So, I have a late ‘13 iMac. It's all up to date. I have an iPhone 12 Pro. I like to Sync my iPhone to my iMac and manually manage my Music. I have about 20 playlists that I sync to my iPhone (out of about 60 that i have within iTunes).
I have now subscribed to Apple One, so alongside my own personal music Synced from my iMac, I can now add Music to playlists on my iPhone. This is great. I had to Sync my library on my iPhone with what I now know to be, Apple Music, to be able to do this, but that wasn't an issue.
I recently had an issue Syncing my iPhone through Finder however. On the 'Music' tab, it told me that all my Music was Synced in the Cloud. I thought it a bit strange, but hit Sync and let the iPhone/OSX/iOS do it's thing. I then opened the Music app on my iPhone and noticed my personal playlists and songs had vanished, leaving only Apple Music downloads. Not happy with this, I went to the Music settings and turned off Sync Music. I then re-synced my iPhone with my iMac allowing me to restore my own music. But then the Apple Music was gone on my iPhone. A quick Support call to Apple resulted in: iMac: Music>Preferences>General>Sync Library. Hooray, my personal Music AND Apple Music side by side in harmony, and nothing disappearing when I Sync on my iMac.
Enter the HomePod... So, I then went to play some Music from my personal Library on my iPhone to my HomePod. In a playlist of about 16 songs, it skipped through the first 9 tracks and started at track 10. Odd (wasn't set to shuffle either). So, it turns out that the HomePod doesn't want to play my personal music (I have some Dj sets and obscure music) unless it’s in Apples library. Brilliant. Not.
So, contacted Apple Support again. They thought it was odd too. Told me to go into Settings>Music on my iPhone, turn Sync Library to off, turn it back on in about 3 minutes. I did this, and Hey Presto! All my personal music is now playing on the HomePod, as is the Apple Music I have downloaded. Result...
....or so I thought. What has now happened, is that turning this on on my iPhone is now Syncing every one of the 60-odd playlists on my iMac to my iPhone, and is currently uploading nearly 200GB of Music. Trouble is, I don't want all of those playlists on my iPhone. I want my 20 carefully selected playlists, and a few additional playlists born from music I’ve come across from Apple Music.
So, now, I have this situation:
-If I want to keep manually managing my Music and Syncing my iPhone on my iMac I can.
-If I choose to do this, I then can't download any Music from Apple Music to my iPhone without it Syncing my entire library.
-If I want to be able to play my personal playlists on my HomePod AND have access to Apple Music to download, I have to Sync my 200GB iTunes Library to the Apple Cloud. But, I then have to have every playlist on my iMac display on my iPhone.
All I want to do is be able to:
Play my own Music via my iPhone on my HomePod without Syncing my entire iTunes Library.
Keep my 20 personal playlists on my iPhone.
Keep downloading some music from Apple Music alongside my 20 playlists.
Am I missing something really simple here, or is this really the way Apple are forcing me to manage my Music?
It is a long post, it is a lot to take in, but I'd appreciate feedback from any that have a HomePod or have come up against this, as Apple Support were stumped.
Dan
I have now subscribed to Apple One, so alongside my own personal music Synced from my iMac, I can now add Music to playlists on my iPhone. This is great. I had to Sync my library on my iPhone with what I now know to be, Apple Music, to be able to do this, but that wasn't an issue.
I recently had an issue Syncing my iPhone through Finder however. On the 'Music' tab, it told me that all my Music was Synced in the Cloud. I thought it a bit strange, but hit Sync and let the iPhone/OSX/iOS do it's thing. I then opened the Music app on my iPhone and noticed my personal playlists and songs had vanished, leaving only Apple Music downloads. Not happy with this, I went to the Music settings and turned off Sync Music. I then re-synced my iPhone with my iMac allowing me to restore my own music. But then the Apple Music was gone on my iPhone. A quick Support call to Apple resulted in: iMac: Music>Preferences>General>Sync Library. Hooray, my personal Music AND Apple Music side by side in harmony, and nothing disappearing when I Sync on my iMac.
Enter the HomePod... So, I then went to play some Music from my personal Library on my iPhone to my HomePod. In a playlist of about 16 songs, it skipped through the first 9 tracks and started at track 10. Odd (wasn't set to shuffle either). So, it turns out that the HomePod doesn't want to play my personal music (I have some Dj sets and obscure music) unless it’s in Apples library. Brilliant. Not.
So, contacted Apple Support again. They thought it was odd too. Told me to go into Settings>Music on my iPhone, turn Sync Library to off, turn it back on in about 3 minutes. I did this, and Hey Presto! All my personal music is now playing on the HomePod, as is the Apple Music I have downloaded. Result...
....or so I thought. What has now happened, is that turning this on on my iPhone is now Syncing every one of the 60-odd playlists on my iMac to my iPhone, and is currently uploading nearly 200GB of Music. Trouble is, I don't want all of those playlists on my iPhone. I want my 20 carefully selected playlists, and a few additional playlists born from music I’ve come across from Apple Music.
So, now, I have this situation:
-If I want to keep manually managing my Music and Syncing my iPhone on my iMac I can.
-If I choose to do this, I then can't download any Music from Apple Music to my iPhone without it Syncing my entire library.
-If I want to be able to play my personal playlists on my HomePod AND have access to Apple Music to download, I have to Sync my 200GB iTunes Library to the Apple Cloud. But, I then have to have every playlist on my iMac display on my iPhone.
All I want to do is be able to:
Play my own Music via my iPhone on my HomePod without Syncing my entire iTunes Library.
Keep my 20 personal playlists on my iPhone.
Keep downloading some music from Apple Music alongside my 20 playlists.
Am I missing something really simple here, or is this really the way Apple are forcing me to manage my Music?
It is a long post, it is a lot to take in, but I'd appreciate feedback from any that have a HomePod or have come up against this, as Apple Support were stumped.
Dan