Google announced a migration tool for taking your library from Google Play Music library of uploaded songs and getting them onto its new YouTube Music service back in May. Now, it's rapidly becoming more widely bachelor across the globe. It's not immediately intuitive what the tool volition and won't preserve, though, and the benefits and drawbacks of taking your cloud music library over to Google's new music streaming platform. In this guide, we'll show you the ins and outs of the tool and everything you need to know about using it.

Before we dive into the procedure, exist warned that it might take a while until library migration is available to you. Since all of your data needs to be copied over, Google is probably fighting with limited server capacities, so information technology's rolling out the tool in stages based on your location. You should run across a popup or toast in Google Play Music when information technology arrives on your account, and the visitor will send y'all an electronic mail.

Using the Android (or iOS) app

To get started with the migration, yous demand to install YouTube Music on your phone. Make certain it'southward at to the lowest degree version 3.65. If it'due south not available to you on the Play Shop just yet, yous tin get the latest version from APK Mirror.

Left & Eye: Switch banners. Right: Transfer workflow.

If the tool has rolled out to y'all, you should run across a message on the app's homescreen, telling yous that Play Music is going abroad and that you can start the migration. Tap the "Let'south go" button and you're taken to a screen showing yous in which order your items will exist moved over. If y'all're a Play Music subscriber, your subscription volition also be rolled over, and the price will remain the aforementioned — fifty-fifty if you lot're grandfathered in on the $vii.99 plan or the family subscription. When you're set to showtime, tap "Transfer." A imprint will popular upward, telling you that the migration is in progress and that you can explore YouTube Music at present.

The tool will first import your recommendations so you can start listening to personalized mixes on YouTube Music before the full transfer is finished. You can tap a banner beneath the top bar to see how far your migration has progressed.

You can beginning exploring YTM while the migration is in progress.

You'll receive a notification and an email once the transfer is finished, which tin can take a few minutes or multiple days depending on how many songs you've uploaded. When I made the switch myself, I noticed that a few songs in some former Play Music playlists were however grayed out and unavailable afterward getting the notification, but that issue fixed itself later a few days.

Using the web app

If y'all'd rather utilise your computer to boot off the migration, head to music.youtube.com/transfer. Like the app, this website shows you which information information technology'll transfer in which order. Click the "Transfer" button to get going. You can then explore the YouTube web app, and a banner will permit your return to the transfer overview so yous can see your progress — the procedure is basically the same as in the Android app.

What if I continue using Play Music later the switch?

If you even so continue using Play Music after making the initial switch, don't worry: You lot can sync your libraries as often as you want to by clicking or tapping your profile picture in the summit correct corner and heading to settings, where yous'll notice an pick to kick off the migration tool again. That tin can be done both on the web and in the Android app.

Where are my uploads and stations?

YouTube Music organizes some things differently from Play Music. Your uploads sit in a separate section of the app, sealed away from the platform's streaming service aspect. When you scan your library or search results, you'll notice that in that location are two tabs at the height, one for YT Music and one for uploads. It's self-explanatory enough, but you demand to be enlightened of it if you tin can't discover some of the albums you thought y'all'd uploaded. We've got a granular comparison of how YouTube Music handles uploads compared to Play Music.

Stations aren't a thing in YouTube Music, then it converts all of your stations to playlists. Their content is identical — the only difference is that you lot tin really see all the individual songs within a playlist, which you couldn't with stations, at to the lowest degree without playing them. YouTube Music also has curated and AI-generated playlists that replace things like Play Music's New Release Radio or the Feeling Lucky station.

I'1000 missing some songs. What's up with that?

All of your uploads and purchases will be transferred, but since YouTube Music has different licensing deals than Play Music, you might not find the same selection of songs as available on Play Music's streaming service. Google says these cases should be few and far between, and some songs that have disappeared from your Play Music library due to rights or licensing might even reappear in YouTube Music somewhen.

Can I make the switch if I'm a free user?

Yeah. YouTube Music lets you play your uploaded songs in the groundwork, and you lot can download them. Casting capability is express, though — as far as I can tell, you can't ask an Banana-equipped speaker to play uploaded songs, then you demand to cast your music via the Android app.

In dissimilarity to Play Music, you can also admission the streaming service of the platform for free, but you lot'll take to suffer ads, and you lot need to exit your phone's screen turned on and the YouTube Music app in the foreground while you lot listen. The groundwork limitation doesn't utilize to the web app, though.

I already use YouTube Music. Will my library be overwritten?

That's the situation I found myself in, and as far as I can tell, no data got lost when I made the switch. Instead, your libraries will exist combined intelligently. I uploaded a few albums to YouTube Music already in my Play Music library prior to the migration and there were no duplicates. A few identically titled playlists beyond the 2 services were retained as divide lists, instead.

What nearly podcasts?

Some people use Play Music to mind to podcasts, just YouTube Music doesn't support that format. Yous tin can instead export your episode progress and subscriptions to Google Podcasts. Once the migration tool has rolled out to you, you can head to podcasts.google.com/transfer to kick off the divide transfer.

The podcast player is available on your Android phone equally part of the Google app (merely search for a podcast yous're interested in), but yous can besides get a dedicated launcher icon from the Play Store if you prefer. There's besides a spider web interface.

While some people might wish to have more granular command over which songs and playlists to transfer, the tool is equally straightforward and like shooting fish in a barrel to use as it can get, which was Google'due south goal. The YouTube Music squad knows that in that location are even so some significant differences betwixt the two services, so it wanted to brand the transition as smooth and painless equally possible.

If you're interested in how such a switch pans out for someone who has used Play Music ever since it became available, check out my editorial on my feel with YouTube Music (written before the migration tool rolled out).

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About The Author

Manuel Vonau (1636 Manufactures Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's not writing articles for Android Police force, he's probably out and about as a videographer.

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