Difficulty Adding Music Files to My Galaxy S8+ That is Using Google Music Player App.

[jlabit]

I am trying to upload music files to my Galaxy S8+ and cannot find the files in my phone. I can find a file called Music, but it is empty. My player is Google "Play Music". I am trying to use Windows Explorer, but cannot find the location of the 230 songs I already have on my phone. I want to use Windows Explorer to move 100 new songs into the file with the songs already loaded. Anyone have an idea where to find the music file that contains music that is already on the phone? Using Chrome Browser, I can see the songs using "Google Music Player". But I cannot find a way to transfer the 100 new songs using that program. Can anyone help? Thanks for reading.

 

[B. Diddy]

Just to be clear -- you're trying to copy those music files from your computer to the phone and have Google Play Music be able to play it, correct? What format are the music files in -- mp3, m4a (aac), flac, or something else?

Where are you copying the files to -- Internal Storage or the SD card? Also, "Music" is a folder, not a file. I assume you mean that you're copying those music files into the /Music folder, correct?

I'm not sure how you're seeing the songs using the browser on the phone. What "Google Music Player" are you referring to?

 

[jlabit]

Sorry it took so long to respond. I am a Registered Nurse and times are a little crazy right now. The files I am trying to move to the Galaxy S8+ are MP3 files. I want to use Windows Explorer to move the files into the smart phone, but I'm unable to find where the music is located on the phone. I currently have 14 albums stored and able to play on the device right now. Using Windows Explorer, I have searched EVERY file on the phone, on both the phone itself, and on the 128 gb sim card. I am ignorant about smart phones, but consider myself highly proficient with building computers and using operating system software. The ONLY way I can see the music on the phone is by going into an internet browser and going into a program called Google Play Music. There, I can see the installed music, but cannot see how to import the MP3 files to add to the collection. Any idea where this music is located? There is a file on the phone called "Music", but it is empty. I appreciate your response and your time. Thank you.

 

[B. Diddy]

First -- are you saying that the 14 albums you mentioned were moved from the PC to the phone already using Windows File Explorer? If so, do you recall how you moved those music files? Did you just drag and drop them from the PC's hard drive to the "Phone" listing, or did you try to drag and drop them directly into a specific folder in the Phone's storage?

Second -- Google Play Music is its own app. On a phone, you can't access it from the browser (unless you have the browser set to "Show Desktop Site," which I'm guessing you don't). So do you mean that you're opening your App Drawer and then tapping the Google Play Music icon to open the Google Play Music app?

Third -- Remember that Google Play Music will show music that's locally saved to the phone, but also music that's in your Google Play Music "locker" in the cloud (which is where you'd find music you purchased in the Play Store or music you uploaded from your computer to the cloud). If you go to music.google.com on your computer browser, do you see those 14 albums there as well? If so, then you most likely won't find those music tracks saved locally on the phone. (With Google Play Music, you can download music tracks for offline listening, but those actual files will be in a protected system directory that the user can't access with a file manager.)

Fourth -- If you're sure that you used Windows File Explorer to move music files from the PC to the phone at some point, then use a file manager app on the phone (Samsung's My Files app, or a good 3rd party one like Files by Google or Total Commander) and explore the phone's storage. Don't just tap the Music category -- on a lot of file explorers these days, the main screen will have categories like Music, Photos, Documents, etc. that shows all of those kinds of files that are stored anywhere on the phone, and that the file explorer groups together for convenience. But it can be difficult to determine what actual folder each file is in. So look in the file explorer app for an option to Explore, meaning that you're looking through the actual folder structure of the phone's storage. The first folders/directories to check would be /Download, /Music, or the main "root" directory for the user.

 

[jlabit]

B. Diddy, in regards to #1 above, I purchased all the albums from the Google Play Store. I solved the problem using a software program called "Droid Transfer". I still have no idea where the music is stored. I turned off both wi-fi and network data settings, to see if the music would play without the internet (To see, I guess, whether the music was stored in the cloud). The music still played without any internet connection. I again looked through EVERY file on the phone and on the SD card, and still cannot see where this music is stored. Beats all I have ever seen. At least, the 100 songs are now on my phone. I VERY MUCH appreciate your help in this matter. It is great having a place to go where there is an expert to help with problems. Please be safe during this pandemic, and thank you so very much.

 

[B. Diddy]

If you purchased the albums through the Play Store, then they're already in your Google Play Music cloud library. These albums can be streamed via the web using your Play Music app, or you can download them to your phone for offline listening, but as I mentioned before, you can't manipulate the downloaded files on the phone's storage -- they're only for use by the Play Music app. The directory that Play Music uses to download the music files is a protected system directory, and the music files themselves have coded filenames. If you want to be able to manipulate the actual mp3 files for your album, you have to download the music tracks from your Play Music website on your computer browser.