Database Develop

[Q] Google Now/Touchless Control and Google Play Music

Can anyone get the "Play me some songs from [band name]/[album title]" to successfully start playing music through the Play Music app using Google Now/Touchless Control?
The best I can do is get it to return a search for the band/album in Play Music, despite that face that Google Now responds with "Playing Request", and acknowledges the correct band/album name I've said...
aside from this, if I tell Google Now to play, for example, "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance, it will acknowledge that I've said that specific song, but it will search Play Music for "Teenagers" and play the first hit, which is a song called "Teenagers" by Department of Eagles.
This is especially infuriating because in the new ads that Motorola just put out, they launch Play Music using Touchless Control and it works great! (can't post a link here since I'm new, but just youtube "lazy phone - touchless control")
any one else experiencing this issue?
I'm on a Moto X (duh) running the latest version of the Google Search app (2.7.9.789824) and Play Music (5.2.1204L.814012) .. I have "Play Music" checked in the Phone Search settings, but having it unchecked seems to return the same result.
thanks in advance for the help!

Same problem
Sent from my Moto X

nonotechnology said:
Can anyone get the "Play me some songs from [band name]/[album title]" to successfully start playing music through the Play Music app using Google Now/Touchless Control?
The best I can do is get it to return a search for the band/album in Play Music, despite that face that Google Now responds with "Playing Request", and acknowledges the correct band/album name I've said...
aside from this, if I tell Google Now to play, for example, "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance, it will acknowledge that I've said that specific song, but it will search Play Music for "Teenagers" and play the first hit, which is a song called "Teenagers" by Department of Eagles.
This is especially infuriating because in the new ads that Motorola just put out, they launch Play Music using Touchless Control and it works great! (can't post a link here since I'm new, but just youtube "lazy phone - touchless control")
any one else experiencing this issue?
I'm on a Moto X (duh) running the latest version of the Google Search app (2.7.9.789824) and Play Music (5.2.1204L.814012) .. I have "Play Music" checked in the Phone Search settings, but having it unchecked seems to return the same result.
thanks in advance for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to get it to work after clicking the drop down menu next to the card to use play music. It did take me a few tries to complete.

bgeorger said:
I was able to get it to work after clicking the drop down menu next to the card to use play music. It did take me a few tries to complete.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bgeorger, I've gotten this far as well, but are you saying that after that screen it sucessfully launches Play Music and begins playing "No Church In The Wild" (the first track from Watch The Throne)?
Superpopsss, glad I'm not alone in this. now we've just gotta find a fix!
I've been talking to someone on G+ who is running 4.3 on his Nexus 7 and this functionality works fine. (he's also on All Access, but I don't think that should affect this behavior)
maybe it's a bug in 4.2.2?

Same here, works fine on my '13 N7, N4, and GNex all on 4.3
Sent from my Motorola Ghost

so can anyone running 4.2.2 get this to work?

Worked fine on my htc one on 4.2. It's an acknowledged bug as far as I know

nonotechnology said:
bgeorger, I've gotten this far as well, but are you saying that after that screen it sucessfully launches Play Music and begins playing "No Church In The Wild" (the first track from Watch The Throne)?
Superpopsss, glad I'm not alone in this. now we've just gotta find a fix!
I've been talking to someone on G+ who is running 4.3 on his Nexus 7 and this functionality works fine. (he's also on All Access, but I don't think that should affect this behavior)
maybe it's a bug in 4.2.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does auto play, however, it isn't a track off the actual album. It does seem to work just fine when you only specify a band.

bgeorger said:
It does auto play, however, it isn't a track off the actual album. It does seem to work just fine when you only specify a band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only specifying the band works for me up to the point where I still have to press the "play" button on Play Music. I mean, thanks Google Now, you opened the thing for me, and have it ready to run. But didn't I already ask to play it? I mean... that's what I thought when I said "play some Aerosmith" (btw, Gnow does have a hard time understanding "Aerosmith" )

