YouTube Music

YouTube Music free users can download playlists containing uploaded tracks

Damien Wilde | Oct 15 2020 - 5:08 am PT

The drawn-out death of Google Play Music and janky transition to YouTube Music is set to get a little easier as it appears that free users are now able to download playlists containing previously migrated or uploaded music.

We’re seeing almost daily developments to the platform as the big “shut off” of Play Music draws ever closer but for hardcore fans, a full switch is still proving a hard decision. However, if you have migrated your existing library from Play Music to YouTube Music, you should now be able to download playlists containing any of your previously-owned music — even on the free tier.

This honor was recently only open to those that had a YouTube Music Premium subscription, but according to posters over on the /r/YouTubeMusic subreddit, the restriction for uploaded music has been lifted. The OP /u/TheOvy sharing that they were able to “download whatever uploads” were in their existing playlists:

I noticed late last night that, scrolling through a long playlist, it was no longer loaded piecemeal, but in full. Surprised by the change, I decided to hit the Download button and see if that had changed too… and it has! It now pops up saying “Only uploaded music can be played offline,” and then lets you download whatever uploads are on your playlist (in the case of my Your Likes autoplaylist, that’s everything!).

Commenters on the original thread have also confirmed that they are able to download their uploaded content in playlists on the free tier on YouTube Music for Android and iOS — which is a big step. Previously, you were limited to download tracks and uploaded albums on an individual basis. Removing this limit for free users with an extensive existing library from Google Play Music will likely be a big deal for those wondering which music platform they want to join in place of the outgoing service.

So while we’re still a little way off YouTube Music reaching complete feature parity with Google Play Music, at least you have a stop-gap for accessing your playlists while you decide.