5 ms·

This is why I love Google Play Music, you can basically upload any kind of personally-acquired (legally or not) music to the service and it will seamlessly and

This is why I love Google Play Music, you can basically upload any kind of personally-acquired (legally or not) music to the service and it will seamlessly and transparently integrate with the platform itself and let you stream them wherever and whenever like any other. They are stricter than Spotify with regional licenses unfortunately. I listen to a lot of Japanese artists that are on Spotify but not on GPM in Europe (but are there in Japan), I simply imported their albums and ripped them and uploaded them on the service and now they behave exactly the same. Not ideal, but still. For like 90% of the rest of the library (anecdotal experience at least) it's the same as Spotify, which is pretty great. DISCLAIMER: I work at Google, but I've been using GPM long before that. These are my opinions and not those of my employer, yadda yadda.

rangibaby 9y ago
Apple Music is the same. The first time you add it will apply their (shit) deduping, but if you delete and add your files again it will consider your version the "real" ones and upload them to the cloud
StevePerkins 9y ago
Amazon does the same thing. Although their "free" storage tier is a bit anemic, and they want an extra couple bucks a month for a generous tier (since they're a couple bucks cheaper with a Prime membership, that would basically take you back to square one). However, their differentiator is that everybody gets unlimited storage for content purchased from Amazon. I keep hearing about how nimble and agile Spotify is, and how their tech stack and team structure lets them add features quickly. I wonder why they haven't offered upload storage yet, and whether that's coming?
bigredhdl 9y ago
This feature should be talked about more. I love being able to supplement the service's catalog with music I own.
samfriedman 9y ago
I love Google Play Music for exactly this reason: I have 20k songs uploaded and counting. No other service is offering anything close. Sadly the team seems to have recently scaled back on the "Your library" features in favor of radio (where they can insert ads), neutering the Instant Mix feature, removing the ability to make a "Feeling Lucky" mix of my uploaded music, and re-jiggering the interface to push Radio harder. The thing is, the paid tier of GPM is really only for on-demand streaming of the music catalogue and removing ads in the radio. As an upload-only user, I really see no reason to pay money for a service that I am fully enjoying for free. If Google were to add back (and continue developing) the removed My Library features and decide to make a payment tier for use-cases like mine, I'd happily subscribe. Their focus on "your library anywhere, with extra features" is something that really stands out. I'd hate to see GPM turn into just another stream-what's-licensed service.
- larrik 9y ago
  If GPM had a Linux client, I would consider switching to it.
  - thrownblown 9y ago
    https://www.googleplaymusicdesktopplayer.com/ https://www.googleplaymusicdesktopplayer.com/ works on linux and there's also an unofficial API https://unofficial-google-music-api.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ https://unofficial-google-music-api.readthedocs.io/en/latest... I make playlists almost daily for work and I use the API to manage them, dedupe, delete old ones, and what not. Super convenient. But the web UX has gone to crap. There was an update a few months ago that really killed its performance and broke the playlist sorting. They need to eat some of their dogfood.
    - pnutjam 9y ago
      My complaint is that I can't use GPM family with a custom domain, boo.
    - larrik 9y ago
      Sure, but Spotify has a Linux client, so I'd rather they get my money.
lostcolony 9y ago
I use Google Play Books for exactly this same reason. Yeah, I can buy books from anyone, but there are plenty of things that are either out of copyright that I want to read (so, Project Gutenberg), or I own a physical copy and want digital (and don't want to pay again for simply the format change), or similar, and having everything in one place easily makes it so Google Play Books is the only place I will buy DRMed ebooks.
hedora 9y ago
I bought a Synology NAS, and it does this beautifully, with no privacy issues, or risks of music execs pulling my library.
rodorgas 9y ago
Deezer also supports MP3 uploads. Works well, but their playlist-centric interface makes impossible navigate through your MP3 library by artist or album.
kuzimoto 9y ago
I used to use Google Play Music, and it was very nice. But for anyone who has a reaaaaalllly big library I might suggest something like Ampache (http://ampache.org/ http://ampache.org/). It's totally open source, has a relatively decent web player, allows you to stream your music anywhere, allows you to create accounts for others to have access to your music, can connect with Plex/subsonic to work with other devices/clients. I use DSub on my phone, and can sync music offline (like GPlay Music). Only downsides really is that it requires a web server and the initial import can take some time if your library is very large.
- thrillgore 9y ago
  This looks cool. I've been using Plex for the same features but performance has gotten sluggish on the VM it runs on.
- modzu 9y ago
  thanks for sharing this, looks awesome!
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  There are many great options for those with large personal digital libraries. Describe yourself: "I'll never let go of my Squeezebox and/or enjoy living in the past and/or need it to run on Windows" https://github.com/Logitech/slimserver https://github.com/Logitech/slimserver "I'm a sysadmin with a Roku SoundBridge" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Media_Server https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Media_Server is another, specifically for Roku Soundbridge and iTunes streaming protocols. "I'm running FreeNAS and just want to use a plugin" Subsonic is another http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp . Can also do Shoutcast streaming. "I know what RMAF stands for and/or like messing with SBCs and/or spending $10k on audio equipment" http://www.runeaudio.com http://www.runeaudio.com "I run Arch with a tiling wm" Lastly are the mpd family of servers and clients. These are for the hardcore nerds who love recompiling ffmpeg from source. Servers: https://www.musicpd.org https://www.musicpd.org // https://www.mopidy.com https://www.mopidy.com Clients: https://www.musicpd.org/clients/ https://www.musicpd.org/clients/ // https://docs.mopidy.com/en/latest/clients/mpd/ https://docs.mopidy.com/en/latest/clients/mpd/ // http://www.runeaudio.com/clients/ http://www.runeaudio.com/clients/
KingEiddileg 9y ago
Note: Groove Music does the same thing. You can upload anything you want to your OneDrive account and it will be seamless in the app. No Groove payment required at all.
Razengan 9y ago
I love stuff from Japan as well, and from what I’ve seen, there’s a lot of Japanese music on the US Apple Music, and it’s also fairly easy to create a Japanese iTunes account to get a free 3 month trial of the JP Apple Music store.

