Memory Allocation

**groberts0** · 01-12-2013, 01:35 PM

I have a 32GB N7 with about 6GB of music on the device + after allowing for other stuff there is still more than 16GB free memory. However, under the Device Only it says that the memory for music is now full and will not allow any other music to be transferred to the device. What's wrong?

**B. Diddy** · 01-12-2013, 02:53 PM

What do you mean by "under the Device Only"? Do you mean on Play Music?

**groberts0** · 01-13-2013, 07:36 AM

When I switch from streamed music to the 'On Device Only' in Google Play - which I presume means that which is stored on the tablet - it says in very small orange letters in the bottom left corner Storage Full (5.22GB over) and will not transfer over any more music? If you touch this warning a message comes up that says: There isn't enough space to store all the items that you selected. Not all of these items will be downloaded.

**B. Diddy** · 01-13-2013, 10:52 AM

It almost sounds like you've somehow selected all or much of your music to be downloaded, and your N7 is calculating that it can't do so. Go back to "All Music" and tap on a few albums--are they pinned? That is, are they selected for download?

**groberts0** · 01-13-2013, 11:19 AM

I have have selected most of the music = 140 albums, which I would have thought would be OK, there is after all more than 16GB free space left! What do you mean by / where do I find 'All Music'? I have pinned all those albums that I want to download to the N7. is this a mistake?

**still1** · 01-13-2013, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by groberts0

I have have selected most of the music = 140 albums, which I would have thought would be OK, there is after all more than 16GB free space left! What do you mean by / where do I find 'All Music'? I have pinned all those albums that I want to download to the N7. is this a mistake?

not a mistake but i think play music has a restriction on the size of the music downloaded just to avoid filling up all your storage with music.

never came across this since i always stream on my Nexus 10 tablet. I pinned about 15 albums on my phone. rest i will stream.

**B. Diddy** · 01-13-2013, 11:44 AM

Remember that Google Music now has scan and match, so if you're downloading albums to your device, each track is probably the 320 kbps track, which will be larger than your typical track that was ripped at 192 or 256 kbps. The average album will probably be somewhere between 50 and 100 MB in size--multiply that by 140, and you get 7-14 GB, so it's no surprise that your Nexus is telling you there isn't enough room to cache all of your music offline.

Any reason you can't enjoy the music in streaming fashion over wifi?

Oh, and by "All Music," I mean the button at the top left which toggles between music on "Device Only" and "All Music," meaning all music in the Google Cloud as well as on your device. Obviously, you need to be connected to the internet to access music in the cloud.

**groberts0** · 01-13-2013, 12:55 PM

Thanks guys will take a look tomorrow but don't like the sound of what I'm hearing. I thought this would easily deal with my music, just like my iPod does (sorry to mention that word!). Unfortunately, it also highlights my worry of needing WiFi all the time to get the best out of the N7 and similar stuff. So called cloud computing etc is generally OK when you're in town but a lot of the world will not be connected in such a way if you're travelling. Until recently I was working in the Amazon (yes the real one not the one that sells you stuff!) and have worked all over Africa etc - not a lot of WiFi etc there! Thanks again + will let you know how I get on.

**dave1nyc** · 01-13-2013, 01:14 PM

If you bought your N7 primarily to use as a contained music device and if you're within the return period, it might be a good idea to do so, as you will never be happy with it due to space restrictions. I presume that you have an iPod 32 gig and that it was able to hold all of your albums. I'd stick with it.

**B. Diddy** · 01-13-2013, 01:22 PM

If you can return your N7, you might also consider the Acer A110, which is a 7" tab with a Tegra 3 processor and a microSD slot (as well as microHDMI out). Screen and battery life are mediocre, though, which is like the older Acer A100 (which I have).

**groberts0** · 01-14-2013, 06:37 AM

I won't be returning my N7 as it's just too good in many other ways; although I am surprised / disappointed that it will not be able to take all my music. As a result I'll just cut down the Device Only music and stream,

Notwithstanding, two other options occur to me to expand the capacity when I'm away from an available wi-fi connection:
1. Put the content on a Flash stick and connect through a OTG cable. #
2. Use a Kingston Wi-Drive.

Any thoughts / comments / pitfalls with either of these choices?

# i've just tried this - copying the music I had originally ripped to Windows Media Player onto a flash stick then connecting to the N& via Nexus Media Importer - and it doesn't work, I wonder why?

**Diknak** · 01-14-2013, 10:47 AM

wow, that's really good to know that Google Music has a limit. I was going to switch from Amazon to Google for my music, but now it doesn't seem to be the right thing to do.

I have a 32gb device and if I want 10gb of that to be music, that should be my decision, not Google's. With a WiFi only device, streaming is not always an option.

**B. Diddy** · 01-14-2013, 11:10 AM

It's not clear that there's a limit for Play Music. I think the OP had just selected so much music to download that it exceeded the total storage capacity of the tablet, i.e. 16 GB.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

**groberts0** · 01-14-2013, 11:22 AM

There does appear to be a limit of 6GB - as I removed a number of Albums sure enough the indicated excess declined until 6GB was achieved and then below this it showed space was available again up to a total of 6GB.

**Groid** · 01-14-2013, 11:53 AM

While this doesn't address the Play Music limitation, if rooted, you could copy your mp3's to a 32Gb microsd card and stream it through an OTG-usb cable with stickmount. Or unrooted, you could buy Nexus Media Importer and stream using that. If you do have 16Gb free on the device, you could copy your mp3's to a Music folder and play from there. I think putting music on the device from Play Music uses some kind of proprietary format, but regular mp3's can just be copied and played.