Database Info

Media scan missing Google Music offline cache

So I've noticed that the Google Music offline cache is located in /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music. This should be accessible to other apps, and in fact if I browse to that location with PowerAMP I can see the downloaded files and play them perfectly fine. However, on both my DX (GB) and Xoom, the system media scanner refuses to pick these up, so they never show up in the library for any apps but the official one. I've tried rebooting and using apps to run a manual scan, but no luck.
Has anyone gotten this to work?

Forget the bump, I figured it out. Turns out there are .nomedia files in /sdcard/Android/data/ and /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music. Removed both of those and the scanner now picks it up. No more hand copying music for me!

Thanks for the info.. does anybody know for how long or how much space the Google Music cache is limited to? This is great for roadtrips.. but i don't want GM to fill my SD Card.

not there
So I have google music and there's no com.google.music where you guys pointed to (sdcard/....) now I may have moved the app to /system... incase of soft resets if, but anyways anyone help me?
Thanx in advance

Good to know. Does anyone know if/how I can copy music to my phone to make it available via the Google music app without having to pin the songs on my phone and then have it download from the cloud? I have the music files also saved on my computer, but it looks like the music app is renaming the files with some sort of numbering scheme.
I would assume that the online/offline settings are saved in some sort of a database file. This makes me think that if I just copy the music to the google cache folder it is not going to register properly in the google music app. Has anyone tried this, or am I stuck having to download them from the cloud again?

Google Music Importer
Check out the app which makes this task easy.
The ID3 tag information is stored in Google Music's database on the phone. The app accesses that database and applies the proper ID3 tags and artwork to the cache files you're talking about.
With all that information added, the app moves the files to a public folder on your sdcard so that the Android Media Service Provider can see the files. The files then become available to any player on the device.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sapien.gm.importer

[Q] Is it possible to make Google Music's offline cache available to other players?

I have already read some other topics about this, and I know Google Music stores its offline cache in android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music and that you need to delete the .nomedia files in the path for the songs to be available to other players.
I have noticed, however, that Google Music stores the files with random numeric names with no ID3 tags. So when you access them with other players, it's rrrrreally annoying to sort the songs out.
So my question is... how does Google Music know which file corresponds to which song? That info must be stored somewhere, right? Music is showing the ID3 info somehow.
Is it possible to create an app that renames and moves the cache files to other directory according to Google Music's internal information?
Thanks in advance.

Would love if there was a way, even if it involved hooking it up to a computer and getting another program to tag the songs.

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

In your sdcard, if your device has an internal sd it''l be there and not in the removable, go to Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music and rename the .nomedia file. I haven't tried this myself because I don't have another media player as i love the music beta player, but that file is what you put in a folder to tell the media service to not scan that directory so removing it will add those files to the media db. However that may cause issues with the Music Beta app so be cautious, hence rename instead of delete. I would reboot check the apps and if all is well u can then delete the file.

Offline Music Importer
Check out the app which makes this task easy.
The ID3 tag information is stored in Google Music's database on the phone. The app accesses that database and applies the proper ID3 tags and artwork to the cache files you're talking about.
With all that information added, the app moves the files to a public folder on your sdcard so that the Android Media Service Provider can see the files. The files then become available to any player on the device.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sapien.music.importer

I don't know how the syncing really works within the application or anything, but when I just installed Google Music, none of the playlists would download. I had to empty my music folder completely, and now everything syncs.
Is there anything that doesn't remove the music from Google Music's folder? It seems like moving it all would mess up the sync function. I'm just wondering if anyone knows before I subject myself to a day without music while the app downloads a couple thousand songs.

There is nothing on my local folder, android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music, actually there's no "music" folder inside "cache". I have try the above app and also the app "Google Music Importer" (which appears to be the same) but nothing, it's doesn't recognize the downloaded albums. I'm on ICS 4.0.4 with a custom ROM. What can I do?

I have finally managed to import my music. First of all, you need the latest version of the import app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sapien.music.importer
If the music is not on your internal sdcard under android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music then the path will be /data/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music. Now you have to set the proper permissions to the folder and files (I'm not sure if you have to set reading permissions or also write and execute ones, and also, I'm not sure if you have to set it only in the files or also on all the folders behind). You need to grant permissions on files under artwork and music folders .
You have to tell the import app your "cache" path under its settings. If your path is the second one, you will need root access (also configurable on the app's options).
Now the import app should recognize your music. If not, please let me know.
I have a problem here, how can I change permissions to more than just one file at the same time? Thanks.

