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Google Play Music

15K views 82 replies 24 participants last post by  pinto 
#1 ·
Google Play Music has finally arrived in Canada, I've been using the storage and streaming part since it was launched in the US and its a great service, good to have official access and the ability to purchase music as well now in Canada.
 
#32 ·
hugh said:
I'm assuming it doesn't upload them all.
It uploads all of them. At least, it did for me. There is a client app that sits in your system tray, it watches a directory you specify and it'll upload all the stuff that is in there. It can take a long time for the initial upload.

I'm not sure what the bitrate is when they're streamed to your devices - I haven't tested this. I'm not even sure that they transcode the music before sending it back. They may just send back whatever you sent them.
 
#33 ·
It uploads all of them
Did some research and that doesn't seem to jibe with what Google is saying. Bolding is mine.

Bring up to 20,000 songs from your computer to Google Play for free with Music Manager. It's a simple desktop application that scans your iTunes® library or any music folder on your computer and matches your collection with what’s on Google Play, instantly adding the matched tracks to your music library. If you have music that’s not available on Google Play, Music Manager will upload it too. Once you’ve added your collection, you can listen instantly on Android, your iPhone and the web
 
#34 ·
Another Sonos related question. Curious if anyone has figured it out.

Suppose I create an Artist radio station that includes songs from my collection as well as from the Google Play service.

on Sonos, will it play the song from my local network (assuming I have it) and only play from the cloud if I don't.
 
#35 ·
Well, I haven't uploaded anything to GPM for a long time now, but when the service first came (early or mid 2012) out I uploaded my entire collection, and the amount of data transferred was about the same size as my audio folder.

So, either it wasn't able to match my file against their files, or their matching ability is a recent addition.

And again, a lot of my files are actually audiobooks so I can understand that not matching anything.

hugh said:
on Sonos, will it play the song from my local network (assuming I have it) and only play from the cloud if I don't.
I'd guess that once it's uploaded, GPM will always stream and then cache the file. The reason is that Sonos wouldn't necessarily have access to the folder that was synchronized with your GPM library. Even if you have the same folder in your Sonos Library, Sonos wouldn't know that the two files are actually the same thing.

The other unfortunate thing is that given that Sonos ZPs don't have much room for caching on them, I'm pretty sure that if you were to play a couple hours of music in a loop, it would always stream the songs every time you play them. If you did that on a smartphone, it would utilize a local cache to prevent the 2nd download of the song.
 
#37 ·
Ok I am interested in this. I downloaded the "play music" app from mac app store to my ipad?. All I see is my library selections??? I see nowhere on the app for any other use

Where in the world is the store and music I can listen to?

Thanks
 
#38 ·
Do you see 'Explore' in the App? On Android that is where you can buy in app and you can also buy from the Play store, so I guess on Mac you can go to the browser version of the Play store and buy music..............don't know for sure as I don't use Mac or iOS.
 
#44 ·
I'm not having a very good go at this. I started a free account and started uploading my collection. The matching on a few of my titles wasn't very great. It seemed to match the songs with what sounds like some sort of rip off artist. Different singer different music but same song name same band name. Go figure! The Chrome add-in didn't seem to be completing the collection so I tried the desktop software. It's telling me there isn't anything to upload in my Music folder. So I figured my collection must be layered differently than what it is looking for basically ARTIST>Album>.MP3s so I bought a couple of CDs downloaded them, and they ended up in the same folder structure as what my current music is layed out as!! Anyone have any tips on how to get my tunes uploaded?

iPod App is awesome! Way better than the Xbox Music one that only lets you sync off-line your play lists worth of music. This thing can sync everything if you want it to!
 
#46 ·
Its' all MP3 for the most part anyway. Selecting the individual folders its able to find and upload right away. Although at the speed it's uploading I'd say its more like matching. I'm good for now but will try the rest of my collection from a different folder see how that goes.
 
#47 ·
After a few days, our family is lukewarm on google music.

Personally I don't find the Google Music implementation on Sonos any better than Rdio while my teenage kids seem to prefer Rdio's music discovery.

Overall, the only real benefit I see for Google over Rdio is the price but $2 a month isn't really going to be the deciding factor.

The downside of Google for me is I am reluctant to hand over any more personal information to Google. I don't think Google is evil but I find it creepy that it accumulate sso much information about me, information can then be turned over to the U.S. and Canadian government.

Maybe if I get over my 1984 fears :eek: I will continue on after the free trial.
 
#48 ·
All your personal info to Google for all services... OR that same info spread across many service providers?

What more does google know about you that they did not know before you signed up for Google music? :p
 
#49 ·
hugh said:
Personally I don't find the Google Music implementation on Sonos any better than Rdio while my teenage kids seem to prefer Rdio's music discovery.
You don't find browsing GPM via the native Play Music app to be a better experience than using the Sonos app on Rdio? I find the experience night-and-day when looking for new music. I'm not talking about GPM in the Sonos app vs Rdio in the Sonos app. I find those two about the same. What I mean is that GPM offers a alternate means of browsing music that Rdio does not, since I can control Sonos directly from the "native" GPM app.

A couple examples of things that are better:
Using the native GPM app I can control the music I'm playing on my Sonos from the lock screen on my Android phone (back/foward/pause).

Using the Sonos app from a iPad I can thumbs up/down music on GPM to give it feedback on music I'm listening to, which presumably helps GPM make music suggestions in the future. Rdio doesn't offer the thumbs up/down thing from the Sonos app.
 
#52 · (Edited)
I am testing both Rdio and Google Play. Both are amazing. So much so, that having my own mp3 collection seems like a waste of time. In my view Rdio has a better interface. After selection a few of my favourite artists and and using the adventurous setting Rdio is providing an uncanny pick of music that suits my taste. Play has similar features but often picks music I don't care for. I am using the $4.99 Rdio web based subscription rather than the mobile subscription for $9.99. Google play is $7.99 if you sign up now but will soon go to $9.99. If you choose Play in the introductory phase you will get the $7.99 rate indefinitely. Still testing both and have not made a decision.
 
#53 ·
Just started using, I like that you can upload your personal music and stream to any device, I listen to a lot of underground rap that doesn't usually make it to the mainstream all access type site, may drop my xbox music account in favor of of google music.

just need to figure out if I can control google music with my ipod controls in my truck, if I can I can make one step closer to being apple free. I've had a lot of problems with itunes, windows 8 and android all getting a long lately.
 
#54 ·
I haven't used any streaming services prior to this, but so far, I am really finding Google Music a great experience. What are the other streaming services I should test quickly before my one month trial is up? Are Rdio and Spotify the only main ones? My music tastes are pretty generic, quite frankly.
 
#59 ·
Xbox music is the same, pay monthly, unlimited streaming, syncs play lists across devices, can upload your music too, but not the same as google, they have to have it on there server, last I checked at least
 
#56 ·
+1 for Songza. It's free and and is ideal if you are just looking for themed music on your smartphone. There are some ads but its not intrusive.
 
#58 ·
I decided to cancel my Slacker subscription at the end of the month. While their genre stations are a lot more focused than Google's (80s Hits only plays original songs from the 80s - no remixes, live versions, etc), I like the idea that I can easily use Chromecast or Sonos (when I get one) to listen to stuff on Google Play. Slacker is very slow to add extras like this (heck, they still don't send track info reliably to Bluetooth devices like cars and smartwatches).

Now if only there was a way to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to what I'm listening on Google Play on my Pebble......

Sent using radio waves of some sort
 
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