Why I Switched from Apple Music to Google Play Music

When Rdio was shut down, I successfully used Move to Apple Music to copy my playlists into a free trial of Apple Music. However, after using Apple Music for a few months, I've run into more snags than I can handle, and I've decided to migrate to Google Play Music.



Fortunately, just like my previous switch, there is a way to get my playlists over to the new platform. To copy playlists from Apple Music to Google Play Music, I'm using STAMP.io. Although it seems to have the same issue I encountered in the last move--not choosing the same recording of the songs--it's certainly better than redoing all that time intensive work of creating the lists. The premium version costs a few dollars, but it's worth it.

So why go through the hassle of switching streaming services again? Here are the "why not" reasons:

• The cost is the same for the family plan, so price isn't an issue.
• I can copy over my playlists (with a bit of clean up required)
• I thought Apple Music would work seamlessly with iTunes. For example, I expected to be able to freely mix my content from iTunes and the streaming service. That's not the case. There appears to be no synergy there.

The deal breaker was the flexibility of Apple Music--or rather, the lack of flexibility. I simply cannot use Apply Music on enough devices in my house. Here are the devices/options I tested:

• Windows PC: works via iTunes
• MacBook: works via iTunes
• iPhone 6: works via Apple Music App
• iPhone 3 (my daughter plays with it): no app, does not work at all
• Android Tablet (Kindle Fire): no app, does not work at all
• Nexus 5x: works via Apple Music App
• Chromebook: does not work at all

Obviously, some of these are more important than others, but the fact remains that Google Play Music works fine on every one of these devices. Furthermore, it does not require any install to run on a PC/Mac/Linux/ChromeOS browser; I really miss the web listening experience that I had with Rdio and I want that back. In the end, it was an easy decision to make the switch and go Google.

Copying Playlists from Rdio to Apple Music

Even before it was announced that Rdio was in financial trouble, and even before we learned that Pandora was buying parts of Rdio to shut it down, I wondered if I should move to a different music streaming service. I enjoy Rdio, but I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I had backed the wrong horse and eventually my hard work on playlists would vanish. Because of this, I was reluctant to spend too much time creating and fine tuning my Rdio playlists.

Fortunately, there's a solution, I successfully used Move to Apple Music to copy my playlists into my free trial of Apple Music--I still haven't decided if Apple's service is the way to go. This playlist migration from Rdio to Apple Music cost me $4.99 and it was well worth it.

I used an old MacBook for the playlist migration and it took about 12-16 hours. Yes, that's right about 16 hours. During that time, I couldn't use the machine for much because it was tying up the internet connection. I had about 2800 songs because it counts Rdio's "My collection" as a playlist.

Move to Apple Music allowed me to export a copy of my playlists (in XML), then upload the playlists I want into Apple Music. It also provides a list of the songs it couldn't find on Apple Music. In my case it was over 200, but when I checked into it, it turned out that most of the songs are available on Apple Music, they're just listed differently (e.g., the same song on a different album version). Be aware, iTunes will actually refuse to sync a playlist if there's a song included that can't be found, so you'll have to check them once you have finished the import.

Note that I did try the free version of STAMP, which copies playlists from Rdio, Google Music, or Spotify to Apply Music or Spotify. I couldn't get STAMP to work and it required move work to run than Move to Apple Music. It also costs a few bucks more.

Update: After the import, I noticed a lot of the songs are not the album version. I haven't tested this theory, but I think I know why it's happening. When a live version, or a remix of a song is available, it's a common format to add "(live...)" or "(...remix)" to the song title. I believe the open bracket results in these versions appearing first in the Apple Music API search results. The upshot is you'll need to go and switch the versions if you're not a fan of live versions and remixes.