Chromecast Saying Sideloaded Music can't play

nycdaddio1

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Isn't all my music on Google Play stored in the cloud? This is a real issue for me becuase I have playlist that I am casting and they just stop playing with no way to tell what will play and what wont.
I just got off the phone with chromecast support and it was probably one of the worst CS experiences i ever had. First the guys headphone didn't work so he couldn't hear me (I was on a landline) and he kept breaking up. Second, he told me that for the chromecast to work correctly I needed Android 5.0. and he was insistent about it even when I told him I have a brand new phone with 4.2 and that is the latest. I asked him to look up the release date and thats when he came back and apologized but these people have obviously not had even rudimentary training. I love android and have no apple devices but my kids do and Apple would never put someone on the phone without them knowing what OS is current or with a defective headset for that matter.
I finally got a supervisor on the phone and unbelievably he had the same headset problem. when i asked him if he was using the same one he said yes i then asked if Google cant afford working headsets for the CS he said they have too many people there and not enough headsets. Geez.
Bottom line is he told me if you didnt download or buy your music from the play store you cant cast it. Ok so how can I tell what was mine and what was theirs? He told me to check my history which shows what I bought which of course wont tell me what i uploaded from my collection so basically SOL.
Because I have a smart TV the only reason I bought Chromecast was to play music through my speakers with no way to tell what songs will play and which wont this is pretty much a deal killer for me.
 

Devlyn16

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How do you take music from iPad to google play?

You don't. you need to get the music to Google Music. I would imagine you would need a PC to upload it to Google Music as I'm not sure if there is an app to do it on the iPad. It has been a while since I uploaded my music, I believe Google only gives you 30 GB music storage free.
 

Jeffrey Knox

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I apologize if this is common knowledge or just too plainly obvious, and also if someone has said this previously and I didn't catch it. I just discovered another method of Casting tracks from my Google Music account (accessed through the web interface on my laptop) to my Chromecast. Maybe this is useful to y'all, maybe you'll find it to be pure junkbutter. I'm not following this thread closely enough to make that distinction-- sorry.
Anywho, on my laptop running Chrome, I access the Google Music web interface (https://forums.androidcentral.com/e.../https://play.google.com/music&token=2VWbNaU6), and then I use the Google Cast extension for Chrome (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd) to cast the tab that's playing my Google Music. I just verified that this does work for "side-loaded" content. (I call this approach "upside-down-loaded content" ;-)
Yes I realize this does not address all the issues of casting from all devices and maybe I misunderstood the basic question-- oh well, hopefully it'll make someone's day better! :)
Jeff

follow-up, 5 minutes later: hmmm, this is going to lead to screen burn-in on my TV since it consistently shows the Chrome tab playing Google Music... huh. That's really not good for the TV... any suggestions?

follow-up, 4 days later: maybe not on the screen burn-in! Start playing something through the web interface, and at the bottom-left there's an album cover to the left of the band, album & track names. Clicking that makes the artwork fill 98% of the page which is being Cast, and better still, it changes so the vast majority of the TV screen won't get screen burn-in! :)
 
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Jeffrey Knox

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Okay, I'm getting the hang of it now. The fastest way I've found to upload music is not through the web interface, but just copying the music files to the folder Music Manager is watching. (since I have "automatically upload" checked) Rockin' and rolling through my collection now! And I have a new question re: "side-loaded" music-- as I'm ripping my CDs now, I'm using Windows Media Player, and it's grabbing artist, album & track titles. It's also set to automatically start ripping, so when it ejects one, I just put in the next! Then I just copy the resulting folder of new MP3's to the folder that G-Music is watching, wait for the upload, and I'm good to go!
But huh, that's curious-- everything I'm ripping through Windows Media Player is not being marked as side-loaded. That's something I want to watch, since I cannot Cast side-loaded content through my Android phone, which is my preferred method; I can only Cast it through the web interface. (which makes using the G-Music app on my phone into a pure guessing game: "Is this one side-loaded? Shucks. How about this one?") I know that I had initially ripped all my MP3s with something other than Windows Media Player, and they now appear as side-loaded to G-Music. Yet I own the CD for most of that "side-loaded" music. I suspect that if I were to re-rip some "side-loaded" content using W.M.P. and re-upload it over what's in the cloud, then it would no longer be called side-loaded. I haven't done that test yet, but if that turns out to be true (anybody know?), then that implies I would want to re-rip all the content that had been initially ripped using something other than W.M.P., this time using W.M.P. But unless I go through thousand of songs (or maybe just albums) trying to Cast each one, how can I know which ones need to be re-ripped "correctly"??? It would be AWESOME if I could filter my library on the web site to show me which ones are side-loaded and need to be re-ripped. Is there a way to do that, or to make a suggestion to the G-Music team?

