How can I fix my Google Play Music sync?

[arpee]

Google Play Music Sync Issues

TL;DR - Picked up my G4 at T-Mobile yesterday and I'm having issues syncing my music and playlists to my Google Play Music app. Tried every fix I could think of to no avail.

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Only a portion of the music I've uploaded and added through All Access is showing up on the app. It's most obvious when looking through my playlists - many have significantly fewer tracks in them and some are completely blank. I've also found incomplete albums in my library. This affects music I've added years ago and music added this past week. Can't put my finger on a time-frame/pattern.

The music hasn't been lost completely though. Everything looks fine in the web app and on my other devices (Nexus 9 and Moto G 2014). I haven't reached my ten device limit either.

I've tried refreshing my library, clearing cache/data, uninstalling updates, rebooting, reinstalling updates, and a factory reset. I've also unchecked and rechecked GPM sync under Accounts in Settings. I've unlinked/relinked my Google account from the phone. No luck!

Anyone else run into this kind of issue on the G4 or any new devices they've purchased? I'd hate to have to manually add missing albums and rebuild playlists just for one device...

I'll troubleshoot some more today and try to exchange for a new phone tomorrow if I can't find a fix. If it still persists after an exchange, I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope a software update fixes it. :/

Thanks!

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UPDATE 1
(7/2/15)

So far, below is the best fix I've come across to get albums to reappear on my G4. Previously I would delete a missing album then restore it. However, this would remove any of that album's tracks from my playlists. The "edit-save" trick below doesn't delete tracks, so playlists will not be unpopulated.

-Log into the GPM web app.
-Go to an artist.
-Go to "All My Songs".
-Highlight all the artist's songs.
-Right click, edit, click save.

DON'T change any of the fields. Just click save. I've done this with a bunch of artists and everything magically reappears in my mobile app's library. Doesn't clog up my "Recent Activity" page, either.

This doesn't seem to work when selecting my entire library under the "Songs" tab. Edit-save also doesn't seem to work for playlists, either.

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Update 2
(7/15/15)

Per user icwhatudidthere:

"Hey guys, just a heads up, I got an email from Google saying the issue has been resolved. The instructions say to clear data and cache on the app then reboot and refresh the library. Haven't given it a try yet but just wanted to let everyone know."

I later received the same email from Google Support. It worked for me. Had to wait a couple minutes for everything to sync up, but it all seems to be there.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

If you search for the specific song, is it available? Have you reached the device limit?

Before you exchange, maybe try a factory reset. Or try clearing app data and cache data.

 

[maybish]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

My Google play music synced perfectly. Did you check to make sure you don't have the downloaded songs only checked?

Sent from my VS986

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

If you search for the specific song, is it available? Have you reached the device limit?

Before you exchange, maybe try a factory reset. Or try clearing app data and cache data.

Songs show up in the search, but some show up as not in my library. That is, there's the option to "Add to library" from the action overflow (even if they've already been added).

Tried a factory reset and deleting cache/data. No dice. :/

Thanks for the suggestions though.

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

My Google play music synced perfectly.

Ughhhh jealous.

But yeah, I've toggled 'Download Only' and it hasn't changed anything. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which album/playlist is not synced and incomplete.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Ugh, I have this problem as well. It's completely random and yeah, the easiest way to check is playlist counts. I've got entire artists missing and a bunch of stuff I uploaded to my locker just don't show up because there's no equivalent on Google.

I reset the app data and cache a few times and whenever it resyncs, it's missing the exact same songs.

Just got an Asus ZenFone 2 last week and it has all my music.

Have the T-Mobile version.

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Ugh, I have this problem as well. [...]

I reset the app data and cache a few times and whenever it resyncs, it's missing the exact same songs.

[...]

Same here - exact same songs are missing. Sucks so bad. I'm going in for an exchange during my lunch break. I'll report back with my results.

If that doesn't work, hopefully a software update fixes it. Unfortunately I'll probably return the phone if this problem persists. I can't imagine how long it'll take to get everything back to normal and an incomplete library is honestly a deal-breaker for me. Not happy about it.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

By any chance, when you were setting up the phone, did you restore settings from another phone? Or set it up as a new phone?

Thanks. Not sure what I'm doing yet but I agree, it's a deal breaker.

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

By any chance, when you were setting up the phone, did you restore settings from another phone? Or set it up as a new phone?

Good point. I restored apps/settings from my previous Moto G. How about you?

