How do I make a music playlist on my Android?
A music playlist is a curated list of songs that are organized for the purpose of listening to music. Playlists allow you to customize and arrange your music library based on your preferences. On Android devices, creating playlists in apps like YouTube Music or Spotify gives users more control over their listening experience.
Android users may want to make playlists for many reasons. Playlists let you group together songs based on genre, artist, activity, mood, decade, or anything else. You can make playlists for different settings like parties, working out, relaxing, or driving. Playlists also help when you want to listen to an entire album or discography in order. Overall, playlists on Android give users the ability to organize their music and listen to what they want, when they want.
Prerequisites
There are two main prerequisites for creating a music playlist on your Android phone:
1. Having an Android phone. You’ll need an Android smartphone in order to utilize the Android operating system’s built-in music features and music apps. Android phones include devices from manufacturers like Samsung, Google, LG, Motorola, among others.
2. Having music files saved locally or using a music streaming service. In order to have songs available to add to a playlist, you’ll either need to have music files like MP3s saved directly on your Android device, or you’ll need to use a music streaming app like Spotify that gives you access to streamable songs.
As long as you meet those two prerequisites of owning an Android device and having accessible music files, you’ll be ready to start creating playlists for your favorite music library.
Accessing Music Library
The first step to building a playlist is accessing your music library on your Android device. There are a couple ways to do this:
Open Pre-Installed Music App
Most Android devices come pre-installed with Google’s Play Music app or a similar stock music player app. Open the music app on your home screen or app drawer. This will display the music library stored locally on your device, including any songs you’ve downloaded from the Google Play Store or transferred via USB.
Access Cloud Music Library
If you subscribe to a cloud music streaming service like Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc., you can access your library by opening their respective apps. Sign into your streaming account which will sync your cloud library. This gives you access to stream any of your saved songs, albums, playlists, etc. directly on your Android device.
Creating a New Playlist
To create a new playlist on your Android device, start by tapping the menu icon or “+” button in your music app. This is usually located in the top or bottom corner of the screen.
Once you tap the menu or plus icon, you will be prompted to name your new playlist. Enter a name that will help you identify the playlist later on.
After naming the playlist, you will need to select where to save it. Most Android devices give you the option to save playlists locally on your device storage or in the cloud. Saving locally will make the playlist accessible only on that device, while saving to your cloud account (like Google Play Music) will allow you to access it from any device logged into your account.
According to Google’s support page, when creating a new YouTube playlist on Android you can “tap Create new playlist” after tapping the Save icon under a video. This will allow you to name and save the playlist in your YouTube account (source).
Adding Songs
To add songs to your new playlist on an Android device, tap the “Add songs” button at the bottom of the playlist screen. This will bring up your music library. Tap on any song you want to add to the playlist to select it. A checkmark will appear next to the selected songs.
You can also tap and hold on a song to bring up additional options, like adding it to the queue or viewing the album details. Once you’ve selected all the songs you want to add, tap “Add” at the top right to add them to your playlist.
Reordering the songs in your playlist is easy. Simply tap and hold on a song, then drag it up or down to place it in the desired position. The rest of the songs will shift accordingly. This allows you to customize the song order however you want.
Refer to Google Support and WikiHow for more details on adding songs to playlists on Android.
Editing Playlist Details
Once you’ve created a new playlist, you can edit the playlist details like the name, description, and visibility. Here’s how to edit playlist details on Android:
- Open the YouTube Music app and go to the Library tab.
- Tap on the playlist you want to edit.
- Tap on the three dot menu icon in the upper right corner.
- Select ‘Edit details’ from the menu.
- Here you can change the playlist name, add or edit a description, and change the privacy settings.
- To change the name, simply type in a new name.
- To add or edit the description, tap on the Description field and type in your text.
- To change the visibility, tap on the dropdown menu next to Privacy. You can choose to make your playlist public, unlisted (accessible by link), or private.
- Once you’ve made your edits, tap ‘SAVE’ to update the playlist details.
That’s it! With just a few taps you can customize the name, description, and visibility for any playlist you create on your Android device using YouTube Music.
Deleting and Rearranging
To delete a song from your playlist on Android, you can simply swipe the song title to the left in the playlist view. This will reveal a “Remove from playlist” button that you can tap to delete that song (Source).
You can also long press on a song title to bring up the reorder/delete options. While long pressing, drag the song title up or down to rearrange its position within the playlist. Letting go will set it in the new spot (Source). This allows you to customize the order of your playlist.
Sharing Playlists
Once you’ve created a playlist in the YouTube app, you can easily share it with friends, family or followers. To share a playlist:
1. Open the YouTube app and go to the playlist you want to share. Tap on the playlist to open it.
2. Tap the share button in the top right corner. This looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it.
3. Select where you want to share the playlist – you can share via email, text messaging apps, social media and more. The options will vary based on what apps you have installed.
4. Follow the prompts to share the playlist link to your selected destination. The link will allow anyone to view and play your shared playlist.
Sharing playlists allows you to easily distribute your curated song collections and playlists to friends and followers on various platforms. Just tap the share button and choose where to post the link from the options available in your YouTube app.
Backing Up Playlists
Backing up your playlists is important to avoid losing your music collections if you get a new device or reset your current one. There are a couple ways to back up Android playlists:
Sync with Google Account – If you are signed into your Google account on your Android device, your playlists may automatically sync and back up to your account. You can check if this is enabled in your settings. Then when you log into your Google account on a new device, your playlists should sync over.
Export to Services – You can export your Android playlists to streaming services like Spotify using various third party apps. This allows you to access your playlists from the streaming service on any device. For example, check out this Reddit discussion on backing up playlists using Mixzing when changing SD cards.
Conclusion
Creating playlists on your Android device is quick and easy. Just open the music app, tap the menu icon, select “Playlists”, hit the plus button, title your playlist, choose songs to add, and you’re done!
Playlists are a great way to organize your music library and listen to customized song groupings. You can make playlists for different moods, activities, genres, or however else you want. Playlists allow you to queue up music you want to hear without having to manually select each song.
With playlists, you can also download mixes for offline listening when you won’t have an internet connection. Overall, taking a few minutes to make playlists will enhance your Android music experience.
