Google Music. The service is awesome, but the app is pretty terrible.
For starters, it’s hideous, it’s also overly complicated and really inconsistent. I complained about all this, at great length, over at Android Police, and with this project, I’m putting my money where my mouth is, and fixing it myself.
I call it Google Play Music+. It's what Google Music would look like if Google cared about it.
Changelog
Version 1.1:
Features
Based on Google Music 4.5.910I.560208 - Currently the latest version.
Rethemed - The light version is rethemed to match other Google apps. That means a white background, dark text, and a dark action bar. The dark version is, well, dark. Either way, Tron is dead.
Consistent Horizontal Mode - Horizontal mode has been completely demolished; it works the same way portrait does now, just, you know, rotated. That means swipe tabs instead of a drop down, vertical scrolling instead of horizontal, and a text-based list views for everything instead of album art thumbnails. Music works and feels like a normal app now. You might not notice this one because it makes so much sense, but compare it to the stock app.
Consistent Recent Songs - This one is still a little experimental, but the idea is to turn Recent Songs into a text-based list view like everything else. It’s currently missing dividing lines, but it’s coming along nicely.
Selectable Offline Storage - Move the offline storage wherever you want. It opens up a text box and you can type in a path. Messing this up would probably be bad. You can find it in the settings. (Thanks to Christian Brüggemann for this.)
TouchWiz Multi-Window Compatibility - Listen to music while doing other stuff. You’ll have to reboot after installing for this to work. (Thanks to Christian Brüggemann for this, too.)
Nothing Is Broken - Syncing with Google works, streaming works, offline storage works. It won't hurt your songs, playlists, or anything else. It works just like the stock app, but better.
Installation Instructions
You need root.
Remove all other versions of Google Music - That means the APK in /data/app and the one in /system/app. They’ll usually be called “Music2.apk” or “com.google.android.music.apk” - look for gold headphones. Any installation errors are probably due to you not removing all other versions of Music. (alternatively, use something like Titanium Backup.)
If You Want TouchWiz’s Multi-Window To Work, reboot your phone.
To Download: See the attachments at the bottom of the post. It's just an APK. Sideload it.
Supported Devices
It should work on all phones - But not tablets.
Known Issues/FAQ **NEW!**
(Note that I have never really modded anything before like this, so I really have no idea if I’ll actually be able to pull any of this off, but then again, I wasn’t sure I could do any of this and it’s worked out well so far. :fingers-crossed
Horizontal Status Bar - Music currently hides the status bar in landscape and it kills me. This one will be hard but I think I have a chance of making it work. Cross your fingers.
Repackage It As A Separate App Without Breaking Anything - I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do this. When I try I get a non-stop string of force closes. This would make installation a lot easier and fix the root requirement, though. Things like the Legacy Play Store make me think it’s possible. Can anyone help?
Finish Recent Songs - Really hard, because I am dealing with a Gridview and not a Listview, and changing that results in force closes. I’m working on it, though. I’d also like to stop Music from polluting this list with Instant Mixes, but I haven’t looked into it yet.
Fix The Song Options - I would like have every song option (keep on device, delete, more by artist, etc.) available on every screen. I want song options on the Now Playing screen, too. I haven’t looked into this one at all yet.
Fix The Action Bar Titles - They are blank sometimes (like in Now Playing). That’s wrong and ugly.
Add Letter Quick Scroll To Everything - Quick Scroll works, but it doesn’t have the letter popup. Music does this in one screen, but not the others. I haven’t really looked into it.
That's it for now. What do you think?
For starters, it’s hideous, it’s also overly complicated and really inconsistent. I complained about all this, at great length, over at Android Police, and with this project, I’m putting my money where my mouth is, and fixing it myself.
I call it Google Play Music+. It's what Google Music would look like if Google cared about it.
Changelog
Version 1.1:
- New Dark Version!
