Those who did not see this coming are shortsighted but it was only a matter of time before Google Play Music was permanently put out of its misery.
Google Play Music will be no more
The Google music app will be retired before the end of this year, placing millions of subscribers at risk of losing tons of their music libraries.
While there is no direct explanation coming from Google on what motivated this decision, it was pretty clear that two music services from the same developer could not co-exist.
YouTube Music has seen gains since it launched, particularly due to the fact that it is linked with the channel streaming service that millions of people rely on, and it provides more convenience and access to a wider library of licensed music (thank Lyor Cohen for that. He’s such a genius).
YouTube Music is Google’s preferred streaming service
The era of Google Play Music is finally over and for us music nerds, we hate to say it but it’s a relief. The app’s age-old infrastructure, matched with its lax approach to piracy, did not fit in with the mould of today’s streaming era.
Basically, Google Play Music will be integrated into YouTube Music and while the details of this are not yet available, we can tell you how you can save your music library before it is wiped out along with Google Play Music’s data.
Google Play Music: How to save your uploaded MP3 songs
According to Forbes, the simplest method is to transfer your entire MP3 library to YouTube Music. However, this comes with a lot of sacrifices you may have to make.
“While all of your uploads and purchases will be transferred, certain songs or albums may not transfer due to rights or licensing issues,” Google’s support page warns.
This could be the case with a lot of music you may have ripped off the internet illegally. If you want to save yourself all that trouble, the best suggestion would be to jot down everything in your MP3 library, subscribe to YouTube Music for R185 ($9.99) per month and redownload everything.
The other method is to use the Google Play Music Manager app on your desktop to download a copy of your music library. However, this will only make the music available in your local server (your computer) and you may not be able to stream your favourite songs from other devices.
In a world where digital music has caught up to the dark arts of piracy, the best method is to just pay that monthly subscription and avoid the run-around that comes with freebies.
