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I'm running version 4.1.511 of the Google Music app. When it downloads songs for offline use they are stored in

/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music

This folder has a .nomedia file in it which prevents the media scanner from scanning the files. This means other music apps that I run don't see the songs?

Is there any problem with removing the .nomedia file from this directory so that the files can be scanned and picked up by other media players?

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The .nomedia file is for the reason you stated. You can safely remove the file and other apps will be able to pick up the medias in that folder.

In any case, if there is any problem you can easily create that file again. It can be a empty file with the name .nomedia. You can use programs like ES File explorer to explore to that directory and create the file.

EDIT: As per the comments below which contains very useful information:

  • Your Music apps may recreate the .nomedia file when you launch it.
  • Other players will only be able to play the music if only the musics are DRM free.
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  • keep in mind that the music app may recreate the .nomedia file in that directory if you launch the music app again. I have not tested this, but it would be something that I would watch for.
    – Ryan Conrad
    Commented Mar 2, 2012 at 14:38
  • This is also useful only if the tracks have no DRM on them that prevents other players from using the files.
    – afrazier
    Commented Mar 2, 2012 at 20:58
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    Thanks all. I removed it and there is also a .nomedia file in the /sdcard/Android directory which I had to remove too. This works and now other applications can pick up the media. However there is a catch, the meta data for the tracks is not stored in the downloaded files so they just come up as unknown artist etc.
    – sickgemini
    Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 22:10

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