How do I download music from Google Play music?
Google Play Music is an audio streaming platform and music locker operated by Google that allows users to upload, store, and stream up to 50,000 songs for free. Google Play Music offers over 50 million songs for streaming or purchase, curated playlists, radio stations based on songs or artists, and the ability to download songs for offline listening (https://google-play-music.apponic.com/android/).
One of the key features of Google Play Music is the ability to download songs, albums, or playlists for offline listening when you don’t have an internet connection. Downloading music for offline playback allows you to listen to your favorite songs without using mobile data or relying on an internet connection. This guide will provide step-by-step instructions on how to download music from Google Play Music to listen to offline on your Android device.
Signing Up for Google Play Music
To use Google Play Music, you’ll first need to have a Google account. If you don’t already have one, go to https://accounts.google.com/SignUp and follow the prompts to create your free account.
Once you have a Google account, you can sign up for Google Play Music. There are two options:
- The free version of Google Play Music allows you to upload up to 50,000 songs from your personal music library to stream from any device. With this option, you can play any song on-demand and create playlists.
- The premium subscription to Google Play Music costs $9.99 per month and gives you access to stream over 50 million songs from Google’s catalog on-demand. It also includes ad-free YouTube access.
To begin using Google Play Music, simply visit https://play.google.com/music and login with your Google account. You’ll be prompted to start your free trial of the premium subscription or go straight to the free version.
Searching for Music
There are a few different ways to search for music on Google Play Music. The most straightforward is to use the search bar at the top of the app or website. You can search by artist name, album title, song name, or general keywords. Just type in your search term and hit enter or click the magnifying glass icon.
Google Play Music will return a list of matching results. You’ll see tabs along the top to filter between songs, albums, artists, playlists, and radio stations. Click on any result to go directly to that page and add it to your library or start playing.
In addition to search, you can browse music recommendations on the Google Play Music homepage. Scroll down to see selections like New Releases, Featured Playlists, Radio Stations, and more. These are curated by Google to help you discover new music.
You can also browse by genre. Click on the navigation menu and go to Genres & Moods. Here you’ll find every genre laid out alphabetically. Select a genre like Pop or Hip-Hop to see featured albums and playlists for that style of music.
For a more personalized music browsing experience, go to Home and scroll down to Your Mixtape, New Release Mix, or other auto-generated playlists. Google Play Music will make recommendations based on your listening history and likes.
Adding Music to Your Library
Your Google Play Music library allows you to access all the music you’ve uploaded or purchased through the service. To get started, you’ll first need to add music.
There are a couple ways to add music to your library on Google Play Music:
- Use the “Add music” button – This plus icon is located at the top right of the app. Tap it to access options to upload music files, purchase music through the store, or subscribe to an upload service.
- Select “Add to library” from song menus – Tap the three dot menu next to any individual song, album or artist and you’ll see the option to add it directly to your personal library.
Once added, you can access your full Google Play Music library by tapping on the “Library” tab at the bottom of the app screen. Here you’ll see playlists, recent additions, and all artists, albums, songs and genres pulled from your personal music collection.
To remove any music from your library, just tap on the three dot menu next to it again and select “Remove from library”.
Overall, adding music is quick and straightforward. You can pull songs from multiple sources into one unified Google Play Music library for easy access across devices. Just tap that “Add music” button to get started building your collection.
Downloading Music for Offline Playback
One of the best features of Google Play Music is the ability to download songs, albums or playlists for offline listening when you don’t have an internet connection. There are several benefits to downloading music for offline playback:
You can listen to music anywhere, anytime – even when you don’t have WiFi or cell service. This makes it perfect for plane trips, underground metros, hiking, camping, or other times you’ll be offline.
You don’t have to stream music and use up your mobile data. Downloaded music doesn’t require any data usage.
You can curate playlists and queue up music for times when you won’t have service. No need to waste phone battery searching for cell signal.
The playback quality is excellent. Downloaded music plays just as well as streamed tracks.
Downloading music for offline listening is easy whether you use the mobile app or desktop player:
On mobile, tap the 3-dot menu next to a song, artist, album or playlist and select “Add to device” or “Download”. Your downloads will appear in the “Downloads” section.
On desktop, click the download arrow icon next to tracks or albums to download them. Use the “Downloads” section to manage them.
