12. Enjoying Your Music Everywhere

One of the great things about your device is that you can use it to enjoy high-quality music through headphones or speakers everywhere you go.

But should you put the music files on your device, or should you stream them across the Internet? Should you do both? And how do you get your existing music files, such as those on your CDs, onto your device? What format and compression should you use to get as much music as possible on your device at as high a quality as you need, and how can you make it sound as good as possible?

In this chapter, you’ll learn about the Play Music app. Stock Android devices come with this app, which provides plenty of features for playing back music either stored on your device or streamed across the Internet. You’ll also learn about some of the other music apps you may want to try on your device. Finally, you’ll discover options for dealing with the space problems that music addiction tends to bring to Android devices.

Put your own music on your device and play it back from the device. This is what you might call the old-school approach, but it remains simple and effective, and many people prefer it. The two disadvantages are that you need to get the music files, and your device must have enough space to hold them—plus all the other files you need to carry with you, not to mention preferably leaving several gigabytes free for you to shoot the next viral video.

Stream music from an online service. Various online services (Spotify, Pandora, and so on) enable you to stream music from their servers across your Internet connection and play the music on your device. On the plus side, you can access a wide variety of music that you don’t own and you don’t need to store the music files on your device. The disadvantage is that you may need to pay for the online service (typically via a subscription), and you always need an Internet connection to be able to play the music.

Put your music online, stream it, or store it on your device. You can combine the two preceding approaches by putting your music collection online using a service such as Google’s Play Music or Apple’s iTunes Match. You can then either stream the music when you have a suitable Internet connection or put specific songs on your device so that you can play them anywhere, even when you don’t have an Internet connection. The advantage of this approach is that you can play your music on a variety of devices (usually up to a set number of devices). The disadvantage is that you may need to pay for the service, and you need an Internet connection when streaming music.

Windows 8. Use File Explorer to copy files.

Windows 7 and earlier versions. Use Windows Explorer to copy files.

OS X. Use Android File Transfer or another app to copy files.

Alternatively, if your device takes an SD card, you can copy the music files to the SD card using your computer and then insert the SD card in your device.

MP3. Technically, MP3 stands for “MPEG-1 Audio Layer III” or “MPEG-2 Audio Layer III,” where MPEG stands for Moving Pictures Expert Group, so it’s no surprise that people simply use the abbreviation. MP3 is a lossy audio format (see the nearby tip) that sounds okay for music at bit rates of 128Kbps and pretty good at higher bit rates, such as 256Kbps or 320Kbps.

AAC. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a lossy audio format that provides slightly better quality than MP3. AAC is technically superior to MP3 and is Apple’s preferred format for lossily compressed audio, but MP3 is more widely used.

OGG. Ogg Vorbis (variously referred to as “Ogg,” “Vorbis,” and “Ogg Vorbis”) is a lossy audio format that delivers similar quality to MP3 and AAC at similar file sizes. At this writing, Ogg Vorbis is not widely used.

FLAC. Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is a lossless compression format. FLAC delivers full-quality sound, but its files are large. Therefore, it is not a good choice for an Android device unless the device has plenty of storage, or you are happy to carry only a small amount of music with you.

PCM/WAV. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) and Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE or WAV, after the three-letter file extension) are uncompressed audio formats. This means they deliver full-quality audio, but the file sizes are huge, so you wouldn’t normally want to use them on an Android device. These formats also don’t have containers for the tag information in which the other formats store the artist, album, song name, and so on, so the only way to identify PCM and WAV files is by their filenames.

At this writing, iTunes is arguably the best free app for ripping audio files from CDs. iTunes comes built into OS X, so if you have a Mac, you already have iTunes installed. If you have Windows, you can download iTunes for free from Apple’s website, www.apple.com/itunes/download/.

Here’s how to configure iTunes with suitable settings for ripping your CDs:

1. Open the Preferences dialog box by pressing Ctrl+, (Ctrl+comma) in Windows or Cmd+, (Cmd+comma) on the Mac.

2. Click the General button on the tab bar to display the General pane.

3. In the When You Insert a CD pop-up menu, choose Show CD.

4. Check the Automatically Retrieve CD Track Names from Internet box.

5. Click the Import Settings button to display the Import Settings dialog box. Figure 12.1 shows the Import Settings dialog box in Windows.

6. Open the Import Using pop-up menu and click the encoder to use. Normally, you’ll want to choose either AAC Encoder or MP3 Encoder.

