[d0gbread]

I know the general feel with Google is "they'll shut this down too" and correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks to be more of a rebranding/merge save for the one click to port everything and lose nothing.

If that's true I just wanted to call it out since comments so far read like they're deleting content you've purchased with no recourse.

[joecot]

I would call it that, but Youtube Music is not just a rebranded service.

* Instead of a library of songs to listen to, you're listening youtube videos without the video. I make playlists with them and songs disappear randomly.

* The player is buggy. The music will skip, or randomly restart. Randomly a song won't play because it says the format isn't supported (which doesn't make any sense), and then the playlist stops altogether.

* In Google Play Music, you Liked songs and they would be in a Liked songs playlist. In Youtube you like videos and they are in a Liked Videos list. In Youtube music, after you've merged it, you now have a Liked list that is both your music from GPM, and every Youtube video you've ever liked that's also a song.

Youtube music is a drastic step backwards from GPM. I would've left for spotify already. but I appreciate also having Youtube without ads, and I don't want to pay for both services. I would've been happy with GPM sticking around forever with next to no updates, but Google always has to change something so managers can get their raises and promotions.

[bagacrap]

> ...library of songs...

This is patently false. YTM has a library of tracks and albums that is equivalent to spotify or Google play music. On your phone it's a totally separate app from youtube. In addition to the spotify-esque library of music it can also tap into yt, which has a longer tail of indie stuff.

> ... player is buggy ...

I don't experience exceptional buginess in the player, although there are things that annoy me (same with spotify). However you are moving the goalposts, I thought this was a rant about deleting data? Now it just sounds like a rant about Google changing ux.

* ... merging likes ...

I also did not experience this problem but they did screw up the order of my likes which was very annoying. This complaint is still off topic though.

[joecot]

> This is patently false. YTM has a library of tracks and albums that is equivalent to spotify or Google play music.

Then its completely separate library of tracks and albums randomly has songs disappear from my playlist or be unplayable in a manner indistinguishable from it sourcing its tracks from random youtube videos. My guess is that their native youtube music library does not have the breadth that their GPM one did, so some of the songs are from the community instead, and randomly disappear.

> I thought this was a rant about deleting data?

If you read the comment I'm replying to, they noted they didn't consider this a service going away if it's just a rebranding or a merger of features. I don't consider it just a rebranding, because they are removing a fully featured service and replacing it with a half baked one. I then proceed to explain the various ways it is quite half baked. Which is why my reply is on topic.

> I also did not experience this problem but they did screw up the order of my likes which was very annoying. This complaint is still off topic though.

I went from a curated list of Liked Songs in GPM to a hodge podge of those liked songs and every random joke song video I've liked since I started on Youtube. That playlist is now useless. That does pertain to my original point.

[fakedang]

It's not an automatic transfer though - the customer has to manually transfer out their music. How many people would have read this email?

[bagacrap]

uhhh... anyone who actually uses the app is presented with the transfer button. You'd have to not have used the service for a very long time to not see the button

[JoshCole]

It isn't true that this is merely a 'they'll shut this down too' situation. After transferring music to YouTube Music, I now have to watch ads on the content I had purchased. When they sold me that music, they told me I wouldn't have to watch ads on the music I paid for.

In my eyes, this is theft. Shutting down a service is fine. Theft isn't. I don't accept that company name musical chairs absolves Alphabet of its responsibility to render to me the goods that I paid for. I see this as a rebranding, not a ceasing, so in my eyes Alphabet still has a responsibility to me as a custodian of the digital goods I purchased from them.