At the start of December, the Google Play Music website and mobile apps officially stopped working for all users worldwide. It marked the biggest milestone in the transition to YouTube Music, but there is one last step. Today (December 31) should be the last day to transfer your Play Music library to the replacement YouTube service, or download using Google Takeout.
Transfer or download your Play Music library
Visiting music.google.com or the Android and iOS apps today provides a “Transfer to YouTube Music” prompt. This is the easiest way to switch away from Play Music, and includes: uploads purchases, playlists, stations, albums/songs saved to your library, likes/dislikes, and billing information.
Alternately, there’s the option to “Manage your music” by deleting your music library and/or recommendation history. The third option is to download your music library using Google Takeout:
A list of the tracks, playlists, radio stations, uploads, and purchases in your Google Play Music library, as well as your playback and search history.
Playlists, radio stations, and track information will be provided in CSV format, while your previous uploads and Google Play purchases will be available as MP3 files. You can choose to receive the download link via email for local storage, or have it saved to Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box. This will allow you to store audio locally or switch to another music app.
Play Music transfer deadline
Back in August, Google said that the ability to download or transfer your Play Music library would be available for a short while after the app shuts down.
But don’t worry, we will be holding onto things like your playlists, uploads, purchases, likes and more until December 2020 to make your transfer to YouTube Music easier. Users who wish to transfer their music libraries from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, can do so through December 2020, after which their Google Play Music libraries will no longer be available.
However, the deadline for doing either of those things should be December 31, per Google’s original timeline, and YouTube has not provided additional guidance beyond that. After that, the company plans to automatically remove all Play Music user data.
It’s possible that there will be a grace period before the two export options are rendered impossible by the deletion. For example, other parts of Play Music — desktop Music Manager app, Play Music store, Assistant speaker integration — were gradually deprecated. But to be safe, Google Play Music users should download or transfer today.
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