rangibaby 9y ago

Apple Music is the same. The first time you add it will apply their (shit) deduping, but if you delete and add your files again it will consider your version the "real" ones and upload them to the cloud

StevePerkins 9y ago

Amazon does the same thing. Although their "free" storage tier is a bit anemic, and they want an extra couple bucks a month for a generous tier (since they're a couple bucks cheaper with a Prime membership, that would basically take you back to square one). However, their differentiator is that everybody gets unlimited storage for content purchased from Amazon. I keep hearing about how nimble and agile Spotify is, and how their tech stack and team structure lets them add features quickly. I wonder why they haven't offered upload storage yet, and whether that's coming?

bigredhdl 9y ago

This feature should be talked about more. I love being able to supplement the service's catalog with music I own.

samfriedman 9y ago

I love Google Play Music for exactly this reason: I have 20k songs uploaded and counting. No other service is offering anything close. Sadly the team seems to have recently scaled back on the "Your library" features in favor of radio (where they can insert ads), neutering the Instant Mix feature, removing the ability to make a "Feeling Lucky" mix of my uploaded music, and re-jiggering the interface to push Radio harder. The thing is, the paid tier of GPM is really only for on-demand streaming of the music catalogue and removing ads in the radio. As an upload-only user, I really see no reason to pay money for a service that I am fully enjoying for free. If Google were to add back (and continue developing) the removed My Library features and decide to make a payment tier for use-cases like mine, I'd happily subscribe. Their focus on "your library anywhere, with extra features" is something that really stands out. I'd hate to see GPM turn into just another stream-what's-licensed service.

larrik 9y ago
If GPM had a Linux client, I would consider switching to it.
- thrownblown 9y ago
  https://www.googleplaymusicdesktopplayer.com/ https://www.googleplaymusicdesktopplayer.com/ works on linux and there's also an unofficial API https://unofficial-google-music-api.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ https://unofficial-google-music-api.readthedocs.io/en/latest... I make playlists almost daily for work and I use the API to manage them, dedupe, delete old ones, and what not. Super convenient. But the web UX has gone to crap. There was an update a few months ago that really killed its performance and broke the playlist sorting. They need to eat some of their dogfood.
  - pnutjam 9y ago
    My complaint is that I can't use GPM family with a custom domain, boo.
  - larrik 9y ago
    Sure, but Spotify has a Linux client, so I'd rather they get my money.

lostcolony 9y ago

I use Google Play Books for exactly this same reason. Yeah, I can buy books from anyone, but there are plenty of things that are either out of copyright that I want to read (so, Project Gutenberg), or I own a physical copy and want digital (and don't want to pay again for simply the format change), or similar, and having everything in one place easily makes it so Google Play Books is the only place I will buy DRMed ebooks.

hedora 9y ago

I bought a Synology NAS, and it does this beautifully, with no privacy issues, or risks of music execs pulling my library.

rodorgas 9y ago

Deezer also supports MP3 uploads. Works well, but their playlist-centric interface makes impossible navigate through your MP3 library by artist or album.

kuzimoto 9y ago

I used to use Google Play Music, and it was very nice. But for anyone who has a reaaaaalllly big library I might suggest something like Ampache (http://ampache.org/ http://ampache.org/). It's totally open source, has a relatively decent web player, allows you to stream your music anywhere, allows you to create accounts for others to have access to your music, can connect with Plex/subsonic to work with other devices/clients. I use DSub on my phone, and can sync music offline (like GPlay Music). Only downsides really is that it requires a web server and the initial import can take some time if your library is very large.

thrillgore 9y ago
This looks cool. I've been using Plex for the same features but performance has gotten sluggish on the VM it runs on.
modzu 9y ago
thanks for sharing this, looks awesome!
seanp2k2 9y ago
There are many great options for those with large personal digital libraries. Describe yourself: "I'll never let go of my Squeezebox and/or enjoy living in the past and/or need it to run on Windows" https://github.com/Logitech/slimserver https://github.com/Logitech/slimserver "I'm a sysadmin with a Roku SoundBridge" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Media_Server https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Media_Server is another, specifically for Roku Soundbridge and iTunes streaming protocols. "I'm running FreeNAS and just want to use a plugin" Subsonic is another http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp . Can also do Shoutcast streaming. "I know what RMAF stands for and/or like messing with SBCs and/or spending $10k on audio equipment" http://www.runeaudio.com http://www.runeaudio.com "I run Arch with a tiling wm" Lastly are the mpd family of servers and clients. These are for the hardcore nerds who love recompiling ffmpeg from source. Servers: https://www.musicpd.org https://www.musicpd.org // https://www.mopidy.com https://www.mopidy.com Clients: https://www.musicpd.org/clients/ https://www.musicpd.org/clients/ // https://docs.mopidy.com/en/latest/clients/mpd/ https://docs.mopidy.com/en/latest/clients/mpd/ // http://www.runeaudio.com/clients/ http://www.runeaudio.com/clients/

KingEiddileg 9y ago

Note: Groove Music does the same thing. You can upload anything you want to your OneDrive account and it will be seamless in the app. No Groove payment required at all.

Razengan 9y ago

I love stuff from Japan as well, and from what I’ve seen, there’s a lot of Japanese music on the US Apple Music, and it’s also fairly easy to create a Japanese iTunes account to get a free 3 month trial of the JP Apple Music store.