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Problems with interplay of iCloud Music Library, Apple Music & iTunes


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HI Kirk and others–

 

I’ve just joined this forum based on some of the very helpful articles I’ve seen in Kirkville. Hoping that you or the other knowledgeable members of this community can help me sort out some of my frustrations related to the interplay of iTunes, iCloud Music Library and Apple Music.

 

I have a relatively large iTunes music library (132 GB, over 35,000 songs), most of which comes from CDs I purchased on my own way back in the day and then ripped into iTunes. One of the challenges has to do with the fact that my library exceeds the size and number of songs permitted in iCloud Music Library.

 

1. Since I exceed the number of songs allowed for iCloud Music Library, how is it determined which songs in my library get pulled into iCloud Music Library? Who decides this? How can *I* make the selection, rather than some random Apple process? (This is based on the presumption that there might be some way to select which tracks get designated as part of ICML and which ones don’t.)

 

2. My understanding from Apple is that in order to save music for offline listening when using Apple Music, iCloud Music Library must be turned on. However – and this is the part that I can’t wrap my head around – Apple also says it is not possible to manually sync music from My Music to my device (an iPod Touch, 6th generation) if ICML is on. If I turn off ICML, Apple says I will lose all music from Apple Music which I have downloaded. So – here’s the conundrum – is it really possible that I can’t put my own music on my own device if I want to also take advantage of one of the signature features of being a paid subscriber to Apple Music? (If there’s no way around this, can I turn off ICML once, import all my own music onto my device, turn ICML back on, and then re-download tracks from Apple Music without losing my own synced music?)

 

3. I know I’m not alone here, but ICML has totally messed up my album artwork and metadata. Question: If I turn off ICML, will my library revert to my original album artwork and metadata? If I do that, and then turn ICML on again, will the messed up stuff come back?

 

4. I have seen numerous articles about different approaches to work around these issues, including turning off ICML entirely, creating two separate libraries, or using a Mac Mini as a dumb server, but I’m a little intimidated since my technical expertise is nowhere near that level. Is there a (relatively) simple way to solve all this?

 

5. Given all these issues, would iTunes Match help me find a solution? I haven’t used it and don’t entirely understand how it works.

 

Thanks to all in advance for any guidance and advice.

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1. iCloud Music Library now supports 100,000 tracks. So you're fine there.

2. That's correct. When you turn on iCloud Music Library, you then have to download the music to your iOS device. However, iCloud Music Library might keep the music that's already on the device. This has actually been problematic, and I haven't tried it recently, so I'll defer to others that have done this.

3. iCloud Music Library does change tags and album artwork. Because of that, I won't use it. iTunes Match is a bit better, since it uses acoustic fingerprinting, but it can still change tags and artwork for some files. If you really care about your tags and artwork, you'll think twice. One thing you might want to do is back up your iTunes library - the library files in your Music/iTunes folder, and the iTunes Media folder - and put it aside. Try iCloud Music Library and see if it messes things up. If so, delete everything from your iCloud Music Library, turn it off, then restore your backup.

4. Since I need to use iCloud Music Library and Apple Music for my articles, I have a library on my laptop running both of those. It's a small, test library. If you have a second Mac, you could do that too. However, don't think that you can just make a second iTunes library on the same Mac; that will be problematic. If you do have a Mac mini, you can just set up an iCloud Music Library library on it, copy new files to it when you want, and use iCloud Music Library on your iOS devices, yet keep your "real" library on your main Mac. That's more or less what I do with my iMac and Macbook.

5. Not really.

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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1. iCloud Music Library now supports 100,000 tracks. So you're fine there.

2. That's correct. When you turn on iCloud Music Library, you then have to download the music to your iOS device. However, iCloud Music Library might keep the music that's already on the device. This has actually been problematic, and I haven't tried it recently, so I'll defer to others that have done this.

3. iCloud Music Library does change tags and album artwork. Because of that, I won't use it. iTunes Match is a bit better, since it uses acoustic fingerprinting, but it can still change tags and artwork for some files. If you really care about your tags and artwork, you'll think twice. One thing you might want to do is back up your iTunes library - the library files in your Music/iTunes folder, and the iTunes Media folder - and put it aside. Try iCloud Music Library and see if it messes things up. If so, delete everything from your iCloud Music Library, turn it off, then restore your backup.

4. Since I need to use iCloud Music Library and Apple Music for my articles, I have a library on my laptop running both of those. It's a small, test library. If you have a second Mac, you could do that too. However, don't think that you can just make a second iTunes library on the same Mac; that will be problematic. If you do have a Mac mini, you can just set up an iCloud Music Library library on it, copy new files to it when you want, and use iCloud Music Library on your iOS devices, yet keep your "real" library on your main Mac. That's more or less what I do with my iMac and Macbook.

5. Not really.

Kirk - Many thanks for the super-quick response - greatly appreciated! I'll take some time to go over these and may come back with some additional questions. Thanks again!

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  • 1 month later...

I'm in a similar bind, having been burned by my first attempt to use iCloud Music Library. I turned it off, and have more-or-less restored order. But I miss not being able to listen offline, and feel that I'm not getting the full value of my Apple Music membership. (Previously I subscribed to both MOG and Beats, the ancestors to Apple Music, and had quite a lot of jazz and world music stored in those apps for offline use.)

 

But I wonder about turning on iCloud Music Library just on my phone, and not on the iMac that I sync it to. Any experience that others have had with that scenario would be appreciated!

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I understand... I've been following your saga and am grateful for your sage advice.

 

The iMac is my only desktop with a large hard drive, so I don't have that option. Just curious about what happens when you turn on iCML on an iDevice while the mothership has not. I presume that the worst that can happen is I have to do a restore from my iTunes backup, but I would rather not have the hassle!

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It might work, it might not. I don't recommend it. If you do try it, be prepared to restore the device.

 

If you do try it, post here and let us know what happened. I don't have the time right now to go through that process. (I'm busy updating my Take Control of iTunes book.)

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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