At the beginning of December, the Google Play Music website and mobile applications officially stopped working for all users worldwide. It was the biggest milestone in the transition to YouTube Music, but there is one last step. Today (December 31st) should be the last day to transfer your Play Music library to the replacement YouTube service, or download using Google Takeout.
Transfer or upload your Play Music library
Visit music.google.com or the Android and iOS apps offering a “Transfer to YouTube Music” prompt today. This is the easiest way to turn off Play Music, and it includes: uploads purchases, playlists, stations, albums / songs stored in your library, likes / dislikes, and billing information.
Alternatively, there is 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 tracks, playlists, radio stations, uploads and purchases in your Google Play Music library, as well as your playlist 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 stored on Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive or Box. This allows you to store audio locally or switch to another music program.
Play Music transfer deadline
Back in August, Google said that the ability to download or transfer your Play Music library would be available shortly after the app was turned off.
But do not worry, we’ll keep things like your playlists, uploads, purchases, preferences and more until December 2020 to make your transfer to YouTube Music easier. Users who want to transfer their music libraries from Google Play Music to YouTube Music can do so until December 2020, after which their Google Play Music libraries will no longer be available.
However, the deadline for doing one of these things should be December 31st, according to Google’s original timeline, and YouTube has provided no further guidelines. Thereafter, the company plans to automatically delete all Play Music user data.
There may be a grace period before the two output options are made impossible by the deletion. For example, other parts of Play Music – desktop Music Manager app, Play Music Store, assistant speaker integration – were gradually rejected. But to be safe, Google Play Music users need to download or transfer it today.
FTC: We use revenue to earn automatically affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: