Deleting music files from device, but not library

[Brent Harambee]

Have done some searching on the forums, but haven't found this particular question addressed. Hope someone can help!

So, I have a bunch of music in the cloud via Google Music. Quite a lot of those songs are also stored on my Nexus 10 and I'm running out of space. Logically, then, I want to delete songs from my device. However, they are still in the cloud and I want them to still show up in my library so I can stream them.

As far as I can tell, though, there's no way to do this, at least not from within the music app. When I delete a song, a warning message pops up and tells me I won't be able to access this song anymore in my Library (on any device). I've deleted a few songs and that's indeed what's happened.

Any advice? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I don't think there's an easy way within the Google Play Music app to do that. You're better off using a file manager app to delete the music tracks or albums from your local music folder.

 

[Devlyn16]

Welcome to Android Central! I don't think there's an easy way within the Google Play Music app to do that. You're better off using a file manager app to delete the music tracks or albums from your local music folder.

I agree! a file manager app or connect to their PC/Mac and delete them via that. Then use the Google Music "pin" feature to keep any music On the device they need. that way later they can just "un pin" when they no longer need it on the device

 

[J4030]

What folder does Google Play Music store downloaded music in, in Kit Kat? And can I use a file manager to delete those files on an un-rooted phone?

 

[mavrrick]

The best way would be to tell Google play music to only display local content. Then just un-pin what you don't want on the device.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

What folder does Google Play Music store downloaded music in, in Kit Kat? And can I use a file manager to delete those files on an un-rooted phone?

The best way would be to tell Google play music to only display local content. Then just un-pin what you don't want on the device.

Posted via Android Central App

For those still wondering....songs cached and pinned by Google music are stored in a directory you need root access to get to. If you're running out of space, you can clear these songs by going into the application manager and just clearing the data and cache for the Google Music app.

If you still want to pin certain songs and playlists, you will have to go through that process over again.

 

[mavrrick]

Removed comment as I was wrong after checking.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Ken Detweiler]

Thanks for the info. Unbelievably stupid design :-(

 

[Joshua Kleinig]

Yeah player overall isn't bad I've used worse, buuuutt defiantly frustrating just trying to delete music
I find transferring all music to sd card in phone, unmount from phone. Put sd card into sd card slot on pc (you may need an adapter) my card adaptor had a slide switch in side if you do, move into unlock position. This will allow you to move and delete/copy ect, files on card.
You should be able to access card file folders pretty easy.
Previous scrolling, somebody mentioned accessing your file manager on phone aswel. Giving it a try.
I wish it was easier.. Hope I've helped.
I use a Sony experia e1, so the walkman app comes as a standard player. But I have simple issues with it too...

 

[Mat Ludlam]

Yeah player overall isn't bad I've used worse, buuuutt defiantly frustrating just trying to delete music
I find transferring all music to sd card in phone, unmount from phone. Put sd card into sd card slot on pc (you may need an adapter) my card adaptor had a slide switch in side if you do, move into unlock position. This will allow you to move and delete/copy ect, files on card.
You should be able to access card file folders pretty easy.
Previous scrolling, somebody mentioned accessing your file manager on phone aswel. Giving it a try.
I wish it was easier.. Hope I've helped.
I use a Sony experia e1, so the walkman app comes as a standard player. But I have simple issues with it too...

At the time of writing (29th July 2015), the App now provides a way of removing an album from the device storage but leaving it in the cloud. Go to the Album you want to delete and press the download icon again. You will get a conversation about removing from storage and a nice animation, and it works fine.

Good luck.

 

[kca17]

When you're in the Google Play Music app:
1. Click the menu button in the top left corner
2. Scroll all the way down to settings (second to last thing from the bottom).
3. Under "Downloading" press "Manage downloads."
4. From there on out, uncheck the orange checkmarks to remove your downloaded music.

Hope this helps!