- Switched to the old “Music Beta” icon. Google’s blinged-out gold version is ugly, but so was my blue one. This is better. (For now I only updated the first screenshot.)
- FINALLY figured out how to theme the scrollbar. It’s grey now.
- Light Version: Fixed white-on-white issues on: the initial “syncing Music screen,” Album screen pins icons, and horizontal Album screen text.
- Light Version: Fixed white strips on the Now Playing screen.
- Touchwiz Multi-Window support should actually work now. (Can’t test. Allergic to Touchwiz.)
- Removed drop down navigation from horizontal mode. Swipe tabs make them redundant, and now it’s consistent with portrait.
- Switched landscape spinner from a stacked “online mode/viewtype” to just “online type” like portrait mode (for instance, from “All Music/Songs” to just “All music”). Again, it’s redundant with the tabs.
- Changed the “All music” spinner text to “All Music.” Sentence case is dumb.
Features
Based on Google Music 4.5.910I.560208 - Currently the latest version.
Rethemed - The light version is rethemed to match other Google apps. That means a white background, dark text, and a dark action bar. The dark version is, well, dark. Either way, Tron is dead.
TouchWiz Multi-Window Compatibility - Listen to music while doing other stuff. You’ll have to reboot after installing for this to work. (Thanks to Christian Brüggemann for this, too.)
Nothing Is Broken - Syncing with Google works, streaming works, offline storage works. It won't hurt your songs, playlists, or anything else. It works just like the stock app, but better.
Installation Instructions
You need root.
Remove all other versions of Google Music - That means the APK in /data/app and the one in /system/app. They’ll usually be called “Music2.apk” or “com.google.android.music.apk” - look for gold headphones. Any installation errors are probably due to you not removing all other versions of Music. (alternatively, use something like Titanium Backup.)
If You Want TouchWiz’s Multi-Window To Work, reboot your phone.
To Download: See the attachments at the bottom of the post. It's just an APK. Sideload it.
Supported Devices
It should work on all phones - But not tablets.
Known Issues/FAQ **NEW!**
- The dark version’s settings page is not themed.
- The dark version isn’t themed for anything other than XHDPI. If anyone cares about that, let me know.
- Recent Songs is still a work-in-progress, but it’s better than the swoopy coverflow garbage.
- I’m investigating alternate horizontal modes. I want it to display album art and scroll vertically, but that’s hard.
- Got Lag? Wait 5 minutes for everything to sync. The colors are just different, it shouldn’t be any slower or faster.
- Themes often screw with the appearance of Google Music, there's nothing I can do about that. YOU can fix it by following these awesome instructions posted by gravewormx. (Thanks!)
(Note that I have never really modded anything before like this, so I really have no idea if I’ll actually be able to pull any of this off, but then again, I wasn’t sure I could do any of this and it’s worked out well so far. :fingers-crossed
Horizontal Status Bar - Music currently hides the status bar in landscape and it kills me. This one will be hard but I think I have a chance of making it work. Cross your fingers.
Repackage It As A Separate App Without Breaking Anything - I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do this. When I try I get a non-stop string of force closes. This would make installation a lot easier and fix the root requirement, though. Things like the Legacy Play Store make me think it’s possible. Can anyone help?
Finish Recent Songs - Really hard, because I am dealing with a Gridview and not a Listview, and changing that results in force closes. I’m working on it, though. I’d also like to stop Music from polluting this list with Instant Mixes, but I haven’t looked into it yet.
Fix The Song Options - I would like have every song option (keep on device, delete, more by artist, etc.) available on every screen. I want song options on the Now Playing screen, too. I haven’t looked into this one at all yet.
Fix The Action Bar Titles - They are blank sometimes (like in Now Playing). That’s wrong and ugly.
Add Letter Quick Scroll To Everything - Quick Scroll works, but it doesn’t have the letter popup. Music does this in one screen, but not the others. I haven’t really looked into it.
That's it for now. What do you think?
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