Moving iTunes Library to Google Play Music
Last year, we published a post comparing iTunes Match and Google Play Music, and we have come to a conclusion that Google Play Music is one of the best services for storing a music library online. In addition to that, Google Play Music is almost perfect way to transfer the music from iTunes to Android smartphone and tablets. In this post, I am going to show you how to effortlessly move your iTunes music library to the Google Play Music.
There are two ways to move your music library from iTunes to Google Play Music: by using a Google Play Music Manager or by using a Google Play Music app for Chrome.
Using Google Play Music Manager
Google Play Music Manager is a traditional software, that you have to download and install on your computer. The installation process is not difficult, and you will only have to set it up once. After the setup, Music Manager will take care of everything.
Follow these steps to move your music from iTunes to Google Play Music using Music Manager:
1. Sing up for Google Play Music
First of all, you should make sure that you are singed up for Google Play Music. If you are not, visit this link to sing up. It’s completely free.
2. Download the Google Play Music Manager
Next, visit this link to download the Google Play Music Manager and install it to your Mac or PC.
3. Choose the location of music to upload
After launching the Music Manager, you will be able to choose what location you want to upload your music from. Choose the iTunes and it will start to upload all of your iTunes music to Google Play Music. Google allows users to upload up to 20,000 songs completely free. Music Manager will also upload all the ratings and playlists you might have in your iTunes Library.
4. Configure the additional settings
Music Manager will scan your iTunes music library and detect if the songs you are about to upload already exist on Google’s servers. This helps to save a lot of time and bandwidth, because it will only upload the songs that not matched.
Other important step is to enable the automatic uploading of the songs that will be added to your iTunes library in the future. Music Manager will do all the work in the background, so you will not need to worry about moving any songs manually.
Using Google Play Music Chrome App
Another way to move all of your music from iTunes to Google Play Music is by using the Google Play Music app for Chrome. I actually recommend to this method over the first one, because you can get the same result without installing the additional software on your computer (just an app for Chrome Browser).
Also, it looks like Google is not going to continue to actively support and improve the Music Manager application, because Chrome app is obviously a better solution from Google’s point of view.
Follow these steps to move your music from iTunes to Google Play Music using Google Play Music app for Chrome:
1. Sing up for Google Play Music
Like I mentioned above, you should make sure that you are singed up for Google Play Music. If you are not, visit this link to sing up.
2. Open Google Play Music web app in Chrome
To open a Google Play Music website, just go to music.google.com in your Google Chrome browser. If you do not have Google Chrome installed on your computer you can easily download it from here.
If you want to upload just a few songs, you can just click ‘Add music’ and choose the songs to upload to your Google Play Music library. In order to upload the full iTunes music library or select the folders with music, you should install the additional tool by following the steps below.
3. Install Google Play Music Chrome app
Click on a ‘Gear’ icon to go to ‘Settings’, then click on ‘Add your music’ button in ‘Music From This Computer’ section. You will be prompted to add the Google Play Music app to your Chrome Browser. The process of installation is completely automatic and will only take a few seconds.
4. Choose the folders / iTunes library to upload
As soon as the installation of the app is completed, you will be asked if you want to upload your iTunes library or music from any folder you might have saved locally on your computer. In our case, we will just select ‘Add music from iTunes’, and check the box below to keep our Google Play Music Library up to date when we add new music to iTunes.
You can always add or remove a folders, that will be monitored by the app in case there is a new songs to upload. To manage these folders just go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Music From This Computer’.
Conclusion
Google Play Music is one of my favorite services for storing a music library in the cloud. I use iTunes Match on my Mac to listen to my music when I am at home, but in cases when I have to use a computer somewhere else, Google Play Music provides the perfect way to access my music library on almost any device with an internet connection.
I hope my post helped you to learn how to easily move your music to the cloud. If you still have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave the comment below.
