[GUIDE] How to save Google Music to your SD

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davidshooki

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
90
2
excuse the language

Excuse the language, but I say, F#@$ google music... its my music and I should have much better access to it.
I shouldn't need to use all my data plan just to listen to music. Or have to make elaborate plans before listening to music or formating my phone.

I can't even leave a comment on the app in the google play store since they require me to join google plus just to leave a comment.
 

reverepats

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2010
6,552
5,264
Boston,MA
Your music can also be downloaded from the PC itself. Not sure if it was mentioned yet. Click on the arrow below the album art and you should see the option. But each song can only be downloaded twice. Which I think sucks big time.

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superhawk610

New member
Dec 31, 2012
2
1
Google Play Music Hack (Change Offline Location)

Hmmm I am having real problems with this. It seems that on my S3 on Jellybean the Music app is not saving the cache to

sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music

And I cannot for the life of me find where the files are being stored. They are on the phone somewhere taking up space but I cannot find them. Neither ES nor Astro can see the files anywhere.

It is really, really annoying me. I almost threw my phone at the wall in frustration. Where on earth could JB be hiding the files?

For once, JB is actually not to blame. Samsung chose to use an integrated internal SD card/system storage file structure, so most app data is stored at a different location than normal. In this case, Google Music stores its information at

/data/data/com.google.android.music/

In order to make Google Play Music store files at a different location, there is a relatively simple workaround: all you need is a file manager and Android Terminal Emulator.

1) open /data/data/com.google.android.music/ in any file manager and delete the "files" and "cache" directories (WARNING: this will erase all offline music you have previously stored)
2) create a new directory wherever you want Google Music to store offline songs and app information, something like /sdcard/GoogleMusicCache/
3) inside that folder, create two directories: "files" and "cache" (without the quotes, obviously)
4) open up Terminal Emulator and enter the following three commands, editing them to reflect the folder names you chose
Code:
su
ln -s /sdcard/GoogleMusicCache/files /data/data/com.google.android.music.files
ln -s /sdcard/GoogleMusicCache/cache /data/data/com.google.android.music.cache
make sure to hit (enter) after each line

5) open up Google Music and save all your offline files again by pinning them or streaming them
 
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DatDude123

Senior Member
Aug 15, 2011
984
201
VA
I used Cloud Music Importer from the Play Store. There was another thread about this somewhere else awhile back. I can't remember who/where it was though.

D
 

sleepyEDB

Senior Member
Jul 26, 2010
198
27
Metro Detroit
Has anyone tried this recently? I've used this method successfully in the past, but over the past week or so the mp3s will no longer play once copied out of the original folder.


sleepy
 

Gambog

New member
Mar 5, 2013
1
1
Has anyone tried this recently? I've used this method successfully in the past, but over the past week or so the mp3s will no longer play once copied out of the original folder.


sleepy

I'm having the same problem.
Galaxy Tab 10.1 with CM 10.1 nightly rooted. I can see the mp3s in /data/data/com.google.android.music/files/music but can't play them.
 
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Double_a2013

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2013
117
12
Go figure, in the latest version of the APK, Google has already added this option! Its just not available within the settings of the app yet.

HTML:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/23/apk-teardown-google-play-music-v5-1-beam-music-to-devices-with-chromecasting-and-a-hack-for-sd-card-support-a-download-link-too/
 
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sleepyEDB

Senior Member
Jul 26, 2010
198
27
Metro Detroit
Thanks for the link, but I've figured out the problem that prompted my post on July 9th. At that time I was in a free trial for Google Music's All Access. The cached songs I was trying to copy to another folder on my SD card were songs that I'd 'kept on device' during the free trial, and were protected by some type of encryption or a special ID3 tag. The CM file explorer app was unable to play the raw mp3 file, as was any music player on my PC. But now that my All Access trial has ended, the mp3s in question have been deleted by Google, and other mp3s in my cached folder (files that I've uploaded to Google Music or one of the files you can download for free) can be copied to other folders and played with the CM file explorer app.

tl;dr - I was in a trial for All Access and was trying to copy files that I had kept on my device which were protected by Google.


sleepy
 
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  • 15
    So I'm not sure if a guide like this exists but I looked and didn't see anything. This is a How-To on saving music you paid for on Google Play. I have a separate MP3 player and I also make CD's from time to time and I tried to figure out a way on how I could save my music I paid for on Google Play. Also, there are those situations when you have no data connection (jogging for example) and want to listen to the music you paid for but can't. This is how I did it....

    Requirements:


    • ROOT Access
    • Google Music
    • Root Enabled File Explorer

    Open Google Music and navigate to the music you paid for on Google Play and start playing the song. Pay special attention to the progress bar in Google Music, it should show how much your music is buffering. Once the song is buffered to 100% pause the song (or you can just play the entire song to ensure the song is downloaded completely)

    So once the song is buffered to 100% or you listened to it completely open your root enabled File Explorer and navigate to /data/data/com.google.android.music folder (as pictured, at the top)

    vjbcW.png



    Open up the com.google.android.music folder and go to /cache/music/ (as pictured below)

    5gjcZ.png



    Depeneding on how many songs you buffered you will have multiple .mp3 files there or just one. You want to copy those mp3 files and paste them onto your internal SD or external SD. I don't think the mp3's have the proper id3 (artist, song title, genre, etc) so you can find a program to do that either on your phone or PC

    Hope this helps someone. Remember, let your song buffer to 100% or just listen to it completely before copying the mp3. I am working with a buddy of mine on making an app that will do this for you and make it easier to download entire albums. Stay tuned
    4
    I thought, it will be some kind of hack or an app that will make Google Music to cache the songs on SD card so they survive the wipe. But I am really sorry, this is not very useful.


    Its useful information for some, not very useful for others. One of XDA's higher purposes is to educate. Being that I'm not a developer or a hacker and maybe not quite as generally clever or software knowledgeable as others of you, this is something that I didn't know. Now I know.

    I'd say that I've been adequately educated for today and that XDA is fulfilling its objective.

    Not an attack. Just a reminder.
    3
    459. bzestem

    I thought, it will be some kind of hack or an app that will make Google Music to cache the songs on SD card so they survive the wipe. But I am really sorry, this is not very useful.

    There are several uses for it, don't assume you're the only person who has an opinion about the validity of someone's info, it makes you sound like an bigger douche than you obviously already really are.

    I know, that must be hard to believe, but someone had to tell you.
    3
    I bought the Music importer app a year ago when it was called google music importer. Google took the app down and recent months, the app is back. The free version can import up to 50 songs from google music, but the paid version (on one device) can import as many as you want.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/...SwxLDEsImNvbS5zYXBpZW4ubXVzaWMuaW1wb3J0ZXIiXQ..

    I use it all the time when I buy mp3s from Amazon or wherever.
    1
    Or you can check the box that says "keep on device"... then it will play offline too.

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