Gapless playback of music from Google Play

[mzanette]

Not sure if this is the right forum to put this, but I couldn't continue to muck up the Nexus 4 thread with my music application specific questions.

So I've uploaded a bunch of my mp3s to Google Play so that I can stream them to my Nexus devices. Problem is, when I stream an album that has no gaps between songs (think Pink Floyd or any live album), there's a gap whenever the built in Play Music app goes from one track to the next. I had THOUGHT gapless playback was introduced in Jelly Bean, and that the application would buffer the next song to play before the first one ends, thereby playing it with no gap between tracks. This doesn't seem to be the case as it doesn't work.

Are there any music apps that:

a) can stream from Google Play
b) stream music gaplessly

I've tried Cloud Player, PowerAmp, Winamp a few others, none seem to have the option to connect to your Google Play account. Anyone with a solution for this?

 

[DanPLC]

Google has not made the Play music APIs are not public. There are some unofficial APIs floating around, but they could break at any time. I'm developing a music app called Music Player (Remix) and one of the more common requests I get from people are whether I'll add Google Play streaming support. Without an official API, I wouldn't want to add it to my app because it could break at any time.

In regards to gapless playback, I've added the capability to my app (via the Jellybean API). I haven't tested it yet (since I don't have a Jellybean device), but plan to do so during beta testing. But again, this would be for locally-stored music files, not streaming.

 

[mzanette]

Google has not made the Play music APIs are not public. There are some unofficial APIs floating around, but they could break at any time. I'm developing a music app called Music Player (Remix) and one of the more common requests I get from people are whether I'll add Google Play streaming support. Without an official API, I wouldn't want to add it to my app because it could break at any time.

In regards to gapless playback, I've added the capability to my app (via the Jellybean API). I haven't tested it yet (since I don't have a Jellybean device), but plan to do so during beta testing. But again, this would be for locally-stored music files, not streaming.

So if and when Google releases the API, do you think it would be possible to add gapless playback from the streaming music?

 

[DanPLC]

So if and when Google releases the API, do you think it would be possible to add gapless playback from the streaming music?

Theoretically it should. To play music (whether locally or streaming), you "prepare" the media player which gets it ready to play the music. I've only worked with local files (since my music app only plays local files), but presumably the "prepare" function would buffer the file being streamed. So I would think if you're playing one song, and you prepare the next one, when the current song finishes it should immediately start playing the next song without any delay (using the new Jellybean API).

But then again, I've read reports on the web that suggest that not all music plays perfectly gapless using the new Jellybean API. Again, I haven't tested it myself so it may not be absolutely perfect.

Of course this discussion is based on the assumption that Google will ever open up their Play Music streaming API. I can see advantages and disadvantages of doing so. One advantage would be drawing in more users into using their Play Music service which could lead to more music sales. The possible disadvantage would be driving people to using 3rd party apps which probably wouldn't have direct access to their music store, like their own app does.

Personally, I think it would be beneficial for them to open up the API. I think the number of users using their service would dramatically increase if people had more options in how to access their online music.

 

[mzanette]

Theoretically it should. To play music (whether locally or streaming), you "prepare" the media player which gets it ready to play the music. I've only worked with local files (since my music app only plays local files), but presumably the "prepare" function would buffer the file being streamed. So I would think if you're playing one song, and you prepare the next one, when the current song finishes it should immediately start playing the next song without any delay (using the new Jellybean API).

But then again, I've read reports on the web that suggest that not all music plays perfectly gapless using the new Jellybean API. Again, I haven't tested it myself so it may not be absolutely perfect.

Of course this discussion is based on the assumption that Google will ever open up their Play Music streaming API. I can see advantages and disadvantages of doing so. One advantage would be drawing in more users into using their Play Music service which could lead to more music sales. The possible disadvantage would be driving people to using 3rd party apps which probably wouldn't have direct access to their music store, like their own app does.

Personally, I think it would be beneficial for them to open up the API. I think the number of users using their service would dramatically increase if people had more options in how to access their online music.

Thanks for all your help! Was very educational. Even if they never open up the APIs, I hope they at least fix their own app so it can handle gapless playback from the cloud. Seems to be something they should have included all along.

 

[mzanette]

Quick update if anyone is interested, google updated their "play music" app today, said it adds "gapless playback" but it must only be for locally stored files. I tried to stream from the cloud and it's ALMOST gapless now, they really cut down the time between tracks but you still hear the pause. Almost there google, almost there...