Also not working for me
Using the Moto X on Rogers, and I'm having the same problem, but I'm one step further back.
The voice commands/google now won't bring up a "play music" card at all. I've tried "play ___", "listen to ____", etc. and all I get is a google search result with youtube links or music play store links to buy the music. It recognizes what I'm saying but there doesn't seem to be the functionality to play the music using voice commands as advertised. I've tried putting hard copies of the music in the "music" folder and that doesn't change anything. I've been through google now settings and moto voice commands settings but can't find anything to help.
Any suggestions? Otherwise everything works perfectly.

I have a big problem using this music playing functionality...
But.. My main problems are actually my own and not how the phone performs.
First of all, I can never think of an actual name of any song or sometimes even artist that I want to listen to. My brain just does not translate desires into words very well, but works fine when scanning through a list of names. But I think I can get over this and have it be of slightly more use.
What really limits my use of this function is the actual music I listen to.
I listen to a lot of power metal, punk rock, and other more obscure music.
I have been completely unable to get Google Now to recognize band names such as:
-Ayreon
-Kamelot
-Turisas
-Benuts
-Blackguard
-The Blaggards
-Cruachan
-Deathmole
-Dethklok
-Doomsword
-Eluveitie
-Falkenbach
-Forefather (GN always hears this as "for father")
-Heavatar
-Naio Ssaion
-Powerglove
-Power World
-Sirenia
-Skatalites
-Tyr
Surprisingly it recognized the bands Korpiklaani and Gojira.
That said, this is only a small segment of the music I have on my phone but it includes some that I listen to very often, and many of these artists are more readily in my mind.
I think it's extremely odd that I'll ask Google Now "What is Ghost Opera" and it'll come out and tell me that it is an album by Kamelot.
But, if I ask it to "Play Ghost Opera" it chooses to play a song with that title by Technomind, and I can't ask it to play the album or the song by Kamelot because Google Now always thinks I'm saying Camelot.
But, I do have a question for people that have gotten this to work... Does it ever actually queue up more than one song?
For instance I'll ask for it to "Play some songs from Voltaire", and it'll only queue up "When You're Evil" every time. It won't ever play another one of his songs even though this specific song is nowhere near the first one in any of his albums or playlist.
Can it play playlists if I create them or any of my defined "radio stations"?

I've had better luck saying "Stream (artist)" or "Stream (song) by (artist)"
No luck on queuing up more than one song, though. Saying "Stream (album) by (artist)" still just plays one track.
edit: saying "Stream (album) by (artist)" actually just takes me to the artist page, without playing the album. A shortcut, but not ideal. This is assuming that the title of the album is NOT also a title of a song. If that's the case, it just plays the song. Saying "Stream the album (album)" or "Stream the album (album) by (artist)" results in a google search.

It's hit and miss with me. Unfortunately it's a problem with Google Now. Google will need to fix it.

Khourya said:
Using the Moto X on Rogers, and I'm having the same problem, but I'm one step further back.
The voice commands/google now won't bring up a "play music" card at all. I've tried "play ___", "listen to ____", etc. and all I get is a google search result with youtube links or music play store links to buy the music. It recognizes what I'm saying but there doesn't seem to be the functionality to play the music using voice commands as advertised. I've tried putting hard copies of the music in the "music" folder and that doesn't change anything. I've been through google now settings and moto voice commands settings but can't find anything to help.
Any suggestions? Otherwise everything works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Khourya make sure in your "settings" for Google Now in "Phone Search" you have Google Music checked. Though it seems to have no affect for me, it may for you.
also try "play me some" or "stream" like some others in the thread were suggesting.
Dark, it's interesting you say it's an issue with Google Now. I think it's more an issue with Play Music. I've seen a lot of videos use Now to launch a random track when searching for an Artist, or play an Album, but it was all with the old (pre-white UI) Music app...
I find it hard to believe they know it's a bug when they're quite literally advertising the functionality we're all having trouble with in those new "Lazy Phone" ads...