7. Open the Setting pop-up menu and click the setting to use. The settings available depend on the encoder. For example, for AAC, you can choose High Quality (128Kbps), iTunes Plus, or Spoken Podcast. For MP3 Encoder, you can choose Good Quality (128Kbps), High Quality (160Kbps), or Higher Quality (192Kbps). To get other—or higher—quality on either MP3 Encoder or AAC, click Custom and work in the AAC Encoder dialog box or the MP3 Encoder dialog box (see Figure 12.2). Figure 12.2 shows the MP3 Encoder dialog box in Windows.

8. Check the Use Error Correction When Reading Audio CDs box. Using error correction slows down the ripping process a little but helps avoid getting skips and crackles in your audio files.

9. Click the OK button to close the Import Settings dialog box.

10. Click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog box.

After you’ve chosen your import settings, you can insert a CD in your computer’s optical drive and rip it. Assuming you checked the Automatically Retrieve CD Track Names from Internet box, iTunes downloads the CD’s details from the Gracenote database on the Internet and displays the results.

At this point, you can simply click the Import CD button to start importing the songs. But before you do, it’s usually a good idea to look through the details that iTunes has retrieved and correct any errors. The Gracenote database contains an impressive amount of information, but it has many typos and other errors.

If any item of the CD info as a whole is wrong, click the CD Info button and use the CD Info dialog box to change it. This dialog box contains fields for the artist, composer, album title, disk number (for example, disk 1 of 2), genre, and year. You can also check the Compilation CD box if this CD is a compilation by different artists.

To change the information for an individual track, you can click a field twice to open it for editing. Pause between the clicks so that iTunes doesn’t receive a double-click, which starts the track playing. For more extensive changes, right-click or Ctrl+click the track name and then click Get Info to display the Information dialog box, which gives you access to a wide range of fields for the track.

Usually, transcoding the files is the better option, because it enables you to use your preferred music player for all your music. If the files in question are lossless, you can transcode them to another lossless format without losing quality or transcode them to your preferred lossy format with the normal loss in quality. Transcoding lossy files to another lossy format sacrifices more audio quality—you get any defects the first lossless format produced plus any defects the transcoding adds—but usually produces acceptable results. (If the results aren’t acceptable, you can delete the transcoded files and figure out a plan B.)

In Windows, iTunes can transcode WMA files to a format such as MP3 or AAC. Otherwise, you’ll need an app such as Total Audio Converter for Windows or XLD for the Mac.

Here’s how to set up and use doubleTwist:

1. On your Android device, open the Play Store app and download the doubleTwist Music Player app from the Apps section. This app is free.

2. On your Mac or PC, go to the doubleTwist website (www.doubletwist.com) and download the doubleTwist Music Player app by clicking the Download for PC link or the Download for Mac link. Follow through the installation procedure as usual.

3. Connect your device to your Mac or PC via USB.

4. Drag your music from your library to your device in the Devices list in the sidebar. You can also drag photos and videos to your device.

After you’ve made that decision, the Listen Now screen appears (see Figure 12.3). This is one of the four main screens in the Play Music app: Listen Now, My Library, Playlists, and Instant Mixes. To navigate among the screens, tap the Menu button to display the menu panel (see Figure 12.4), and then tap the screen you want to display.

If your device contains songs, you can start playing them by navigating to one of them and tapping it. For example, on the Listen Now screen, tap an album to open it, and then tap the song you want to play.

1. Tap the Menu button to display the menu panel.

2. Tap Settings to display the Music Settings screen.

3. In the General section, tap the Google Account button to display the Select an Account screen.

4. Tap the existing account to use, or tap the Add Account button and follow through the resulting screens to set up a new account.

After installing Music Manager, open it from the Start screen or Start menu (in Windows) or from Launchpad on the Mac. The Music Manager setup routine runs, and you can configure the app by doing the following:

1. On the Sign In with Your Google Account screen, sign in using the Google account you will use for music on your computer and your device.

2. On the What Would You Like to Do? screen, select the Upload Songs to Google Play radio button and click the Continue button.

3. On the Where Do You Keep Your Music Collection? screen (see Figure 12.5), select the iTunes radio button, the Music Folder radio button, or the Other Folders radio button, as appropriate. If you select the Other Folders radio button, click the Add Folder button and add the folders to the list box. Click the Continue button when you’re done.

4. On the screen that asks whether you want to automatically upload songs you add to your selected folders in the future, click the Yes button or the No button, as appropriate. Uploading the songs automatically can be helpful, but you may want to perform quality control on your computer first to avoid loading turkeys into your Google Play account.

5. Follow through the remaining screens until the Your Music Is Being Added screen appears. You can then click the Go to Music Player button to open the online music player in your default web browser or click the Close button to close the Music Manager setup routine without opening the online music player.

Go to the Home screen of the Music section. In the Play Music app, open the menu panel and then tap Shop. The Shop button is dimmed if you have set the Downloaded Only switch (which you’ll learn about shortly) to On.

