Is this the beginning of the end for Play Music?

[eric002]

I think everyone gets the premium version initially to try it out...

Ahh yes, yes they do. I wasn't sure if he was paying for it yet or not lol. See, that's my frustration, of course I've used up my 1 month trial period, and now, is the time I've got to pay for it. That's why I am going to call up SiriusXM in The morning to see if I can cancel my subscription, and get a refund. There's no need and frustration in my paying for 2 separate music services, if you know what I'm talking about. Now, with that being said, I do love the UI and configuration of YouTube music premium! It works really well... The algorithms/prediction engines work fantastic, and the dark mode interface+ Swype gestures really do work perfectly.

 

[anon(50597)]

I'm with you. All my music is on device. No need for streaming what I already own and using data that cost me more money.

What do you use as a music player?

 

[hallux]

That's why I am going to call up SiriusXM in The morning to see if I can cancel my subscription, and get a refund

I'm not jumping off that ship just yet. I've said it before - I'm on Fi, I pay per GB and most of my music listening is done when away from WiFi so being able to cache music to my phone and listen offline (and with the screen OFF!) is important to me. I haven't yet been able to test this with YTM, and I may just hold on to GPM until they forcefully pry it from my device.

 

[eric002]

I'm not jumping off that ship just yet. I've said it before - I'm on Fi, I pay per GB and most of my music listening is done when away from WiFi so being able to cache music to my phone and listen offline (and with the screen OFF!) is important to me. I haven't yet been able to test this with YTM, and I may just hold on to GPM until they forcefully pry it from my device.

Ah, true that you're that fair enough! I mean my wife is very similar to you in that regard as well! She is a music fiend/music aficionado! Most if her playlists are locally stored on Her iPhone XR. That's what she needs and loves. My music needs are very different if course. For me, I literally steam everything, because in Verizon, I have unlimited data, so if course I don't care how much data I use. You're right, everyone's needs are different.

 

[MoreDef]

Then, for YouTube music, you must have the premium version not the free version! Lol

Yeah, I was paying $15 for the GPM family plan and was concerned about that would translate into YouTube now being my music feed. No commercials is okay, and I'll admit, I coughed up the 3 extra dollars and upgraded to YouTube premium to get rid of those darn YouTube ads. I went from being irritated, to upgrading my account =\.

 

[eric002]

Yeah, I was paying $15 for the GPM family plan and was concerned about that would translate into YouTube now being my music feed. No commercials is okay, and I'll admit, I coughed up the 3 extra dollars and upgraded to YouTube premium to get rid of those darn YouTube ads. I went from being irritated, to upgrading my account =\.

Well for you then, that's great news to hear! For me, hopefully I'll just get my money back fro. SiriusXM Subscription, and of course, I'll continue my YouTube music premium subscription! That makes the most sense for me to do.

 

[anon(10300249)]

I'm not using Google Play and I won't feel it missing, but still it saddens me that instead of improving it, they decided to kill it. I don't know what's Youtube music (is it just Youtube where u type the name of song you wanna listen and where you watch it?). I only use Youtube for videos. I wouldn't use Youtube for music, because I like my music organized. I'm using Black Player (paid version) and using old way to put my music manually in my phone and let the Black Player scan it. I'm satisfied with it and I think it's best music player on Google Playstore. If I were to use subscription service, I would choose Deezer. Tried free version and it's actually not bad. Spotify isn't available in my region.

 

[eric002]

Yeah you along with a lot of others don't use Google play Music. Use some local music player to play the music files that are on your phone. But I think from the majority of us Android users, we all stream our music and so it's a bit frustrating and annoying. I am now using YouTube music premium paying 10 bucks a month but canceled my service XM satellite radio subscription. Best of both worlds I have music on my phone, and then the car for Android Auto!

 

[Morty2264]

I'm using GPM until the bitter end.

 

[eric002]

Yeah, I was going to try to do that, but I just couldn't.

 

[anon(50597)]

I'm not using Google Play and I won't feel it missing, but still it saddens me that instead of improving it, they decided to kill it. I don't know what's Youtube music (is it just Youtube where u type the name of song you wanna listen and where you watch it?). I only use Youtube for videos. I wouldn't use Youtube for music, because I like my music organized. I'm using Black Player (paid version) and using old way to put my music manually in my phone and let the Black Player scan it. I'm satisfied with it and I think it's best music player on Google Playstore. If I were to use subscription service, I would choose Deezer. Tried free version and it's actually not bad. Spotify isn't available in my region.

How did you get your music player to recognize your music on your Android phone? I’m having issues and a Google search showed many people are.

 

[hallux]

I'm thinking using my Mac Mini as a Plex server is going to be my solution. It's going to cost me money still but it looks like it will let me use my music EXACTLY like I want to, at half the monthly cost of YTM.

