Is music bought from Google Play Music DRM-free?

Question

It is clear to me that with a subscription to Google Play Music you can only play "your" music (either online or offline) with Google Play Music player (see Google music: offline listening after subscription expires?). De facto, music is not actually yours: you just own the right to listen to it.

What is not clear to me, and I have not been able to find an answer for, is: what if I actually buy a track on Google Play Store? Can I move the MP3 to any "dumb" MP3 player and listen at it there? In other words: is it DRM-free?

Answer 1

It is not DRM protected

source:

• Is Music Bought on Google Music DRM-Protected? where the first post in reply talks of user deploying purchased app to Dropbox for unlimited use

and

• Does It Matter Where I Buy My Music? shows music purchased from any app store can be played on any other platform or device, which is only possible if there is no DRM

Answer 2

The song is yours. Simply install Music Manager for Google Play Music on your computer to download your songs. I think it's also possible from the website just haven't tried that.

Answer 3

Note that they do put a secret tag on their files, which restricts adding it to other Google Play accounts. Say, for example, you change your email address, they don't give you the ability to move it or share it with users in your own household.

You need to get and install eyed3, which does take a little technical expertise, and run this command:

eyeD3.exe --remove-frame PRIV ./

I tried looking and deleting it using a UI, such as Foobar2000 with it's advanced tools, but it still didn't see that tag.