Go to a particular artist. Tap the menu button for an artist, album, or song, and then tap Shop This Artist on the menu.

In each case, the Play Music app switches you over to the Play Store app. If you prefer, you can simply start with the Play Store app by tapping its icon on the Home screen or on the Apps screen. On the Home screen of the Play Store, either tap the Music button to start browsing music, or simply search by the name of the artist, album, or song you’re looking for.

You can preview a song by tapping the Play button to its left. When you find a song you want to buy, tap its price button and then follow through the payment process.

Listen Now. The Listen Now screen provides quick access to the music you’ve added recently, music you’ve played recently, and music that Google Play recommends for you (if you have a subscription). You can tap the I’m Feeling Lucky Mix button at the top to create a custom mix of songs. If you’ve set the Downloaded Only switch to On, the Shuffle All button appears instead of the I’m Feeling Lucky Mix button.

My Library. The My Library screen (see Figure 12.6) enables you to browse the music in your music library by genres, by artists, by albums, or by songs. Tap the tab by which you browse. Tap the menu button for an item (such as a song) to display the menu of actions you can take with it, such as Play Next or Go to Artist.

Playlists. The Playlists screen contains three categories of playlists. The Recent Playlists category contains playlists you’ve created or edited recently. The Auto Playlists category contains playlists that the Play Music app maintains for you, such as the Last Added playlist and the Free and Purchased playlist, to give you easy access to particular categories of music. The All Playlists category shows all the playlists you’ve created.

Instant Mixes. The Instant Mixes screen enables you to create and enjoy mixes of songs that the Play Music app assembles for you. The My Mixes tab contains mixes you’ve created, and you can tap the Create New Instant Mix to start creating a new instant mix based on a song you select. The Recommended tab contains mixes that the app recommends for you.

You navigate among these areas by opening the menu panel and then tapping Listen Now, My Library, Playlists, or Instant Mixes.

The menu panel also contains three more commands (plus the Help command and the Send Feedback command):

Shop. Tap this command to go to the Music section of Google Play in the Play Store app.

Downloaded Only. Tap this switch, turning it from gray (off) to orange (on), to set the Play Music app to display only the music on your device. You’d do this when your device doesn’t have an Internet connection or when you don’t want to use up your cellular allowance by streaming music.

Settings. Tap this command to display the Music Settings screen. You’ll look at this in the section “Configuring the Play Music App,” later in this chapter.

1. Tap the Artists button to display the Artists screen.

2. Tap the artist to display the list of albums.

3. Tap the album to display the list of songs from the album.

4. Tap the song you want to play. A playback indicator showing three moving vertical bars appears (see Figure 12.7).

From here, you can tap another song to play it, or tap the Now Playing button at the bottom of the screen to display the Now Playing screen (see Figure 12.8). You can easily control the music:

Use the playback controls to pause or resume playback, fast-forward or rewind, or skip to the next song or go back to the previous song.

Drag the Playhead to scrub quickly through the song.

Tap the Repeat button to cycle through Repeat Off, Repeat All, and Repeat One.

Tap the Shuffle button to toggle shuffling on or off.

Tap the thumbs-up icon to like the song or the thumbs-down icon to dislike it.

Tap the Track List button to display the track list. You can then tap another song to start it playing.

Tap the Menu button to display the menu, which contains commands such as Start Instant Mix, Play Next, Add to Playlist, Go to Artist, Go to Album, Remove from Queue, and Shop This Artist.

When you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection, you may want to turn off streaming music so as not to use your cellular data plan. Tap the Menu button to display the menu panel and then set the Downloaded Only switch to On to make the Play Music app show only the songs that are on your device and that you can play without streaming. The app displays a gray bar saying Downloaded Only near the top of the screen to remind you that you’ve restricted the library.

You can download songs from your Google Play library to your device as needed—preferably over a Wi-Fi connection. Tap the Albums button to display the albums screen, navigate to the album you want to download, tap the Menu button, and then tap Download.

Because the Play Music app shows you both the songs actually on your device and those in your Google Play library, you need to be careful when deleting songs.

If the song is part of an album you’ve downloaded from your Google Play library, you’ll usually do best to remove the album from your device. This keeps the album in your Google Play library, so you can play it again via streaming any time.

To remove an album, go to the album’s screen, tap the album’s Menu button, and then tap Remove Download. In the confirmation dialog box (see Figure 12.9), tap the Remove button; you can check the Don’t Ask Me Again box first if you want to suppress this confirmation in the future.

You can also simply delete a song by going to the song, tapping its Menu button, and then tapping Delete. What happens then depends on whether you’ve copied the song to your device directly or it is in your Google Play library:

Song copied to your device. A delete confirmation dialog box opens showing the song’s name (see Figure 12.10). Tap the OK button to delete the song.

