Source
r/GooglePixel•
Comp_C

Does Google Play Music app no longer recognized locally saved files transferred from PC to PHONE via usb?

I cannot get GPM app to recognize LOCALLY stored music files. Is it me? Is it Android 10? Or do I need to factory reset and start all over again?

This is my story...

I just received my Pixel 3a XL. It came with Android 9. I upgraded the OS to Android 10 and then updated all apps to the latest versions, including GPM app.

Then I used the File Manager utility to create the following folders off the /Root dir:

  • /Media/Music
  • /Media/Audiobooks
  • /Media/Podcasts
  • /Media/Videos
  • /Media/eBooks
  • /Media/Pictures

Then I deleted the 'Music', 'Movies', 'Pictures' folders that were located in the /Root dir.

Then I copied a bunch of music (non-DRMed) from my PC's music library to the newly created '/Media/Music' & '/Media/Audiobooks' directories on the Pixel 3a XL.

Then I launched the GPM app expecting to see all my music but saw nothing. Instead it displays, "No downloaded music." Yes, I understand Google wants me to upload my entire music library to the cloud 1st, then re-download it back to my phone. I don't want to do that. I didn't for my Nexus 6, and I don't see any reason to do it on my 3a XL. So I go into GPM's SETTINGS and configured it for 'Downloaded Only' and set GPM to 'Offline mode'. Pressed 'Refresh' multiple times hoping it would trigger a library re-sync... Nothing. GPM won't recognize ANY locally stored media files!!

"Ok", I thought to myself. Maybe Android 10 isn't like Android 7.1? In Android 7.1, you can place your mp3's literally ANYWHERE on the file system and GPM app will see those files & sync them to its library. Maybe Android 10 absolutely requires music files be stored in a "Music" dir located at the filesystem /root?? I dunno, so I give it a shot...

So I recreate a "/Music" folder off the root dir and move some .mp3's into it... And still GPM app doesn't recognize any music files manually transferred to the local file system.

I'm so confused? Is this normal behavior??? Has Google changed the way GPM app works and made downloading music from the GPM cloud REQUIRED? Have they killed the ability to play a local music library if it was manually transferred from a PC??? This Kb article says file transfers is supposed to work: https://support.google.com/googleplaymusic/answer/1101500?hl=en&ref_topic=6230774 . But maybe that Kb only applies to older versions of Android and GPM app? I dunno.

Does anyone have a clue? What am I doing wrong? If I can't figure this out, I guess I'm gonna do a factory reset. Maybe even roll back to Android 9 and see if that fixes GPM.

Posted Dec 24, 2019, 9:14 PM UTC · edited

06
itachi1706Pixel 4 XL :pixel4xlblack:•

I believe it might be something to do with the Media Library not properly updating when the files are transferred. Had the same issue when I transfer media files to Android devices sometimes. Normally doing either of the following fixes it for me:

  • Using the Files app on the phone to move the media files to another location (and back if you want it to be in that directory)
  • Rebooting the phone after the transfer and waiting a bit after it has rebooted for the phone to rescan for media files
2
Comp_COP•

Thx for the replay. I've experienced the behavior you mentioned on android 7.1 with GPM sometimes failing to recognize a handful of songs on an album after the transfer... and then fixing it by deleting/recopying the file or moving the file to a new location to trigger a resync.

But that doesn't appear to be the problem here. I've moved, copied, deleted, rebooted, etc... over & over. GPM simply won't recognize locally stored music.

Can you please CONFIRM that GPM on Android 10 DOES STILL support music files manually copied from PC to phone? I'm sure it does, but 100% confirmation would be nice. I hear Google is deprecating this app. So maybe they've totally neutered its ability to play local files to force ppl to abandon it prematurely for YT Music???

1
itachi1706Pixel 4 XL :pixel4xlblack:•

Can you please CONFIRM that GPM on Android 10 DOES STILL support music files manually copied from PC to phone?

I've just downloaded GPM (8.22.8261-1.P) on my Pixel 4 with the storage permission granted and can confirm that it still finds and plays my music files on my device irregardless of the folder the music files are in. So it definitely still supports the ability on Android 10

2
Comp_COP•

Thank you. I guess I need to do a hard factory reset? Do you concur?

Will these instructions suffice? Or is there a more "thorough" way to do a reset that will wipe more than just the user data on the phone? Are there OS cache files that will survive this procedure?

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4596836

1
itachi1706Pixel 4 XL :pixel4xlblack:•

I'm not sure if you should actually jump straight into factory resetting. Perhaps you could first try clearing the data of the Media Storage app and rebooting the phone to make it rescan for media files?

Also another thing you could try is finding the files on the phone with the Files app and trying to play it with GPM via the "Open with" option to make sure that it's the app (or rather media storage) not finding the file rather than there being some kind of corruption/encoding issues with the file when it got transferred onto the phone.

If all else fails I guess you can try factory resetting. I'm not sure if there are any files that may survive a factory reset but those instructions should suffice.

1