Thanks y'all,
Jeff
 

Brian Lucas

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The reason for all this is fundamental to the way a Chromecast device works. The dongle never streams anything directly from your Android device. Your android device is only a sort of remote control - you use it to tell the dongle what to do, but then the dongle goes and gets the content itself directly from Netflix or YouTube or your Google Play account. That's why you can start something streaming, and then you can go and use your tablet for something else, or put it to sleep, while the stream plays... but it also means that having the content stored on the tablet doesn't matter - the dongle can't retrieve content from your tablet. There are other kinds of dongles that will effectively mirror your tablet's display on your TV but that's not what Chromecast does, it's a completely different paradigm.
 

jasonbird

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I just bought one of these from best buy for $29.00 and I don't think I'm that disappointed. It streams you tube, play music, Netflix, Pandora with no issues at all. I have not been able to get chrome to work yet. I don't see the cast symbol anywhere on the page. The HBO and hulu don't do much for me since you have to subscribe to them. I'm hoping that soon it mirror my phone and tablet screens. Old nexus7 and sgs4. One thing I was impressed with was how easy it was to set up. No problems at all.

Posted via Android Central App
 

Jeffrey Knox

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Brian Lucas,
Thank you... it finally dawned in what "side-loaded" means! It means Chromecast can't play LOCAL content. I wonder why they ditched common terminology. In order to play on a Chromecast, the content must come from some stream. That makes sense. Except for casting Chrome tabs, that's local content... unless the screenshot is actually being uploaded via computer and then downloaded via Chromecast. That would seem like a waste of bandwidth... but whatever, I'm done, thanks!

jasonbird, you'll need to install the Google Cast extension for Chrome from here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd Then a small TV monitor icon will appear to the right of Chrome's omnibox (address bar), and you can move it some by click-and-drag. :)
 

Devlyn16

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I just bought one of these from best buy for $29.00 and I don't think I'm that disappointed. It streams you tube, play music, Netflix, Pandora with no issues at all. I have not been able to get chrome to work yet. I don't see the cast symbol anywhere on the page. The HBO and hulu don't do much for me since you have to subscribe to them. I'm hoping that soon it mirror my phone and tablet screens. Old nexus7 and sgs4. One thing I was impressed with was how easy it was to set up. No problems at all.

Posted via Android Central App

Chrome only works from a PC Chrome browser, you need to add the Plugin. Have you done so? also what are the specs of the PC you are casting Chrome from?
 

John Krehmke

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I just deleted all the music in my internal HD and external HD on my Droid HD. Worked like a charm. I just change my google play music from time to time up in the cloud. No harm no foul. It's free and does not take up much time at all.
 

wvcadle

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Here's my question: Why the heck does it matter whether the music is in the cloud, whether it matches locally, or any of that? Just a bunch of ridiculous excuses as to why it won't cast anything you want.
 

neu smurph

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It doesn't matter really - it's just a case of choosing the right tool for the job.

Music (or Video or Photos*) on Device - cast with BubbleUPnP
Music (or Video or Photos*) on PC/Plex Media Server - cast with BubbleUPnP or Plex App
Music (or Video or Photos*) on some other Cloud Storage - cast with BubbleUPnP
Music uploaded to Google Play Music - cast with Google Play Music

*Dayframe is a better app for Photo casting.
 

neu smurph

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A tip that may be useful to some....

I've done this on my wifi only tablet which has limited internal memory (not enough to pin my whole library in Google Play Music and pin to external storage is not supported on this device) so I can benefit from having my music library on the large external SD card and play it when offline using PowerAmp, and still be able to cast the library via Google Play Music to Chromecast from the tablet when I'm at home. My music collection is also uploaded to Play Music.

1) Put a .nomedia file in the Music Folder of the external SD, along with your Music files.
2) Go to Settings/Apps/All/Media Storage - Clear Data.
3) Reboot Device
4) Google Play Music will now not list the music on the SD card as sideloaded and will cast everything fine via the Cloud.
5) Ensure PowerAmp is set to scan the Music Folder on the External SD so it can provide local playback on the Tablet when offline.
 

Ludawyn

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Lol why on earth bother if you have a Mac, you should have an apple TV and you can just stream your music to it, your videos on your computer.... etc...

For me the stream "online" thing while it is precise in it's ability, is somewhat misleading to those just browsing the product in a store... it is probably going to be a deal breaker for me moving forward on Google product. Microsoft even offers this much, albiet via DLNA, but with an ability to also stream locally stored content to the TV also. as does previously mentioned Apple TV. Glad I found this out before investing in a better tablet and Android phone. Live and learn.
 

opus1269

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I use BubbleUPnP to stream side loaded .mp3 files from my phone and .wav files from my NAS. So, yes you can stream from any device that supports DLNA. Not sure if there are apps out there for other standards.
 

Carousel8956

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Dodge the issue all together - use an app like LocalCast and it'll cast almost anything - music, pictures, videos. Even pauses the cast when a call comes in then backs up a pre-set amount of time when it resumes. Listening to an album now thru it. To exit just re-tap the cast button and you can exit app or disconnect from TV (if you want to keep playing locally). Won't swear it's perfect, only had it couple of weeks, but for me for now it's doing the job I need it to.
 

CrazyMac9

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So, Chromecast can't play Sideloaded Music or videos...

[edited by Moderator] I bought the thing because I want to play things from my phone/tablet without loading/storing it somewhere in the cloud, this seems stupid to me that I can't or that I have to keep all my media in the cloud that I eventually will have to pay for. Did I simply miss some portion of the description of the device that said I can't play media from my device? It's fine if I can play media from the cloud, not one of my requirements but ok, but I have to be able to play directly from my device. Is there an alternative small device like this that CAN actually play local media audio and video?
 
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dpham00

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Please don't discuss buying or selling outside the marketplace forum

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4
 

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