Back in May, Google announced it would roll out a transfer tool to help Google Play Music subscribers migrate to YouTube Music. The search giant followed that up with a request form for priority access to the tool. However, it now appears to be more widely available for users, including those in Canada.
MobileSyrup received a tip from a reader that the transfer process was available for him in Canada. The transfer was available for my personal account as well, although I had to manually initiate it.
It appears the tool is going live for more than just Canadians. Android Authority, for example, reported that the transfer option had turned up for some users in the U.S.
If you’re not familiar with Google Play Music or YouTube Music, the saga of Google’s competing music platforms has been playing out for some time. Google Play Music was a music platform with popular features like cloud storage for your personal library, a monthly streaming subscription and podcast support. In a lot of ways, Play Music was a one-stop-shop for audio on Android devices.
A few years back, Google released YouTube Music, which would eventually take over as the primary streaming platform from Google. YouTube Music leverages the more well-known YouTube brand, as well as the wealth of covers, music videos and other music-related content already on YouTube, to enhance the streaming experience. Further, Play Music subscribers automatically had access to YouTube Music, a sign of Play Music’s impending demise.
Transfer tool is the beginning of the end of Play Music
It took a while, but we all knew that Google would eventually bring YouTube Music to parity with Play Music. Part of that process is the launch of a transfer tool to help Play Music subscribers make the final leap to YouTube Music along with all their recommendations, playlists, liked and disliked songs, uploads, purchases and their music library.
If you’re a Google Play Music user and you’re ready to make the switch, head to this website. It’ll let you know if the transfer tool is ready for you — and if it is, one click will get it started. There will eventually be a way to do this from the YouTube Music app, but unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be live yet.
It’s worth noting that if you have a particularly large library, it could take a while. For me, YouTube Music warns the process could take a few hours to complete. Thankfully, you don’t need to stick around and wait — YouTube Music will let you just hop right in and start exploring while it handles the transfer in the background.