In general I can get it to play music but it only actually started playing after I selected a few times that I actually want it to play music using Play Music instead of just searching for music to buy.
My bigger issue is actually getting Google Now to recognize me when I say band names that I know it can recognize.

nonotechnology said:
Khourya make sure in your "settings" for Google Now in "Phone Search" you have Google Music checked. Though it seems to have no affect for me, it may for you.
also try "play me some" or "stream" like some others in the thread were suggesting.
Dark, it's interesting you say it's an issue with Google Now. I think it's more an issue with Play Music. I've seen a lot of videos use Now to launch a random track when searching for an Artist, or play an Album, but it was all with the old (pre-white UI) Music app...
I find it hard to believe they know it's a bug when they're quite literally advertising the functionality we're all having trouble with in those new "Lazy Phone" ads...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google music is checked in settings and I've tried all permutations of the phrase, but I still can't even get the card to show up...
Very frustrating.. Guess I'll just have to keep on scratching my phone's hairy belly! (that was a lazy phone commercial joke just in case)
I'm on the verge of calling rogers/Google/Motorola..
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Mine works for specific songs perfect, but if I say to play songs plurally it limits it to one
Sent from my XT1056 using xda app-developers app

Khourya said:
Google music is checked in settings and I've tried all permutations of the phrase, but I still can't even get the card to show up...
Very frustrating.. Guess I'll just have to keep on scratching my phone's hairy belly! (that was a lazy phone commercial joke just in case)
I'm on the verge of calling rogers/Google/Motorola..
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on rogers moto x as well. Same issues you are having. I even tried typing in "stream" or "play music" in Google now and the selected "phone" section and it couldn't find any results in my phone. Ridiculous.
Maybe because Google music isn't in Canada rogers?
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I'm on a different device but same problem. It doesn't seem to work at all for me. I have phone search set to search my music player but google now will always perform a web search. If I scroll all the way to the bottom and select 'phone' as what to search under after I searched I see my song there, but the automation part seems to be broke.

vpxf said:
I'm on a different device but same problem. It doesn't seem to work at all for me. I have phone search set to search my music player but google now will always perform a web search. If I scroll all the way to the bottom and select 'phone' as what to search under after I searched I see my song there, but the automation part seems to be broke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nine out of ten times this is what it does to me too. Very upsetting day one with phone. I think this is the only thing that I haven't been able to make work. grrr

[Q] "Couldn't prepare instant mix. Please try again." =(

Hey,
Looked around and didn't see anything on this so I'm posting.
I get this error whenever I try and use the 'Instant Mix' in the play music app. Honestly, I don't care about it but it seems to need to work right in order for me to use the 'Touchless control' to start playing music using my voice...which would be pretty cool!...if it worked.
I read on another site to add a payment method through google play but that didn't work.
any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!

iceman198 said:
Hey,
Looked around and didn't see anything on this so I'm posting.
I get this error whenever I try and use the 'Instant Mix' in the play music app. Honestly, I don't care about it but it seems to need to work right in order for me to use the 'Touchless control' to start playing music using my voice...which would be pretty cool!...if it worked.
I read on another site to add a payment method through google play but that didn't work.
any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Noticed this as well. My friends Nexus 5 seems to handle the "play this" command quite well. My moto x seems to look for a instant mix and play it.

Tried the "play this" and the same thing happens...well, what happens is that the app just closes and go backs to the home screen.