It's a good idea

It doesn't work, sometimes the app recognizes the music and sometimes it doesn't. The funny thing is that sometimes it only recognizes the artwork, and not the music. This is starting to piss me off...

New music on SD card not displaying in Google Music

I have a lot of music on my SD card and normally use Google Music (4.1.511) to play it. However, I noticed that a couple of albums I've added this week are not showing up in Music and no matter what I do, I can't make them show. Here's it what I've done so far:
Cleared cache and data in Google Music
Booted into recovery and cleared cache & dalvik
Checked file properties and permissions in Root Explorer
Played the tracks in Google Music by going into Root Explorer, long tapping and hitting Open (plays fine )
Confirmed the music doesn't show in stock ICS Music
Removed stock ICS Music
Uninstalled Google Music (also went into /system/app and deleted the APK)
Re-installed from APK
Fixed permissions and checked SD card in recovery
Checked that the files are correctly tagged and re-copied them from the computer
Probably other stuff I've lost track of
After all that, these new albums are still not showing up in Music. The rest of my collection is there, just not anything added recently, even though I can see these files in Root Explorer and play them in Music by long tapping --> Open. WTF???
Can anybody give me any ideas before I go insane? And please don't suggest other music players, I like Google Music and it has always worked well for me across different ROMs. There must be some fix to this.

Try an app that forces Android to rescan for media files.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk

Tried Rescan Media and still no dice. I backed up my ROM and flashed a different one and it showed them up within a couple of minutes of booting. Very, very odd.

wmoore said:
Tried Rescan Media and still no dice. I backed up my ROM and flashed a different one and it showed them up within a couple of minutes of booting. Very, very odd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but a lot of people seem to still have this issue. Here's what worked for me:
Some apps rely on the Media Storage service to list media files on the device, instead of enumerating files every time they are launched. In other words, Media Storage indexes the files on your device, then apps like Play Music query Media Storage to know which files to display.
For some reason, on my phone, it only indexed files if they were copied through USB. If I copied MP3s from a network share using ES Explorer, or from Team Viewer, they wouldn't show up in Play Music.
The solution was to clear Media Storage's data (Settings => Apps => All => Media Storage => Clear Data) then reboot the phone. This forces the service to reindex all content. Play Music will act as if there's no music at all on the device for a few minutes, then everything should show up.
I hope this can help someone

dsp4 said:
The solution was to clear Media Storage's data (Settings => Apps => All => Media Storage => Clear Data) then reboot the phone. This forces the service to reindex all content. Play Music will act as if there's no music at all on the device for a few minutes, then everything should show up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this was the same solution I stumbled upon.

The Solution to clear the media storage data and reboot works! Thank you so much.......

Any music player app that doesn't use media server?

Anyone know of a music player app that doesn't use the Android media server app to scan? I want to disable media storage because it destroys my battery.
I've found that everything but my music player works fine without it...

Sadly, no.
A better option is to place a .nomedia file in every folder that you don't need Mediaserver to index. That excludes the folder from the scanner. You can find one to copy in the Android folder. It also applies to subfolders. DON'T put one in the home directory.
Mediaserver is also required for ringtones, notifications, alarms and such. If you disable it, you're stuck with the stock ringtones.

[Q] How do I hide audio files that aren't music?

On the stock lg music app every audio file is displayed and played and thats the problem. I have a lot of games with audio files that show up in the music app and I don't want them disrupting the vibe (I also have my ringtones in a separate folder from music) so is there any way to hide those files and take them away from the music app (preferably without creating a .nomedia file) I am rooted

I had a similar problem with the music player and Gallery apps was pulling in the cover art as well.
Easiest would be to probably be to use a 3rd party app that allows you to specify which folders to search. It would likely be just /sdcard/Music and maybe /sdcard/Downloads. PowerAmp does this, I know.

Cool I downloaded Poweramp and it hides thing from the stock app too but I have a separate folder that I put my ringtones in and those are still visible and Poweramp doesn't detect it as a folder