Google Play Music offers an unlimited music streaming subscription paired with YouTube Red, but it’s more than that. Even if the music you want to listen to isn’t available in Google’s streaming library, you can add it to your own personal Google Play Music library and listen from any device.
Better yet, this works even if you aren’t paying for Google Play Music at all. It’s a free feature that allows you to access your music collection from anywhere.
If you’re considering buying an album that isn’t available for streaming in Google Play Music All Access, you may want to consider buying it on the Google Play Music Store. When you buy albums or songs on the Google Play Store, that music will be immediately added to your Google Play Music account as well as being available for download.
RELATED: How to Download Movies and TV Shows to Watch Them on an Airplane (or Anywhere Else Offline)
Songs you try to upload will be “matched” if possible. This means Google will give you Google’s own copy, potentially getting you a higher quality version of the song than the one you uploaded. If Google doesn’t have its own version of a song on file, it will just upload and store the song file you provide.
Option One: Upload Songs With Google Chrome
You can upload music right from your web browser, assuming that web browser is Google Chrome. This is ideal if you’re just uploading a few songs (rather than an entire library). On the Google Play Music website, click the menu button in the top left corner of the screen and click “Upload Music”.
Drag and drop individual song files or folders containing song files from your computer’s local drive to this window. You can also click the “Select From Your Computer” button and browse to the individual song files. The music you upload will appear in your music library.
If you use iTunes, you can drag and drop music right from your iTunes library onto the page.
Option Two: Automatically Upload New Music With Music Manager
Google also offers a downloadable “Google Play Music Manager” application for Windows and macOS, ideal for those with large libraries that they want constantly syncing to Google Music. You’ll also be prompted to use it if you click the “Upload Music” option in a browser that isn’t Chrome.
The Google Play Music Manager tool is particularly convenient because it runs in the background on your PC, monitoring your music folder. When you add more music to your music folder—by downloading, ripping, or purchasing it—Google Play Music Manager will automatically upload it to your Google Play Music account. It’ll be available in the Google Play Music app and website on all your devices.
Download and install the application. You’ll be asked what you want to do—select “Upload songs to Google Play”. This application also allows you to download copies of music you’ve uploaded or purchased.
Select the location where your music is stored on your PC. If you have it stored in your iTunes or Windows Media Player library, select that option. If it’s stored in your My Music folder at C:\Users\Name\Music, select that option. If it’s anywhere else, select the “Other Folders” option and add the folders containing music files.
The Music Manager application will offer to monitor the locations you selected for new music. Click “Yes” and the application will run in your notification area, automatically monitoring and uploading music files you add to the selected location on your PC.
To monitor the upload process and adjust which folders the tool is watching, click the Google Play Music Manager icon in your system tray.
Finding and Managing Your Uploaded Songs
To see only the songs you’ve uploaded, click your “Library” in Google Play Music and select “Purchased & Uploaded” from the dropdown menu.
If a song you uploaded doesn’t have any tag information associated with it, you can add it yourself. Right-click the song in Google Play Music, select “Edit Info”, and enter the artist, song title, album name, and whatever other information you want associated with the song. You can even add album art from here.
You can upload up to 50,000 songs of your own. To check how many you’ve uploaded, click the menu in Google Play Music and select “Settings”. Under Account, look at the “Uploaded Songs” counter.
Songs you’ve added to Google Play Music can be played, added to playlists, and downloaded for offline playback in the mobile app like any other songs in Google Play Music.