Song in your Google Play library. The Delete from Library? dialog box opens (see Figure 12.11). You can tap the OK button to delete the song, but normally it’s best to tap the Cancel button and then use the Remove Download command to remove the downloaded album, leaving the songs in your Google Play library.

The Music Settings screen has three sections: General, Downloading, and Developer. Here’s what you can do with the General settings:

Google Account. Tap this button to display the Select an Account screen. You can then select the account you want to use for Google Play Music.

Refresh. Tap this button to refresh the list of music from Google Play. You’d want to do this after uploading songs from your computer to Google Play.

Try All Access. Tap this button to start setting up a 30-day trial of access to all the music on Google Play. When the trial ends, continuing all access costs $9.99 per month.

My Devices. Tap this button to display the My Devices screen, which lists the devices you’re using for Google Play Music. You can use up to 10 devices at a time. To stop using a device, tap the × icon on the right of its button, and then tap the Deauthorize button in the Deauthorize Device dialog box (see Figure 12.13).

Equalizer. Tap this button to choose Equalizer settings. You’ll look at how to do this a little later in this chapter.

Block Explicit Songs in Mixes. Check this box to prevent Play Music from including in mixes any songs that are marked as Explicit. This setting doesn’t ensure complete sanitization of the music, but it’s pretty solid—although it seems to block the occasional “explicit” instrumental.

These are the Downloading settings you can choose:

Cache During Playback. Check this box to enable the Play Music app to cache (store) data temporarily while streaming music. Caching helps prevent interruptions, so it’s usually helpful. Turn caching off only when your device is crammed full of data.

Automatically Cache. Check this box to allow the Play Music app to cache data only while your device is on Wi-Fi and when it’s charging. This check box is available only when you’ve checked the Cache During Playback box.

Clear Cache. Tap this button to delete all the cached music. Normally, you’d want to do this only to reclaim the space the cached music is occupying.

Download via Wi-Fi Only. (Cellular-capable devices only.) Check this box to prevent your device from downloading music across the cellular network. If you’ve got a meager data plan, it’s a good idea to keep this box checked.

View Download Queue. Tap this button to display the Download Queue screen so that you can see which songs the Play Music app is currently downloading.

Here’s how to create a playlist:

1. Navigate to the song or other item you want to put in the playlist.

2. Tap the item’s Menu button and then tap Add to Playlist on the menu. The Add to Playlist dialog box opens (see Figure 12.14).

3. Tap New Playlist. The New Playlist dialog box opens (see Figure 12.15).

4. Type the name and description for the playlist.

5. Set the Public switch to On if you want to make the playlist visible to other people on Google Play.

6. Tap the Create Playlist button.

Now that you’ve created the playlist, you can add other songs—or other items, such as an album or artist—to it by tapping each item’s Menu button, tapping Add to Playlist, and then tapping the playlist’s name in the Add to Playlist dialog box.

To play back a playlist, open the menu panel and tap Playlists to display the Playlists screen. You can then tap the playlist to open it and tap a song to start it playing.

You can then tap the pop-up menu and tap the preset equalization you want to apply: Normal, Classical, Dance, Flat, Folk, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, Jazz, Pop, Rock, or FX Booster.

Now drag the Bass Boost and Surround Sound sliders to tweak the sound to how you prefer it.

When you’ve set up the equalization you want, tap the Back button twice to return to your music.

Shazam. Shazam is a free app that can automatically identify a song by listening to a snippet of it playing. Shazam enables you to share your music and TV discoveries via Facebook and Google+, but you can ignore these features if you don’t need them.

SoundHound. SoundHound is a free app that can automatically identify a song by listening to it being played nearby or by your humming the tune.

TrackID. Also free, TrackID enables you to identify songs within range of your device’s microphone. TrackID gives you access to artist biographies and links to music videos on YouTube.

Spotify. Spotify gives you access to a huge amount of music via streaming. You can browse through top lists or new releases, explore genres and moods, or simply search using keywords. The basic Spotify service is free and supported by ads. You can upgrade to the Premium service to get ad-free listening.

Pandora. Pandora is a music-streaming service that plays selections based on the artists you choose. You can rate the songs that Pandora plays to tune the selections toward what you like. Pandora enables you to find information about the music played and to purchase it from various sources. Pandora also includes other features, such as enabling you to set alarm clocks and providing personalized radio recommendations.

TuneIn Radio. TuneIn Radio is an online radio station that offers more than 100,000 real radio stations and millions of on-demand programs and podcasts. TuneIn Radio is a free service, but you can pay for the TuneIn Radio Pro upgrade if you want to be able to record radio to your device so that you can listen to it later.