On Android, few music services can compete with the features that Google Play Music has. It has the ability to store 50,000 of your own music files, as well as a very diverse library of streamable music and a powerful radio station system.
Still, what if you don’t like the app itself? What if you like everything that Google does in their Music service, but you’d wish you could use a music app of your choice? Well, good news! It’s certainly possible.
A project exists that takes Google music and makes it mountable on your Android device’s file system. From there, the music player can access the entirety of a Google music library as if the files were physically on an SD card or internal memory.
It’s an exciting tool, and it allows for music to be streamed though not through a traditional way. It should be noted that this app is not fully stable, and it is very possible that you run into some bugs or instability while using it. Also, keep in mind that it is no longer being maintained.
Note:1. GmusicFS for Android is a root app. If your Android device is not rooted, this app will not work.
- This app only supports music uploaded to Google Play Music, and not radio stations.
Getting GmusicFS installed
This app isn’t available in the Google Play Store, so you’ll need to download the APK directly. Sideloading an APK will not work on your Android device unless you allow “unknown sources.” Head to security in Settings and look for a checkbox that says “allow unknown sources” and enable it.
With the setting changed, download the GmusicFS file and install it to your device. You may need to use a file manager to do this. Once installed, launch the app.
Getting GmusicFS working
Making GmusicFS to work is a simple process. As soon as you open it, you’ll be prompted by a super useful app to grant it root access. Allow it, and then move on to the app.
The first thing you’ll need to do is allow the app to log in with your Google account. Grant it access.
After granting access, click the Sync button. This action goes out and syncs your library.
Note: you may need to open Google Play Music to play a song if it doesn’t sync on the first try.
Once your library has been synced, click the Mount button. You should soon see a notification saying that the file system has been mounted. Once you see this notification, just open your music player of choice. It’ll see the GMusicFS mount point and import the files.
Conclusion
Google Music is a great tool, but the app itself has some shortcomings. It doesn’t have a lot of features in terms of editing metadata, automatically getting album art, sor ting artists, and the list goes on.
With GMusicFS, you get the great streaming versatility of Google Music but the freedom to use any player on Android that you feel the most comfortable with. The usefulness of this app can not be understated.
How do you feel about GMusicFS? Tell us below!
Derrik Diener is a freelance technology blogger.
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