Google play music is only available until the end of this year, and then it will be discontinued. This means we shall only have YouTube music as Google’s only music streaming service.
Luckily, with just a few taps, you can transfer your music library, purchased songs, recommendations and your personal uploads to YouTube before that happens. You do not have to lose any of your music when Google play shuts down.
You can transfer music from an android device, iPhone or from the web. It does not matter which method you use as you will be able to transfer all your stuff in the background and listen to YouTube music while using the app like normal.
The transfer process is the same for any mobile device, be it android or iOS.
- First of all, ensure that you have the latest version of YouTube on your device. You can download or update it from Google play store or from the app store.
- Open YouTube music. Ignore pop up ads for YouTube music premium
- On the YouTube home screen, you will see a banner that says ‘Transfer your play music library’. There is also a new option in the settings which says ‘transfer from Google play music’. You can use either of the options to begin your transfer. If you do not find them on your YouTube app, Google may not have rolled out the transfer feature on your account yet.
- Tap on ‘let’s go ’YouTube music will display the contents from your Google play music that you are about to transfer including songs, albums, purchases, playlists, your personalized taste/recommendations, and your liked and disliked music.
- Tap on ‘start transfer’ and the process will begin. If you click on ‘not now’ you will return to the main home screen and you can start the process afresh.
- You will see a status bar with ‘transferring your Google play music library’ at the top of YouTube music. Depending on the size and how many users are currently transferring, yours could take a few minutes or last a few days. Playlists and music tastes could transfer immediately, but your uploads and purchases can take longer as YouTube will be making a direct copy of the files.
- Once the transfer is completed, you will get a notification in the app and a confirmation email.
- Once you are done, check that all your music is indeed transferred. The app will still give you an option to ‘continue listening from Google play music’ as you continue to familiarize yourself with YouTube music.
To transfer from a web browser, on mobile and desktop, follow the steps in the video below. It is not very different from the mobile process.
- Go to http://music.youtube.com/transfer
- Click on ‘transfer’ and the process will begin.
If after the transfer you keep on using Google play music, you will need to do the transfer again in cases where you have new playlists. Google will only copy whatever is new and leave out everything else that had already been transferred prior. The prompt will read differently as it will say ‘transfer your latest Google play additions’.
Google play has not announced the exact date they will go offline, but it is believed to be sometime late this year.
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