 

[regression]

Quick update if anyone is interested, google updated their "play music" app today, said it adds "gapless playback" but it must only be for locally stored files. I tried to stream from the cloud and it's ALMOST gapless now, they really cut down the time between tracks but you still hear the pause. Almost there google, almost there...

In just tried listening to some offline files and I still have a very small gap. I guess Google should call it "less gaps" rather than "gap less".

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mzanette]

In just tried listening to some offline files and I still have a very small gap. I guess Google should call it "less gaps" rather than "gap less".

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Well, at least they're getting closer LOL. The first time I tried before this update there was a huge gap, now it's a slight gap.

 

[mzanette]

IT NOW WORKS!!!!!

After updating to 4.2.1 and playing Tool's "Parabol" song to "Parabola" there is NO GAP while streaming from Google Music using the Google Play app! It finally works!!!!

Listening to Radiohead's "OK Computer", perfect gapless transition from song 1 to 2. Thank you Googly.

 

[mzanette]

So after a long while this seems to be broken again. I get gaps between songs now. *Sigh* tested with an album on my Nexus 5, and then put the same album on my old freaking iPod Nano...the Nano plays gaplessly and it's about 8 years old. Google gives and Google takes away.

I reported this to Google (again) through their in-app "send feedback" feature. Hopefully something comes of it.

 

[mzanette]

Update, if I uninstall the latest Google Play Music update and end up back at version 5.2.1224L then it works again gaplessly. Updating to version v5.2.1301L, gapless play back breaks.

Also, I seem to be the only person that cares about this issue LOL

 

[Mjumbe Poe]

I care! Man, I wish I could downgrade. Fwiw, I sent feedback as well.

 

[mzanette]

I care! Man, I wish I could downgrade. Fwiw, I sent feedback as well.

Well, at least we know they *can* do it. There was talk originally that maybe they couldn't do gapless over streaming, but I know it's technically possible now, they just need to fix the damn bug.

 

[sasha]

Also, I seem to be the only person that cares about this issue LOL

LOL.I use this app relentlessly, and I'm also paying for all access so I definitely care! There are a lot of things they need to fix with this app, the thing that bugs me the most is the fact it won't work with Svoice or any of the other assistants I tried, kind of sucks when your driving and have to shuffle through songs between lights!

 

[mzanette]

LOL.I use this app relentlessly, and I'm also paying for all access so I definitely care! There are a lot of things they need to fix with this app, the thing that bugs me the most is the fact it won't work with Svoice or any of the other assistants I tried, kind of sucks when your driving and have to shuffle through songs between lights!

There's a new update rolling out this week. I'll report back once I get it. Crossing my fingers this fixes gapless again.

Google Play Music updated with SD card cache support | Android Central

 

[mzanette]

Just got the update. I'm sad to report it's still an issue.


Android 4.4.1 is rolling out today for the Nexus, here's hoping that update somehow fixes this, although I'm not holding my breath

Good thing I didn't hold my breath. Android 4.4.1 and latest Google Play music --> gapless still broken. More feedback sent to Google.

 

[mzanette]

I've opened a bug with Google. If you'd like to add to it here is the link:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=63337&colspec=ID Type Status Owner Summary Stars


So apparently that's not the place to report Google app specific bugs. *sigh*. All i can do is submit feedback from the app itself but I never seem to get a reply from Google.

 

[mzanette]

Still an issue on Android 4.4.2

 

[mzanette]

MAJOR UPDATE: I just got a reply in the Android open source project where I opened a bug. One of the members replied saying it was a platform specific bug and turning on the equalizer in google play would make the music play gaplessly. I tried it and LO AND BEHOLD IT WORKS! Of course if you don't like the equalizer settings, just choose the user setting and leave everything flat with no bass boost, it'll play gaplessly for you then.

Here's the thread where I got an answer: Issue 63337 - android - Google Play Music: gapless playback support broken - Android Open Source Project - Issue Tracker - Google Project Hosting

 

[mzanette]

Just in case anyone isn't clear, there's a workaround right now for playing music gaplessly in Google Play music. You just have to make sure the equalizer is on. If you don't like how the equalizer changes the sound of your mp3s, just leave everything flat and have the bass boost and surround sound all the way down as shown in my picture:



I believe using the equalizer uses more battery, so really it's not an ideal solution, but hopefully a future release of Google Play music fixes this bug and music will again play gaplessly without the equalizer having to be active.