You can download up to 100,000 songs for offline listening. The tracks stay on your device until you delete them.
With offline listening capabilities, Google Play Music makes it simple to enjoy your favorite songs anywhere you go, even without an internet connection.
Managing Downloads
To access music you’ve downloaded for offline playback on Google Play Music, tap on the Downloads tab at the bottom of the app screen. This will show you all the songs, albums, and playlists available for offline listening.
To remove downloaded music and free up storage space on your device, go to the Downloads tab and tap on the Downloaded Only filter at the top of the screen. Tap the 3-dot menu next to any album, playlist or individual track and select Remove Download to delete it from your device. You can also tap on a song playing from your Downloads, tap More Options and then Remove Download.
Go to Settings > Downloads > Storage management to select a limit for how much downloaded music to store on your device. Google Play Music will automatically remove older downloads if you exceed the limit.
You can also tap Free Up Space in Settings to have Google Play Music intelligently delete downloaded music you haven’t listened to recently when you’re running low on space.
Refer to Google’s support article for more details on managing your downloads.
Listening to Downloaded Music
To listen to music you’ve downloaded for offline playback in Google Play Music, make sure your device is in offline mode or airplane mode with no WiFi or cellular data connection.
Open the Google Play Music app and you will see a Downloads section. Tap into this section to view all of your downloaded content. From here you can access downloaded playlists, albums, and songs when offline.
Playlists and albums you’ve downloaded for offline listening will have a down arrow icon next to them in the Downloads section. Tap on a downloaded playlist or album to play it just like you normally would when online. The songs will play from the downloaded copies on your device storage.
You can also search or browse your full music library offline and any downloaded songs will have a “Downloaded” tag next to them. Tap on these songs to play the offline downloaded versions.
So even without an internet connection you can access your offline Google Play Music library and listen to downloaded playlists, albums, and songs as if you were online.
Source: https://support.google.com/youtubemusic/answer/6313535?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
Downloading Music from Purchased Albums
If you’ve purchased albums or songs through the Google Play Music store, you can download them to your device for offline listening. Here are the steps:
Open the Google Play Music app and tap on the menu icon in the top left corner. Select “My Library” to view all your purchased music.
Tap on an album or playlist to open it. Next to each track or at the top for the album, there will be a download icon. Tap the icon to download that song or entire album.
Downloaded songs and albums will appear with a green arrow next to them. To listen offline, just tap on that song or playlist. Google Play Music will automatically play the downloaded version.
You can also download just certain songs from an album by tapping the menu icon next to each track and selecting “Add to device.” This lets you customize which songs to save for offline listening.
Keep in mind downloaded songs will take up storage space on your device. You can remove downloads at any time by tapping the menu icon and selecting “Remove from device.” Just be sure you have an internet connection to stream the music if you delete a download.
With Google Play Music purchases, you have full flexibility to download entire albums or just favorite tracks to fit your listening needs both online and offline.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you run into problems downloading music from Google Play, here are some troubleshooting tips:
Check your internet connection. Make sure you’re connected to a stable Wi-Fi or mobile data network when trying to download. Connect to a different network if needed.
Check your device storage. Downloads can fail if you have insufficient storage space on your phone or tablet. Delete unused apps and files to free up more storage.
Reboot your device. Sometimes a quick reboot can fix quirky download issues. Power your device off completely and then restart.
Re-download the music. Go back to the album or playlist and try downloading the tracks again. The download may work on a second attempt.
Update Google Play Music. Go to the Play Store app and check for any available updates to the Google Play Music app. Installing the latest version can potentially resolve bugs.
If you continue having trouble downloading music you’ve purchased or added to your library, you may need to contact Google Play support for additional troubleshooting help.
Summary
In this guide, we covered how to download music from Google Play Music to listen offline on mobile or desktop. The key steps include:
1. Signing up for a Google Play Music account at play.google.com/music.
2. Searching for music in the Google Play Music library and adding songs, albums or playlists to Your Library.
3. On mobile, tapping the download icon next to songs, playlists or albums to download them. On desktop, clicking the download button.
4. Managing your downloads by going to Downloads in the left menu. You can remove downloads or pin content to keep it on your device.
5. Listening to downloads by going to Downloads or tapping the Downloads filter on mobile.
For more help with downloading from Google Play Music, check out their support page or downloading help article.