I just set it up to try it, with one album copied to the Mini from my MBP, looks like it might work and DOES allow caching to my phone for offline playback.

 

[anon(10300249)]

How did you get your music player to recognize your music on your Android phone? I’m having issues and a Google search showed many people are.

I have my music ripped in my PC from CDs (in the past. I don't buy CDs anymore) and some of them are bought online, digitally and saved in my PC. After that, I just copy/pasted them from my PC into my Android phone using USB cable. There, then any modern music players can scan and detect new music in your phone, so did my BlackPlayer. All the metada including artworks were also perfectly carried (I use MusicBee on my PC, which offers great customisation and organizing tools where I have organized my music collection). And even if any metadata is incorrect, music BlackPlayer usually corrects them and also downloads any missing artwork of albums and artists.

 

[Grabber5.0]

I'm thinking using my Mac Mini as a Plex server is going to be my solution. It's going to cost me money still but it looks like it will let me use my music EXACTLY like I want to, at half the monthly cost of YTM.

I just set it up to try it, with one album copied to the Mini from my MBP, looks like it might work and DOES allow caching to my phone for offline playback.

There's a monthly charge for using Plex?! I thought it was a one time purchase! I was thinking of doing the same with the PC my music is on, I don't want to pay (more than once) to stream my own music.

 

[hallux]

There's a monthly charge for using Plex?! I thought it was a one time purchase! I was thinking of doing the same with the PC my music is on.

There are options from the server side - $5 monthly, $40 annually, $120 lifetime. I did not explore what the purchase options from the app side were but I think for streaming within my home I'll need to pay from the server side. It seems a little confusing. What I DO understand is that if I have a subscription on the server side the app doesn't require the in-app purchase.

 

[Grabber5.0]

There are options from the server side - $5 monthly, $40 annually, $120 lifetime. I did not explore what the purchase options from the app side were but I think for streaming within my home I'll need to pay from the server side. It seems a little confusing. What I DO understand is that if I have a subscription on the server side the app doesn't require the in-app purchase.

That's pretty pricey! What is the in-app purchase? I have always been confused about whether you pay for one side or both. Is it their info being unclear or is it just me?

 

[hallux]

That's pretty pricey! What is the in-app purchase?

But that $4.99 is half the price of the monthly fee for YTM and I can use my music library in the way I want!

IAP is $4.99. The options are Plex Pass (which is the monthly fee) or the IAP, but I don't think the IAP is going to meet my need.

 

[kct1975]

So...I just found out something VERY Annoying about YouTube Music...

I have an Insignia Branded Google Home Speaker in my living room that I regularly stream music to either directly from Google Play Music or by Cast from my phone ...

So today I pulled up a song on YouTube Music just to give YouTube Music a try, and then I tapped the Cast to Speaker icon...and I got the message that casting the music to a Google Home speaker is only available with YouTube Premium!

What 'The Ham Sandwich'!

It is bad enough that Google is trying to force users to pay for YouTube Premium just to be able to stream their own music in the background with the screen off...but are they telling me now that the ONLY way I will be able to stream music to my Google Home speaker is if I have a YouTube Premium subscription! That sux!

Personally I don't have any Streaming Music Subscriptions, because I am an occasional music listener. I will admit that I do pay for a SirisXM subscription, because I do regularly listen to music in the car . But I personally do not see the value of a Streaming Music Service subscription if it isn't something that I use daily.

Also while I do tend to watch a lot of YouTube channels, and the ads are annoying (especially when several ads pop up during the video and repeatly Interupert the video), I can live with the ads.

But I have to admit that now I am P! $$ED Off!

It seems that once Google Play Music goes away...the Only way that I will be able to use my Insigina branded Google Home Speaker is if I subscribe to either YouTube Premium or another Music Streaming Service!

If any of you know of an app or a music streaming solution that does not require a subscription to stream music to a Google Home Speaker ...Please do let me know.

 

[Grabber5.0]

Are you able to treat the Google Home speaker as a regular Bluetooth speaker? My JBL Link 10 has the Google Assistant built in, but I can connect to it as a Bluetooth speaker from any device and just stream whatever audio source I'm listening to.

 

[kct1975]

Are you able to treat the Google Home speaker as a regular Bluetooth speaker? My JBL Link 10 has the Google Assistant built in, but I can connect to it as a Bluetooth speaker from any device and just stream whatever audio source I'm listening to.

Thank you for the suggestion!
That is not a bad idea to try...and I might give it a try.

I am, however, wondering if there there is remaining Music Streaming Services or Music Streaming Apps that will with a the Google Home app and Good Home speakers that don't require a subscription.

So far, other than Google Play Music, I haven't found any remaining streaming music services or apps that don't require a subscription.