I'll restore settings again with my exchange in case that works. If not, I'll factory reset and set it up as a new phone. Fingers crossed.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Yeah, I restored with settings from an HTC One M8.

On my Asus I set it up as a new phone and it doesn't have this problem.

Honestly don't know if it's related though.

 

[Jonneh]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Really interesting...keep us updated. I'm picking mine up from Best Buy later today. Will probably set it up as a new phone just in case, lol.

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

No luck with the replacement phone.

I first tried restoring my old settings and apps. Still had the same issues with GPM sync. Did a factory reset, and tried setting up the G4 as a new phone - no restoring. Still the same issues with GPM sync.

I've got 14 days to return at T-Mobile. If I can't find a fix by day 13 I'm returning the device and going back to the old Moto G.

Any advice on next steps? I'll try giving Google support a call and see if they have anything to say. I'll keep checking all the different forums as well.

 

[Jason Sick]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

I'm having the exact same issue with the Galaxy S6 (just found your post through Google Search).

I bought the new S6 last night, did not restore from my previous Nexus 5 so everything was a fresh install, and I'm having the same issue. I've tried everything from factory reset to uninstalling updates, deleting app data/cache, signing in and out, refreshing. I just spoke with Tech Support and they basically had me do everything I had already done and their excuse is it may take up to 24 hours to fully sync...which is weird, I've never had that issue before.

My library is perfectly intact on the web app, on my Nexus 5, and on my iPad so not sure what's going on, but exact same issue as you. Missing random songs from albums, totally missing a few artists, etc.

It's good to know the problem isn't the phone though as you're getting the same on your G4. Let me know if you get it working.

 

[arpee]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Hey Jason. I chatted with Google tech support online and it looks like we had the same experience. They even mentioned that they've seen the syncing issue a couple times today already. Since you're having the same problem on your S6 it must be something server-side with Google.

Fingers crossed for a fix within two weeks. I'll keep this thread updated.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Good to know it's not limited to just this phone! I'd suggest everyone submit a ticket so they know it's going on.

 

[Jonneh]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

In my past experiences calling Google tech support to deal with Play Music issues they have been fantastic and very helpful. I would try to be persistent though and get as many of us to call them and complain about the issue as possible to try and speed things up. My BB pre-order didn't arrive on launch day today, so I don't have the phone to see if I'm affected by this yet, but I use Play Music practically 24/7 haha, so I'm pretty interested in the outcome of this.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

So I figured, what the heck, let me refresh the songs on the Asus I have, and guess what, the same songs are gone there too now!

I'm on with Google support chat and they checked a few of the missing songs, they're all in my account, no problems.

Support guy said it's very weird that it's only some songs. He's escalating to a specialist so we'll see where it goes.

I'm just relieved it's not the G4. Loving this phone so far.

 

[Jonneh]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

I just hope it's not a licensing issue with Google and their partners...I've had an issue in the past where Google removed some songs and an entire album I had on there through All Access because they lost the right to it or something. I was like, "Wtf am I paying for All Access for if my music can disappear at any moment?"

Can you tell us (those affected) for certain that the tracks and albums missing are streamed through Google's All Access, or whether they were uploaded from your own computer?

 

[Jason Sick]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

I just hope it's not a licensing issue with Google and their partners...I've had an issue in the past where Google removed some songs and an entire album I had on there through All Access because they lost the right to it or something. I was like, "Wtf am I paying for All Access for if my music can disappear at any moment?"

Can you tell us (those affected) for certain that the tracks and albums missing are streamed through Google's All Access, or whether they were uploaded from your own computer?

I can confirm that I'm missing tracks on both All Access songs as well as some of my personally uploaded music so it doesn't appear to be a licensing issue. Additionally, everything works normal on my nexus 5, iPad, and Web app. It's just my new S6 I'm having issues with.

I'm working with Google right now to figure it out. I've been instructed to remove my google account, clear cache and app data, and reboot, but I'm still having the same issues. The fact that others on a different phone are having the same issues leads me to believe the problem is on google's end.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Re: Google Play Music Sync Issues

Same for me, it's a mix of All Access tracks along with uploaded music. I don't really buy much music at Google so I'm not sure if purchased music is affected, but I'll have to take a look at that.

I did ask the L1 support guy if it might be a permissioning issue and he didn't think so because it's usually all or nothing in that case.

I've now been assigned a specialist and we're gonna set up a call to go through everything instead of through email.