[TIP] Add music from phone to google music (round about way)

[tjreishus]

So here is the problem: If you purchase music from you phone, how do you get it loaded up in google music so you can access it from all your devices? There really isn't a simple way to do it, but I have come up with what I think is the easiest way.

1st you need to download sync toy 2.1 from Microsoft's website. This will allow you to sync folders from your phone to a folder on your computer easily.

Here is where you can download sync toy 2.1

Download details: SyncToy 2.1

The next step is to plug your phone into your computer via USB and make sure it is set up as mass storage.

You then need to find the folder on your phone (via your computer) where your downloaded music goes.

Now you go back to sync toy, run it and create a new sync. On the left side folder you want to select the folder on your phone where your downloaded music goes. On the right side folder you want to select the folder on your computer that you want google music to scan for new music.

After selecting the folders your going to be taken to a menu where you can select what kind of sync you want to do with this pair. I selected contribute. This allows me to delete songs from my phone after I sync but they will stay in the folder on my computer. This way, as I download more songs and add them to my library on the computer, I can delete them from my phone to save space.

Next you name your sync. Something like "Amazon MP3 phone to PC".

Now you run the sync and everything in the folder on your phone will be on a folder on your PC.

Next you need to go to the google music manager on your PC.

Now you need to make sure that the folder your music is going to is being scanned by the music manager.

Be sure you have selected Other folders in the menu "select music to add to your music library"

You then want to "add folder" and select the folder on your computer that you previously selected in sync toy for your music to sync to (the folder on your computer, not your phone).

Now that you have created a sync and named it, the rest is very easy and only takes seconds. From here on, you won't have to repeat the steps above.

Now when you want to add your music from your phone to google music, you need to plug your phone into your computer, run sync toy, select the name of the sync, and then run. Your music on your phone will then be added to your folder on your computer and google music will automatically add it to your google music library. Once you have this set up, it just takes a few seconds to sync your music.
Even though the music is transferred to your computer quickly, I found it takes about 20 minutes before it shows up in my google music library.

I know it's not a perfect system, but I thought it might be helpful for some

 

[clb2196]

I haven't gotten my Google music invite yet, but is it really THAT much better than Amazon's Cloud Player that's it's worth that whole roundabout way of adding music? I can buy music through Amazon and it's just there- plus any music I buy doesn't count toward my 20 GB of free space. I do want to try Google Music, but that seems like a major pain to me.

 

[tjreishus]

It only took about 5 minutes to set up and now it only takes seconds to sync. I didn't think it was a major pain at all. The reason I am getting set up with google music is because I own a sonos system. I have heard that they are going to add google music as a service. Just a rumor though.

 

[tjreishus]

Doing some research on Amazon, I found another difference. If you buy a physical CD and rip it to your hard drive, it won't be automatically added to your amazon music library. With Google music, if you have it set up to scan the folder you put all your ripped music into, it will automatically upload it to google music. My computer is set up to automatically rip CD's to a location on my hard drive that is scanned by google music. So, adding a CD is as simple as putting the CD in CD drive... Thats it! Everything else is automatic. With Amazon, you have to log into amazon's website and manually add it to your library. If you NEVER buy a CD, this wouldn't make any difference to you, but I do rip quite a few CD's.

With that said, if it turns out that Amazon gets added as a service to my sonos system before google does, I will switch for sure.

 

[clb2196]

Yeah I think it may come down to how much music you have, and how you buy it. I haven't bought a physical CD in years, I buy it all on amazon, and since that doesn't count toward my space, the amount of storage isn't an issue either.

But I do plan on trying Google music (when I get my invite ) because I like how it's more integrated into the Android experience, so thanks for figuring all of that out.

 

[StanGetsIt]

So here is the problem: If you purchase music from you phone, how do you get it loaded up in google music so you can access it from all your devices? There really isn't a simple way to do it, but I have come up with what I think is the easiest way.

You mean besides Google Music Beta app doing it for you for each Android Device (and soon any iDevice)?

 

[tjreishus]

As of now, the only way to get google music to upload your music is from a computer that has the google music manager loaded on it. You cant upload music from your phone or tablet to google music at this point. If you are able to do this, Im sure everyone who reads this would love to know how. Please explain.

 

[woodraskam]

So i haven't had the pleasure to set up google manger yet, but does it monitor a folder for new files and automatically upload them? If so, you can just use dropbox to send these files to your PC, and voila, no need for usb.

Of course this all depends on the Google Manager and whether or not it monitors folders.

 

[tjreishus]

Im pretty sure you can do that. If you pay for dropbox for larger gigs, or the number of songs you plan to upload is less than your free dropbox limit, this should work just fine.

 

[ooMikeoo]

Yeah, I got the invite a few days ago and the dropbox option is what I have been doing, just setup the music manager to scan your dropbox folder and it will be on the web app in minutes. When you get home you can just transfer the music from the dropbox folder to your normal music folder and you are good to go.

 

[Romparoo]

Here's another option if you want to bypass the SyncToy program:

If you plug in your phone to your computer. Open the Google Music Manager. There you can select which folders to search to add new music. Select the folder on your phone where your downloaded music is. Should take a few minutes and once you do that your music is added to the cloud.

 

[bolski]

Will they ever allow you to upload music from your phone? I really hope so.

 

[daltekkie]

I have a question that's exactly opposite of what you're trying to do.

I ripped a CD and it automatically uploaded to my Google Music. I went to my device (in this case my Xoom) and looked up the album in google music and I selected the check box to make it available offline. I have to assume that the only way to make it available offline is to download it to the device.

What I would like to do next is play the files I downloaded through a different app (Poweramp) but I can't tell what directory google music saved my files in. I tried to track down the files using both my PC and Root Explorer. Does anyone know where these files are saved for offline use?