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 dorsum in May. Now, it's rapidly condign more widely available across the globe. It's not immediately intuitive what the tool will 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, nosotros'll show you the ins and outs of the tool and everything you demand to know about using it.

Before we dive into the process, be warned that it might have 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, and so it'due south rolling out the tool in stages based on your location. You should encounter a popup or toast in Google Play Music when it arrives on your business relationship, and the company will send you an electronic mail.

Using the Android (or iOS) app

To go started with the migration, you lot need to install YouTube Music on your phone. Make certain information technology's at least version 3.65. If it's not available to y'all on the Play Store just yet, y'all can get the latest version from APK Mirror.

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

If the tool has rolled out to you, yous should see a message on the app'south homescreen, telling you that Play Music is going away and that you can kickoff the migration. Tap the "Let's go" button and you're taken to a screen showing you lot in which club your items will be moved over. If you're a Play Music subscriber, your subscription will also be rolled over, and the price volition remain the same — even if you're grandfathered in on the $seven.99 plan or the family subscription. When you're prepare to kickoff, tap "Transfer." A imprint will pop up, telling you that the migration is in progress and that you can explore YouTube Music now.

The tool volition beginning import your recommendations so yous can showtime listening to personalized mixes on YouTube Music earlier the total transfer is finished. You lot can tap a banner below the top bar to run across how far your migration has progressed.

Yous can start exploring YTM while the migration is in progress.

You lot'll receive a notification and an electronic mail one time the transfer is finished, which can accept a few minutes or multiple days depending on how many songs you lot've uploaded. When I made the switch myself, I noticed that a few songs in some quondam Play Music playlists were still grayed out and unavailable after getting the notification, just that issue stock-still itself after a few days.

Using the spider web app

If you'd rather utilise your figurer to kicking off the migration, head to music.youtube.com/transfer. Like the app, this website shows you lot which data it'll transfer in which order. Click the "Transfer" button to get going. You can then explore the YouTube spider web app, and a banner will allow your return to the transfer overview and so you can see your progress — the process is basically the aforementioned as in the Android app.

What if I keep using Play Music later on the switch?

If yous even so continue using Play Music after making the initial switch, don't worry: Y'all tin can sync your libraries equally ofttimes as yous want to by clicking or borer your contour film in the top right corner and heading to settings, where you'll notice an option to kick off the migration tool once 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 down in a split up section of the app, sealed away from the platform's streaming service attribute. When you browse your library or search results, yous'll observe that at that place are two tabs at the summit, one for YT Music and one for uploads. It'due south self-explanatory plenty, but you need to be aware of it if you can't find some of the albums you thought you'd uploaded. We've got a granular comparing of how YouTube Music handles uploads compared to Play Music.

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

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

All of your uploads and purchases will be transferred, only since YouTube Music has unlike licensing deals than Play Music, you might not find the same selection of songs as available on Play Music'due south streaming service. Google says these cases should exist few and far betwixt, and some songs that have disappeared from your Play Music library due to rights or licensing might fifty-fifty reappear in YouTube Music eventually.

Tin can I brand the switch if I'm a costless user?

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

In contrast to Play Music, you can as well access the streaming service of the platform for free, simply you'll have to endure ads, and you lot need to leave your phone'due south screen turned on and the YouTube Music app in the foreground while you listen. The groundwork limitation doesn't apply to the spider web app, though.

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

That'due south the situation I found myself in, and as far as I can tell, no data got lost when I fabricated the switch. Instead, your libraries will be 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 two services were retained equally separate lists, instead.

What about podcasts?

Some people utilize Play Music to mind to podcasts, but YouTube Music doesn't support that format. You can instead export your episode progress and subscriptions to Google Podcasts. In one case the migration tool has rolled out to you lot, you tin head to podcasts.google.com/transfer to kick off the separate transfer.

The podcast player is available on your Android telephone as part of the Google app (only search for a podcast you're interested in), but you lot can as well get a dedicated launcher icon from the Play Store if you prefer. There's also a spider web interface.

While some people might wish to take more granular control over which songs and playlists to transfer, the tool is as straightforward and easy to use every bit it can get, which was Google's goal. The YouTube Music team knows that in that location are all the same some pregnant differences between the two services, so it wanted to brand the transition as smooth and painless as 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 experience with YouTube Music (written before the migration tool rolled out).

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About The Writer

Manuel Vonau (1637 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's not writing manufactures for Android Police, he's probably out and well-nigh as a videographer.

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