"Couldn't prepare instant mix. Please try again." <- A bug I've been trying to fix for a long time...
I too have been frustrated with this error, but it didn't start with my Moto X. I also had this problem with my previous phone, a Nexus S, yet there is a surprising lack of information on the error when googled.
For troubleshooting, here is my environment:
AT&T Moto X, official 4.4, rooted
Google play music up to date (as of 12/13/2013)
all music (about 6 gigs) is on the phone, none on google music cloud. All songs have good album, artist, genre, albut art, etc 'tags'
I tried rebooting and clearing data on google play music
I verified my location and signed up on google.com/music yesterday, added a few songs and sync'd, but that did not help
Sometimes my "Im feeling luck mix" works, sometimes it doesn't. My library -> songs -> shuffle always works fine
Does anyone get the error with their music stored on google's music cloud?

Ctrl-Freak said:
"Couldn't prepare instant mix. Please try again." <- A bug I've been trying to fix for a long time...
I too have been frustrated with this error, but it didn't start with my Moto X. I also had this problem with my previous phone, a Nexus S, yet there is a surprising lack of information on the error when googled.
For troubleshooting, here is my environment:
AT&T Moto X, official 4.4, rooted
Google play music up to date (as of 12/13/2013)
all music (about 6 gigs) is on the phone, none on google music cloud. All songs have good album, artist, genre, albut art, etc 'tags'
I tried rebooting and clearing data on google play music
I verified my location and signed up on google.com/music yesterday, added a few songs and sync'd, but that did not help
Sometimes my "Im feeling luck mix" works, sometimes it doesn't. My library -> songs -> shuffle always works fine
Does anyone get the error with their music stored on google's music cloud?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have most of the music stored on google play music in the cloud and some locally on my phone. When attempting to create an instant mix, only cloud stored music seems to work. Locally stored files give an error. Also making and loading instant mixes seem to only work with an active internet connection, even if the cloud files are set to have offline access.

So no ideas?...=(...no one else having this problem?...or no one cares about using voice to play music? Maybe a good music player that supports voice? I found 'Clean Music' but not a very robust player.

Well you could try this if you have xposed installed. Its a module that let's you say "play music" and it will just start playing whatever was loaded in play music previously. Works for me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48109086
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

Have the same problem as well. Stupid instant mix error. Haven't had much luck finding information about it either.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

alu0506 said:
Well you could try this if you have xposed installed. Its a module that let's you say "play music" and it will just start playing whatever was loaded in play music previously. Works for me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48109086
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds interesting...do I have to root or anything? I'm reading through the framework thread and looks like there is a risk of a soft brick...=(

Well you have to be rooted to install the xposed framework and as with anything, there is a chance of a soft brick. Look at some of the other threads to find info on rooting. Works great for me!
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

Instant mix
Hi,
I've got the same problem on my nexus 5, and what I've found is this:
- When you try to start an instant mix when you've got an internet connection, it'll only play music stored online. (so it won't start if you've got nothing stored in the cloud)
- When you start an instant mix without internet access, it will work (but of course only the music stored on your device will play)
The voice commands only work when you've got an internet connection, so I'm guessing it won't start an instant mix with music stored on your device either? I haven't been able to try it with music stored online, cause I don't have a valid payment method for the service..
So I think it will work when you try the voice command for music stored online?
Can anyone verify that?

I just tried this as I do have a couple songs I've purchased through Google Play...but it didn't seem to work. I went to a song not on the device and selected "Start Instant Mix" and got the same error. I then turned on Airplane Mode, went to a song on the device and tried and same error. =(
JazzVH said:
Hi,
I've got the same problem on my nexus 5, and what I've found is this:
- When you try to start an instant mix when you've got an internet connection, it'll only play music stored online. (so it won't start if you've got nothing stored in the cloud)
- When you start an instant mix without internet access, it will work (but of course only the music stored on your device will play)
The voice commands only work when you've got an internet connection, so I'm guessing it won't start an instant mix with music stored on your device either? I haven't been able to try it with music stored online, cause I don't have a valid payment method for the service..
So I think it will work when you try the voice command for music stored online?
Can anyone verify that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Can't start instant mix
Hmm..
I've read somewhere that you need more than a few songs stored online to be able to start an instant mix, so maybe it's that..But I don't really think that's the problem though..that would be stupid
Does starting an "I'm feeling lucky mix work" with you? (online/offline?)
Can you start a specific song (stored online of course) with voice commands?
why o why do they install it on all nexus devices (and more?), when it doesn't even work properly?

