.5 years ago I think).

Download some songs, Google music manager uploads them to the cloud, get them on your device instantly without the hassle of syncing. Your entire music collection at your fingertips anywhere.

You can download them to another PC if you want. Zero restrictions. Zero hassle.

pickarooney

HTML5! wrote: »

You don't need a permanent internet connection!

How has this not been said already!?

You can make music available offline too.

Google Music is great. I've been using it for since it went live in the States (2.5 years ago I think).

Download some songs, Google music manager uploads them to the cloud, get them on your device instantly without the hassle of syncing. Your entire music collection at your fingertips anywhere.

You can download them to another PC if you want. Zero restrictions. Zero hassle.

By what black magic can you get music on your device without either syncing or using an internet connection?

How long does it take to upload 32GB of music to the cloud as opposed to an SD card? How is that less hassle?

PogMoThoin

What he means is, once your music is in the cloud it becomes very simple to pin music to the device (which downloads it from the cloud for offline use) which is even simpler than copying to an SD card. I myself have 25GB+ uploaded to Google Music so far, it's handy that when I visited my sister in the States I had my decent music collection with me and could login on her PC and download a copy of the lot. I also had a few albums pinned so I could listen to them on the plane. But I have a data package, so I have access to the full collection most of the time while out and about in Irl.

pickarooney

It's easier and less hassle to upload and download gigabytes of files than to copy?

PogMoThoin

pickarooney wrote: »

It's easier and less hassle to upload and download gigabytes of files than to copy?

You're not understanding this move to cloud computing thing then. The idea is you put it in the cloud, then you have no need to handle a local copy.

pickarooney

Maybe I'm not understanding it or maybe it's just an emperor's new clothes thing. The idea that 'needing to handle' a local copy of something, whatever that means, escapes me completely. The point of taking something I have, copying it to the cloud and then downloading it again seems utterly redundant.

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

Maybe I'm not understanding it or maybe it's just an emperor's new clothes thing. The idea that 'needing to handle' a local copy of something, whatever that means, escapes me completely. The point of taking something I have, copying it to the cloud and then downloading it again seems utterly redundant.

Accessing my music from any android phone or any desktop PC on the planet regardless of where i am....

How is this hard to grasp?

You've laid your stall out already. Its clear you dont 'get' this free service so best leave the thread to people who appreciate the effort the OP has gone to in the write up.

Ardent

My two major issues with streaming music as opposed to playing it off an SD card:

- 3g is a battery killer (on my phone anyway)
- health concerns (don't like excessive wireless streaming/downloading)

pickarooney

listermint wrote: »

Accessing my music from any android phone or any desktop PC on the planet regardless of where i am....

How is this hard to grasp?

What's hard to grasp is that I can access my music regardless of where I am on the planet simply by pressing play on my phone - it even works on an aeroplane or in rural Kilkenny - which is not the case if I were to upload the lot to the cloud. I haven't heard any single cogent reason as to why the cloud is better than local storage.

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

What's hard to grasp is that I can access my music regardless of where I am on the planet simply by pressing play on my phone - it even works on an aeroplane or in rural Kilkenny - which is not the case if I were to upload the lot to the cloud. I haven't heard any single cogent reason as to why the cloud is better than local storage.

Im out, you just arent getting it.

pickarooney

There's really not much to get, is there?

listermint

pickarooney wrote: »

There's really not much to get, is there?

Right fine il entertain you then. How is it any different than for instance SkyDrive , Apple Cloud or whatever they call it and Google Drive.

Accessing my data from anywhere. If thats not class then i dont know what is. Im not tied to a poxy SD card on 1 device. I can access my stuff from ANY device.

Is this as a concept hard to get ?

JohnK

pickarooney wrote: »

There's really not much to get, is there?

Well for one thing it means you can have access to your entire collection rather than a small subset of it. My music collection (sorted & organised portion at least) for example is currently 56.7gb whereas the total capacity of my phone is about 16gb so theres no way in hell I could put everything on the phone now if I wanted to. Secondly, if I add a new album to my computer then I have to add it to my phone and my tablet individually; not a major hardship but still an inconvenience. If my collection was on the cloud then I'll see the entire collection on my phone or tablet without having to do anything else plus I'm not filling up the whole device which saves space for other things. Given that more and more devices are shipping without an sd card slot means that space on the device is going to be at a premium so I dont want to be loading up an album I havent listened to in years just on the off chance I might want to listen to it at some stage then find I dont have space for a movie, game etc.

Saying that of course, I dont actually use Google Music and personally I dont like other people being in control of my data but they have my email so I suppose why not my music? Granted, they'll never have the master copy of my collection - I'll be keeping control of that myself and be using them more as a backup if or when I do signup.

pickarooney

listermint wrote: »

Right fine il entertain you then. How is it any different than for instance SkyDrive , Apple Cloud or whatever they call it and Google Drive.

Accessing my data from anywhere. If thats not class then i dont know what is. Im not tied to a poxy SD card on 1 device. I can access my stuff from ANY device.

Is this as a concept hard to get ?

As a concept, I guess not, but in reality it seems far less useful. I just can't imagine a scenario where I don't have my phone and someone else gives me one to listen to my music on. I don't know anyone that uses a tablet to play music on the move.

Can you listen to music from your Play account on your car stereo for example?

JohnK wrote:

Given that more and more devices are shipping without an sd card slot means that space on the device is going to be at a premium

This is my major gripe, to be honest. There's no justifiable reason for not putting SD card slots in phones. Storage has been getting exponentially cheaper for decades and all of a sudden it's becoming restricted to push people into using the cloud. It's dumb. One the one hand you have phones like the Galaxy S3 which improve external storage to 64GB and at the same time the likes of the Nexus 4 has 0.

PogMoThoin

pickarooney wrote: »

There's really not much to get, is there?

You're just stuck in the past, owning music, having something you own. Media moved from being something physical a long time ago with the move to digital, but it has now become something you subscribe to, nothing physical to it at all. I have two teenage kids, neither of whom actually own any music, not a single song. To them music is something you stream from Youtube, they make playlists to play while they study. Google Play isn't just about uploading your own music, it's a Store where you can add new music to your collection and share with all your devices.

Netflix and Spotify are other examples, I suppose you don't get these either