Clearing "pinned" music from device in Play Music

[raptir]

I'm honestly not quite sure what to tell you at this point. I can tell you that those are not pinned files from Google Play Music. When you tap through to the Audio storage, the Documents application opens and generates those "folders" based on track tags, not their actual location on your device. Pinned music from Google Play does not get stored with track tags, and is stored in a location that is not indexed under Audio storage (it is stored in /data/data/, which is included under Apps in the storage menu). The Audio menu will only populate based on items stored on your internal storage (usually mounted as /sdcard/) and your actual sdcard (usually mounted as /sdext/, or something similar).

I guess my next suggestion would be to use ES File Explorer again, make sure you set it to show hidden files, and use the built-in SD analyzer to see a listing of what is taking up the most space on your device. That should pull any folders with a lot of music files to the top since it seems to be taking up an appreciable amount of space.

 

[Wednesday Watusi]

I'm not sure anymore that the music is even physically on my phone.
It just won't clear from the app at all (despite my online Google Play Music library being totally empty, and the files showing up in the app still playing).

I set ES File Explorer to show hidden files and used the Analyzer. What's taking up most of my space are pictures and videos taken with my camera. No .mp3 files. And they only take up 3.21% of my storage, so it's not really like it's a lot of space. I'm only using 3.23 GB of 11.80 GB.

I have zero ideas on what to do from here...
Though I really do appreciate all the help you've provided.

 

[raptir]

I'm not sure anymore that the music is even physically on my phone.
It just won't clear from the app at all (despite my online Google Play Music library being totally empty, and the files showing up in the app still playing).

Again, this means that the files are not part of your Google Play Music library but are instead MP3s that are stored on your sdcard or internal storage. The Google Play Music app is able to play both Play Music library files as well as local files. If you clear the app data (Settings -> Apps -> Google Play Music -> Clear data) and the files are still there, then they are local MP3s and not part of the Play library.

I set ES File Explorer to show hidden files and used the Analyzer. What's taking up most of my space are pictures and videos taken with my camera. No .mp3 files. And they only take up 3.21% of my storage, so it's not really like it's a lot of space. I'm only using 3.23 GB of 11.80 GB.

I have zero ideas on what to do from here...
Though I really do appreciate all the help you've provided.

Try the PowerAmp trial... I haven't used it in a while, since I use Play Music exclusively, but I think it will show you the path of a file if you go to the details of a track. You might even be able to delete files through there.

 

[Wednesday Watusi]

So, I tried the PowerAmp trial. It can only find my ringtone .mp3 files (which I can also find and are not the songs Google Play keeps finding).

Not to mention, there should be more than 1GB of music files if the Google Play music is stored on my phone/SD Card, but none of the file explorer software items are finding them (Astro or ES File Explorer).

I get what you're saying about how stuff is supposed to work, but what I'm seeing and what you're saying aren't matching. What's going on??

 

[raptir]

In PowerAmp, did you go to the settings and select your full sdcard/internal storage as the music location? Otherwise I believe it just scans /sdcard/music and /sdcard/ringtones.

I didn't realize that you were saying the music shows up in Storage but isn't actually taking up any room on your device... that's very odd.

If you put the phone in airplane mode are you still able to play the music (make sure to clear the application's cache/data again so that they won't play if they are cached)?

 

[Wednesday Watusi]

I did select all possible folders and locations in PowerApp (checked every little box).

Went to Settings>Apps>Google Play Music> Clear Cache/Clear Data (Cache stayed at 6.00KB regardless of how many times I touched the button)

Put phone in Airplane Mode

Signed into Google Play Music, got an empty library screen for a split second (a prompt to connect by USB and add music), and FINALLY the only things showing up are the mp3 files that are in my ringtone folders. Dunno what finally got rid of all those extras (magic?!), but it worked!! Hooray!

Next question:
How to get Google Play to stop pulling those files? I don't want them as part of my "music library".

 

[raptir]

I did select all possible folders and locations in PowerApp (checked every little box).

Went to Settings>Apps>Google Play Music> Clear Cache/Clear Data (Cache stayed at 6.00KB regardless of how many times I touched the button)

Put phone in Airplane Mode

Signed into Google Play Music, got an empty library screen for a split second (a prompt to connect by USB and add music), and FINALLY the only things showing up are the mp3 files that are in my ringtone folders. Dunno what finally got rid of all those extras (magic?!), but it worked!! Hooray!

Next question:
How to get Google Play to stop pulling those files? I don't want them as part of my "music library".

That's very strange that the files were apparently cloud files despite showing up in the Audio section. I'm not sure what would have caused that. Are they still showing up in Storage -> Audio?

The simplest way to get rid of the files all together would be to log in to Play Music on a computer and delete the songs there:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1260049?hl=en

You can also delete your entire library following this YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOU--MFA7OY

Be careful: If you have purchased any music from the Play Store this will delete that as well and you will not be able to recover it.

I would also check to make sure that none of your computers have the Music Manager installed. If you have that left behind on a computer, it could be uploading those songs whenever you turn that computer on.

 

[Wednesday Watusi]

My Google Play library on the computer is totally empty. Somehow the app is pulling files from my "ringtones" and "notifications" folders on my phone and showing up as music to play. My computer with the Music Manager was only attached to one specific folder to upload music from, and that folder doesn't contain ringtones or notification files. I disabled all of that when I initially started posting all of this in search of assistance getting the music off my phone.

I can't find a setting on the app to prevent it from automatically including .mp3 files from folders on the phone, nor can I find any settings on any of the computer tools (Google Play or the music manager).

 

[raptir]

My Google Play library on the computer is totally empty. Somehow the app is pulling files from my "ringtones" and "notifications" folders on my phone and showing up as music to play. My computer with the Music Manager was only attached to one specific folder to upload music from, and that folder doesn't contain ringtones or notification files. I disabled all of that when I initially started posting all of this in search of assistance getting the music off my phone.

I can't find a setting on the app to prevent it from automatically including .mp3 files from folders on the phone, nor can I find any settings on any of the computer tools (Google Play or the music manager).

Ah, so if you open Play Music with a data connection (airplane mode off) you don't see those phantom songs anymore, just the ringtones and notifications?

Create an empty file called ".nomedia" in those folders. That will stop the Play Music app (and any other media app) from scanning those folders.

 

[Wednesday Watusi]

But I'll still be able to use those files for ringtones/notifications? None of the pre-installed ones (that come with the phone) show up. Just the ones that I've added myself in various ways.

 

[raptir]

But I'll still be able to use those files for ringtones/notifications? None of the pre-installed ones (that come with the phone) show up. Just the ones that I've added myself in various ways.

The system ringtones are saved elsewhere, I think in /system/media, so the mediascanner won't pick them up.

I'm honestly not sure if adding the .nomedia file will stop them from showing up as ringtones. You'd need to try it. You can always delete the file if it does break it.