Manually update Google play music
Although this thread has been inactive for a bit, the problem for me at least had not resolved itself. After months of ignoring it finally decided to look for a solution. So I'll post here if anyone else still has issues.
The solution is simple but annoying. Had to manually update the player. This should have happened automatically, through play store app but for some reason my Moto X was supposedly up to date on some version of 5.5 when a simple googling session says that play music had been past 5.6 for a while. So anyway I downloaded the latest copy i could find (5.6.1623P.1416251), it installed fine, and now the problem seems to have gone away even with mobile data enabled, which is required anyway for touchless control.

I had nothing online and was getting this error. There's a 'downloaded only' option in the settings that I checked and that brought instant mix back to life for me, although now called shuffle, so would seem to be an online problem I think

I had same problem,
What you need to do is to go on play store > apps > my apps > all > google play music > update
v5.5.1623P adds ability to search public playlists
now u can say "ok google now play some music" and see what will happen

Use the cloud
iceman198 said:
Hey,
Looked around and didn't see anything on this so I'm posting.
I get this error whenever I try and use the 'Instant Mix' in the play music app. Honestly, I don't care about it but it seems to need to work right in order for me to use the 'Touchless control' to start playing music using my voice...which would be pretty cool!...if it worked.
I read on another site to add a payment method through google play but that didn't work.
any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you have to do is delete all your songs from your phone... use the internet from a computer... and upload your entire catalog to the cloud using the Google Play Music website/app. You can put up to 20,000 songs there for free. (That's a lot of albums!!) Everything about the app is better after you do this. You can use Chromecast, all album art shows up, etc.
I just want to point out how stupid it is that this is what you have to do to make this product work. Why can't we just put our our music on an SD card and get the same results? Maybe in a few years after they update the app 5,000 more times.

iceman198 said:
Hey,
Looked around and didn't see anything on this so I'm posting.
I get this error whenever I try and use the 'Instant Mix' in the play music app. Honestly, I don't care about it but it seems to need to work right in order for me to use the 'Touchless control' to start playing music using my voice...which would be pretty cool!...if it worked.
I read on another site to add a payment method through google play but that didn't work.
any help would be appreciated! Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I faced the same problem, and what I did was I manually updated the Google Play Music app.
In the Google Play Store>My Apps>All , search the Google Play Music and I found out that it had an update but strangely the notifications never shown automatically. So I updated the app and now I can fire up music from my moto 360.

ONE SOLUTION
I haven't seen this solution posted anywhere, so here is what fixed it for me:
Play Music App -> Menu -> toggle Downloaded only
After toggling it started creating instant mixes.

If you are playing local music only, just switch the switch in the app, which says "Downloaded only" and instant mix will work !

[Q] Is Google now restricted in Canada?

I'm having trouble getting Google now on my Moto X to play music when I say "play x". It recognizes exactly what I say but then it just does a google search for the term. I know play music (the app) works and everything and from what I've read from around the internet seems to suggest that this functionality is not available in Canada. Is this true? Is there anyone from Canada who can use this feature? If so, wtf am I doing wrong?

Everything I have seen/read/tried suggests the play music feature does not work in Canada.

I've tried over and over and still no dice. You are looking at third party apps if you want voice control for music.
Sent from my XT1058 using xda app-developers app

Well that's a major bummer.

