Apple Music Enable iCloud Music Library only on iPod, not Mac Library?

[wetsignal]

Hello! Today I started a family music plan that is shared between three family members and several devices. In the past I have tried the "matching" thing with Apple Music and it totally wrecked my Mac iTunes library so I canceled it. But I am back (for the superior parental controls) and I want to be able to download files for offline listening on my iPod so it has to be enabled at least on that device.

If I enable it on the iPod, will it affect anything on my Mac or other devices? I do not want it near my iTunes/music library on my Mac. I really only need to download to the iPod so I'd preferably leave it disabled on all my other devices. Any info would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[joggy]

If you don't check the Sync Library on the device(s) you don't want to use Apple Music then you should be able to get it all to work the way you want. It's that setting that links it all.

You can even have the best of both worlds on your Mac if you want and that's how I use it. I have 2 music libaries on my Mac, one where I use Apple Music and the other where all my own local mp3/aac files are and tagged the way I want them and these never upload to Apple Music. The Apple Music Library is set to Sync Library whereas the local files Library is not set to Sync Library. To switch between them I just use the Opt key when launching Music which then prompts me to pick (or initially create) a Library.

Good luck.

 

[wetsignal]

Thanks so much for the detailed response, much appreciated! I know I sound paranoid but it really was a huge mess last time I tried Apple Music. I have been happy with Spotify until my 11 year old started really using it and I discovered their lame parental controls.

In any case last night I loaded all the music from my Mac library that I want on the ipod before activating icloud library. When I pushed the button (on the ipod in music settings) it asked if I wanted to keep my music (merge) or delete. I chose merge and it basically did exactly what I wanted! My personal collection appears untouched (as is my itunes library on my mac) and I was able to add and download the playlists my daughter wants on there from Apple Music. I may have gotten lucky as my ipod is 6th gen and doesn't have a "sync library" option like my 12 Mini does. This process only works if you have the music you want on your ipod when you activate it. If I want to put more music on my ipod via my Mac library I will have to deactivate it, put the music on then reactivate I assume. But since Apple Music has nearly everything I probably won't have to.

I will also try having two libraries as well just to see how that would affect functionality across my other devices.

Thanks again!