Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some common questions about the extension:

Syncing

What is syncing?

Syncing refers to the extension changing your Google playlists so that they match your autoplaylists.

When does syncing happen?

Syncing happens automatically whenever you have a Google Music tab open, even if you haven't opened the extension recently. Playlist updates will be available in Google's web ui without refreshing the page.

By default, autoplaylists are synced every 20 minutes. You can disable periodic syncing or change the schedule in the settings menu.

Syncs can also be triggered manually. Pressing the "save" button will always sync the individual playlist. There's also a button in the syncing menu to sync all playlists.

What happens if I use the extension from more than one place?

If you're logged in to Chrome, your autoplaylist definitions will be synced across computers.

Try to avoid running multiple copies of the extension at once, though. This can cause autoplaylists to update slowly or incorrectly.

Can I sync while I'm away from my computer?

Yes, but you'll need to leave Chrome running and a Google Music tab open.

This limitation is on Google's end -- there's not currently a safe way for one of my servers to access your library.

What song metadata can be used in autoplaylists?

The extension can access anything Google's web interface can. This includes obvious fields like artist and album, as well as more subtle ones like the date a song was last played. For a complete list, scroll down to exports.fields in the code.

Songs can also be filtered by their presence in playlists (both normal Google playlists and other autoplaylists). For example, you could define a few autoplaylists to contain songs from individual genres, then create another that combines them and adds additional filtering.

Versions and Upgrading

What are the differences between the versions?

There are two versions:

• free: limited to a single autoplaylist, but otherwise fully functional.
• full: supports unlimited autoplaylists. Active as a free trial for one week after installing.

There's also a special version given to open source contributors that lets them toggle between the full and free version. This is partly practical (so they can test their changes), and partly a gift for their contribution.

How do I get the full version?

There are two steps:

• first, buy the extension on the Chrome Web Store.
• then, click the "I bought the full version" button and accept the authorization prompt.

What happens when my trial expires or I downgrade from the full version?

If you have more than one autoplaylist, all but the first will become "locked". Locked autoplaylists will not sync to Google Music and cannot be edited, but may still be deleted. They can still be listened to on Google Music despite them not syncing.

If you choose to upgrade again, any locked autoplaylists will become unlocked and immediately begin syncing again.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Visit Google Payment's subscription page, then hit "manage" and "cancel".

Privacy and Security

What am I authorizing the extension to do when I install it?

The extension manifest will prompt you for access to:

• your Google Play Music library, play.google.com/music and googleapis.com/sj/: to update playlists on your behalf.
• your Chrome Extensions and googleapis.com/chromewebstore/: to tell if you're a paying user.
• your Google id and email: to group error reports by user. I will never use this for anything but grouping errors.
• store data on your computer: to persist your playlist definitions and settings, as well as cache your library locally.

How do you access my Google Music library?

In two different ways:

• through the Chrome Cross-Origin XMLHttpRequest extension api, which you are prompted to allow during installation. Your Google authorization cookies cannot be read by the extension; Chrome attaches them automatically.
• through OAuth2, which you are prompted for when first running the extension.

Your library is only ever accessed by your own computers. On Google's end, it appears as though you are maintaining your autoplaylists manually.

Do you send any of my information to third parties?

Yes. Here's what's sent to whom:

• when errors occur: your Google identity, the version of the extension, and details on the error are sent to Sentry.
• when various app events (like syncing) occur: a non-identifying id and the version of the extension are sent to Google Analytics.

As required by the Google Analytics Policy, you may opt out of app event reporting by visiting chrome-extension://blbompphddfibggfmmfcgjjoadebinem/html/privacy.html after installation. I urge you to leave reporting enabled: it's very difficult for me to find and resolve bugs without it.