Last Chance For Google Play Music Users To Download Their Library / Data
Google has sent a notification to all users of Google Play Music. Former Google Play Music users have until February 24, 2021, to download their library/data. After that date, Google will be deleting all of the data from the Google servers.
Today’s post will cover what you need to do if you were a previous Google Play Music user.
What Was Google Play Music
For those not familiar with Google Play Music, it was a music and podcast streaming service and online music locker. The service was operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, was publicly launched on November 16, 2011. In August 2020, Google announced that the service would start gradually shutting down in September. It was replaced by YouTube Music and Google Podcasts in December 2020.
What the majority of the Google Play Music user base liked was that it was a simple player and podcast app. Google Play Music didn’t try to do too many things and it just worked. The service allowed users to upload their music collection so that they had their music easily available in one place.
Running Out Of Time To Get Your Music Library / Data Downloaded
On Saturday, February 6th, 2021, Google sent out an email notice to former users of the service reminding them that they have until February 23rd to download any data and the music in the user’s music library. Google’s statement,
So if you haven’t downloaded your data from Google Play Music, you have just over 2 weeks to do so.
How To Download Google Play Music Data / Library
To download your playlist, radio station info, music track info, and uploaded audio files, go to Google Takeout. From the Google Takeout page, do the following
- Start by clicking on deselect all on the top right side of the page, unless you want to download ALL of the data that Google has for you. Once you do that, scroll down and select only Google Play Music. Once Selected scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click the Next Step button.
- On the next step page, you will be able to select if you want an email link sent to download the files, or if you want the files added to Google Drive, Dropbox, One Drive, or Box. Besides, you will be able to select the file type (which I suggest you leave as a zip), and how big the individual folders with your data are (also suggest leaving that at 2GB).
As soon as the selection is made, click on Create Export. Keep in mind, depending on how many files, and the size of the files, it may take a little while to get the download link or for the files to appear on one of the other services (if you selected one of the storage services as delivery method). Because of the time, it will take to get your data, you really should NOT WAIT to do the export.
- When you receive the files, your data will be in the .csv (Excel) format, and your music will be in the .MP3 format.
Final Thought
Those of us who used Google Play Music miss the app, because it just worked. Unfortunately, YouTube Music which is what Google replaced Google Play Music with, tries to do too many things and doesn’t do any of them well.
Source(s)
- Creating the Export – Google Takeout Screenshots
- About Google Play Music Info – Wikipedia
