Where does Android store Google Play music files

**tommy6206yah** · 11-03-2012, 09:34 PM

I bought an album using Google Play and can play it successfully. But I checked the Keep On Device option which I assume downloads it to the device? If this is true, where is it stored on my phone?

**still1** · 11-04-2012, 12:32 AM

its stored in sdcard-->Android-->data-->com.google.android.music-->cache-->music

**Cyber Warrior** · 11-04-2012, 12:36 AM

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

**tommy6206yah** · 11-04-2012, 10:48 PM

Thanks but not there.

Apparently i'm doing something wrong so let me approach this from the beginning. (I assumed I hit all the right options to download locally but apparently not).

When I purchase an album from Google Play, how do I download the music locally?

**B. Diddy** · 11-04-2012, 10:55 PM

After you've purchased the album, go to Google Play Music on your phone and find the album. Tap on the diagonally pointing arrowhead to the right of the album name to bring up the options for that album. Tap on the checkbox for "Keep on device." That should download the album to your phone. I've never tried this myself, but technically, this should work.

**still1** · 11-04-2012, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by tommy6206yah

Thanks but not there.

Apparently i'm doing something wrong so let me approach this from the beginning. (I assumed I hit all the right options to download locally but apparently not).

When I purchase an album from Google Play, how do I download the music locally?

use music manager to download

**Cyber Warrior** · 11-04-2012, 11:28 PM

Sent from my GT-P7310 using Android Central Forums

**athenatp** · 11-13-2012, 06:16 AM

In other words do you need to have an SD card in order to store it on your phone? And what does Music player do? Does it just play music or can you store on it as well?
Thanks for any explanation....

**Eddie Cooper** · 11-13-2012, 06:43 AM

I can play my newly purchased Black Country Communion album without a network connection to my tablet but I can't find the files anywhere. Also the music doesn't show in any other music player. Won't be returning to Google Play Music to buy if I can't listen to the music on the app of my choice! :-(

Nothing in the folders mentioned so far.

**surebuttercringe** · 11-13-2012, 06:49 AM

In for answers. I'm having the same issue as well. I do not have an SD card installed, so where does the file go?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

**athenatp** · 11-13-2012, 06:55 AM

Well I just tried it with an SD card and still nothing is showing, nothing in Music play or other folders either...

**Eddie Cooper** · 11-13-2012, 09:13 AM

If you go to the Google Play Music site on a browser & navigate to the album you bought, you can select to download the album as a zip of MP3 files, or each individual song. Strange this isn't offered within the app itself. Seems Google may be discouraging us from using alternative music players?

**Suzanne Whistance** · 12-08-2012, 09:51 AM

Hi - I had the same problem, and the issue was that I hadn't set the phone settings to sync. On Samsung S3 main home page drag down settings for wifi/gps/screen rotation etc and make sure sync setting is on - my purchases all then appeared with confirmation emails from gmail and showed on Google play (headphone icon) hope this helps! x

**mesocyclone30** · 01-03-2013, 04:19 AM

the folder where they are as described above has a ".nomedia" file in it so the music players won't obviously find the music. nice. i pay for music i can't even use on my player of choice. that's alright i do my playlist work on itunes and sync with iSyncr anyways. googles system is hard to do playlists with and can't import them to the cloud so what the heck?

**Martin Krischik** · 01-30-2013, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by tommy6206yah

If this is true, where is it stored on my phone?

In /data/data/com.google.android.music/files/music — but you need a rooted phone to access them.

**dogeater** · 02-02-2013, 01:29 AM

Using a file explorer on a unrooted s2 it's /mnt/sdcard/android/data/com.google.music/files/music. Same place on my note2 also.

**Karen Drew** · 02-08-2013, 12:47 PM

Thank you so much - something so simple . I was getting quite upset thinking I couldnt access my music on my brand new phone

**grobier** · 02-22-2013, 09:08 AM

I went to the site through browser and found my music but how do I initiate the download on a tablet? Thank you for the response.

**danx55** · 03-15-2013, 06:31 PM

hi all,
thanks for the info - i was stuck with this too - finally tracked it down,But
it has just stuck all the tracks of the 2 albums together, just with track numbers!!

they are in internal sd/data/data/com.google.android.music/files/music on my s3

cheers

**danx55** · 03-15-2013, 06:47 PM

had to go for the re download from website in the end :/

**Thralkzilla** · 03-25-2013, 04:36 PM

Same issue? All songs are marked with the blue push-pin in Google play, seemingly indicating they're "On Device", yet following the directory chain below...

sdcard-->Android-->data-->com.google.android.music-->cache-->music

...yields an empty folder. I'm using Astro File Manager to navigate through all this and have successfully done this in the past to cut snippets from other songs to make into ringtones. I really don't think I should have to waste a manual download through the browser to access something that's already showing up in the app...any advice?

**vzwty** · 04-01-2013, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by Thralkzilla

Same issue? All songs are marked with the blue push-pin in Google play, seemingly indicating they're "On Device", yet following the directory chain below...

sdcard-->Android-->data-->com.google.android.music-->cache-->music

...yields an empty folder. I'm using Astro File Manager to navigate through all this and have successfully done this in the past to cut snippets from other songs to make into ringtones. I really don't think I should have to waste a manual download through the browser to access something that's already showing up in the app...any advice?

I'm having the same issue on my new Verizon S3. Using the built in file manager and ES explorer I can't find the files. I just saved a couple gb's of music to my "device". I want to move them to my 32gb micro sd card when it arrives, but can't find the files anywhere.

**seanyoung24** · 04-03-2013, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by xICEMANx

I'm having the same issue on my new Verizon S3. Using the built in file manager and ES explorer I can't find the files. I just saved a couple gb's of music to my "device". I want to move them to my 32gb micro sd card when it arrives, but can't find the files anywhere.

you actually need to go to: sdcard-->Android-->data-->com.google.android.music-->files-->music. the cache is where it stores music that you haven't marked for offline use so that it can access it faster. the files folder is where it stores music that you marked for offline use.

I'm having a bigger issue where first my droid charge lost all my music, so I had to re-sync to my account. then once I got it all back, I had to re-mark all of my offline music again. now that I've done that, google music refuses to play any of it. the only way I've been able to play it is pathing to the location above, and play it in the Sound Player that came with my android. annoying.

**felipe66** · 04-11-2013, 01:57 PM

What if your sdcard does not show an Android folder? I found all my music on the phone itself. Should android create that folder automatically, or do I need to?

**Del Young** · 04-24-2013, 04:58 AM

I purchased an album a few months ago was really niggled that i couldn't play it through my phone's player now i can thanks to this post but having to download it as a zip file to my laptop is a joke when i purchase from amazon it goes straight to my player needless to say i shall not be purchasing from google again....