As the Play Music library migration tool rolls out more widely in the past week, more than and more people are discovering the limitations and pitfalls of uploaded songs on YouTube Music. While some are obvious—like YouTube Music sequestering abroad uploaded songs in an entirely split up surface area—at that place are others you may but encounter with time. While the feature has been alive for months at present, many people are only encountering YouTube Music's uploaded library feature in the past few days, and what you discover may not exactly thrill you lot. Here's everything you need to know about the drawbacks (and, occasionally, benefits) of YouTube Music's cloud music storage feature.

Library direction

Uploading

Google Play Music and YouTube Music both let y'all upload music by dragging and dropping files and folders onto their web interfaces. Play Music used to have a desktop helper and a Chrome app that looked for new audio files in a specified folder and uploaded these automatically, but the service has been feeling rather broken over the last few years for many people. We asked Google whether it would come up for YouTube Music and were told that the developers "currently don't take any plans" to back up it — don't concord your breath.

It's likely that neither the Chrome app nor the desktop upload helper will come up to YouTube Music.

Before you upload your files, you lot should as well brand certain they're in a supported format: FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, or WMA. Google Play Music, in contrast, additionally supports M4Ps — DRM-protected AAC files. If YouTube Music runs into any issues during the upload process, it will ship y'all an email stating every bit much, which I've never seen GPM exercise. Information technology includes a list of all files that haven't been added to it, then you can try uploading those once more.

In contrast to Google Play Music, YouTube Music uploads are a ane-way street. Once you've imported files, there's no way to download them through the website or the app. You'll have to use Google Takeout to practise that. Google Play Music lets you download your files right through its website, though there's a limit of two downloads per title when you don't use the Play Music web app (which seems rather broken/deprecated).

Google Play Music has a pesky limit of ten active devices that doesn't only include your mobile devices merely also whatsoever desktop calculator you've ever used for uploads and unlimited downloads of music. The corresponding settings folio says, "Uploading or downloading music using Music Manager or Google Play Music for Chrome counts towards your device limit." While the same limit applies to YouTube Music, it's not clear if instances like third party desktop players count against your full number of devices.

On Play Music, you can upload a maximum of 50,000 songs, though this has been raised to 100,000 for some people. YT Music ups this limit to 100,000 for everyone.

Access

If you're a premium subscriber, titles uploaded to Google Play Music behave just similar those available for streaming — when yous search for an artist or an album, your own files volition popular up right between results from Google's library. If y'all upload music already available on the platform, Google volition try its all-time to match them to avert showing duplicates (which it'due south arguably not too good at).

Left: Search. Middle & Right: Library.

With YouTube Music, the situation is unlike. Uploaded music gets its ain department in the app that'south sealed off from audio available through the streaming service. When yous search for music, you'll run across two tabs: YT Music and Uploads. If yous have a huge library of titles not available on the streaming service, you might discover yourself swiping betwixt these tabs constantly to detect the music y'all're searching for.

This theme of separation continues in theLibrarydepartment. Whether y'all head to Songs, albums, or artists,you'll encounter the tabbed interface that segregates your uploads from the streaming service's titles you lot've added to your library. The just places where your files tin live alongside YT Music'southward are the queue and playlists, including the automatic Liked songs collection.

Ultimately, this admission comparison comes down to preference: In one case y'all're aware of the differences, you could fifty-fifty terminate up liking the new organization more than Google Play Music'due south.

Complimentary plan

You can yet add together your own files to both services even if yous're not subscribed to Google'southward music streaming plan. On Play Music, y'all merely have access to uploads. You can as well play music from Google's library, simply yous're express to starting mixes — you can't choose specific songs. YouTube Music, on the other hand, lets you choose which songs to play as long every bit the app is agile and your display turned on. Yous'll also encounter ads when you listen to music other than your own.

Metadata

Google Play Music lets you edit your files' metadata after uploading, allowing you to right a misspelled championship or interpret. The feature is not supported past YouTube Music, and we don't know if information technology's planned at all. Information technology would be a nice addition, but don't concord your breath.

Third-party access

Google Dwelling house

Play Music lets you play your uploaded files on Google Home just like any other song, by saying "Hey Google, play [desired title]." In dissimilarity to music available via the streaming service, uploaded songs won't be followed by an automatic mix of similar titles, just those are nigh all the disadvantages in that location are.

YouTube Music, on the other hand, doesn't let yous access your uploaded files via a Google Home vocalisation command at all. Instead, it volition play the video version if bachelor. The same happens when you try to play music through the Banana on your phone. You might not notice that near of the time, simply some music videos include longer non-music audio snippets, like Michael Jackson's Thriller. You'll need to employ the YouTube Music app's casting capabilities to play your own songs.

Android Car

Left & Middle: YouTube Music on Android Automobile. Right: Google Play Music.

On Android Auto, you lot tin access your uploads simply like y'all would in the app or on the website: Choose a category similar Albums so head to Uploads.There, you'll meet everything you've added to YT Music. That'south nonetheless better than Google Play Music — its Android Auto interface only gives you lot admission toMusic for Drivingplaylists,Recent activeness,andplaylists.You tin play other songs by asking the Assistant for the championship, simply in that location'due south no visual fashion effectually your library.

Alarms

Left: Subscription necessary for alarms. Correct: No results for my uploaded Rammstein anthology.

To utilize YouTube Music content for your alarms, you need to subscribe to the service's premium plan. Even when you do that, you can't use your own files for alarms at the moment — searching for my uploaded Rammstein album didn't render any results. We don't know if this characteristic will come up afterward. Meanwhile, Play Music doesn't back up Android'south alert app at all, then it's something.

With most people using streaming services over building their own collection these days, information technology'south not surprising that YouTube Music doesn't feature full-fledged uploading support. Information technology would have been nice to see it, only the number of people using them probably doesn't justify the evolution piece of work that would demand to exist put behind it. After all, Spotify has never supported it and is withal widely successful. If yous want a more than Play Music-similar experience, yous could check out Apple Music or Deezer, though the latter only lets you lot upload 2,000 songs. Apple tree Music is on-par with YouTube and allows yous to shop 100,000 files of your own. If you lot just need access to music y'all ain, Plex could also exist another interesting solution.

Thank you: Jes, Webber, Eduardo, Karl Horky

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About The Author

Manuel Vonau (1637 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's non writing manufactures for Android Constabulary, he's probably out and about equally a videographer.

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