[Q] PLEASE Answer this easy music command test on your phone

Guys, please someone do this test, and let me know how long it takes to get to play a song in my playlist after saying "OK Google now...".
Based on this video, it takes such a long time, and I refuse to believe it's true:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9-HIQtgp4Q?t=4m54s
It's in minute 4 and 54 seconds.

thenetvines said:
Guys, please someone do this test, and let me know how long it takes to get to play a song in my playlist after saying "OK Google now...".
Based on this video, it takes such a long time, and I refuse to believe it's true:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9-HIQtgp4Q?t=4m54s
It's in minute 4 and 54 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine actually loaded 2-3 seconds faster than whats on that video.....

Thanks you for the useful info!!!

Mine just opened Google and sat there. Even though the song is in my playlist. So....it didn't work at all for me.

The Tallest said:
Mine just opened Google and sat there. Even though the song is in my playlist. So....it didn't work at all for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, this is a deal breaker for me
It seems touchless controls are not really quite there yet... maybe I'll just wait for the X2.
I mean, who puts the speaker in the back of the phone to be muffled when we lay the phone face up? Come on Moto, that just defeats the purpose of an active display, and good audio for us audiophiles ( I realize their original goal didn't have the best speakers ever in mind).

From what I've read, and being in Canada myself.....the OK Google now, play such and such only works in the U.S. for some silly reason.
Never got it to work on my X.
Made a tasker app tho that I can start with voice commands and it plays all my music on random. Good enough I guess.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

kj2112 said:
From what I've read, and being in Canada myself.....the OK Google now, play such and such only works in the U.S. for some silly reason.
Never got it to work on my X.
Made a tasker app tho that I can start with voice commands and it plays all my music on random. Good enough I guess.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a nice tip!!!
I think the "OK Google now... play -this song-" may also only apply to the "Google My Music" app, which would also be a deal breaker,s ince most people want to have their local music playlist played by other software like PowerAmp...
I think you mean the "tasker" app, that is a paid app on the store, if so, I wonder of it can play specific songs called on by commands...
Thanks for your time!

thenetvines said:
This is a nice tip!!!
I think the "OK Google now... play -this song-" may also only apply to the "Google My Music" app, which would also be a deal breaker,s ince most people want to have their local music playlist played by other software like PowerAmp...
I think you mean the "tasker" app, that is a paid app on the store, if so, I wonder of it can play specific songs called on by commands...
Thanks for your time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know a lot about tasker really....I never use it. I just followed what someone else did and used tasker app factory to make an app to shuffle my music with one click....and used touchless to open it.
I'm sure there's a way to make it play a specific song....but it may require a separate app for each song. LOL
An app could be made in tasker to skip to next song I'm sure.
Probably a lot of possibilities with tasker, but I'm a tasker noob myself.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

Tasker is indeed a paid app, but is worth way more then it costs. Among other things, it can play a specific song by file name, or play an entire directory, random or not.
Also, many popular music players have plugins or intents that give tasker direct control.
The play store return policy is pretty limited for such an app, so Tasker's Dev has a one-week trial version on his website.
If you are rooted, there are a couple of different Xposed modules that help Touchless Controls work with Tasker. You can scavenge the commands as delivered to Google Now, or just have the trigger phrase notify Tasker and do your one voice recognition there.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Damn it guys, why do you have to be so helpful?
Now I want to buy the X again to test all this out.
I'm a huge fan of Xposed, and new to tasker as well, so I want to check it all out now

Screen wakes up when music switches?

Every time I switch a track or a new podcast it wakes up my screen. Is there a way to disable this? It's never happened on any other phone before.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app

I'm not getting that , are you using google music? Right now I'm using shuttle+ but I will test it with google music and let you know

Chad_Petree said:
I'm not getting that , are you using google music? Right now I'm using shuttle+ but I will test it with google music and let you know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am, it happens on Pocketcast too.

I'm using Google Play Music, don't have that problem (tried by leaving app in the foreground with screen off as well as with app running in background in the notification area).
Possible Pushbullet sync issue?

I have this exact issue in Google Play Music when connected to my cars via bluetooth. But it is only when I force switch tracks if it's just playing its fine.
Sent from my Google N6 on VZ