Songs Don't Download
Problem may occur if you:
- Have iCloud Music Library enabled (either iTunes Match or Apple Music)
- Own more than 1 Apple ID
- Have purchases from other Apple IDs uploaded onto your iCloud Music Library
Symptoms you may face:
- Songs refuse to download on iOS
- Error -206 when trying to download on iTunes
- Occasionally downloads will work
To fix the issue:
- Remove any songs you have in your iCloud Music Library that were purchased from your secondary Apple IDs
- Select 'Update iCloud Music Library' in File > Library
- Remove all iTunes tags from your purchased M4A files from your secondary Apple IDs using Mp3tag's Extended Tags feature
- Convert your M4A files to any lossless format using a media converter (I use ALAC)
- Upload the ALAC files to your iCloud Music Library
- Select 'Update iCloud Music Library' in File > Library
- (Optional) Create AAC versions of the ALAC files in your iCloud Music Library and remove the ALAC versions (saves space, but may reduce audio quality)
Theories for the issue:
- Purchase information is retained even though extended tags are removed, requiring a re-encode to completely remove
- iCloud Music Library automatically refuses downloads if songs are purchased from another account, most likely to prevent piracy
- iTunes Match matches the songs using information from the extended tags, which results in corrupted matches (most likely occurs if purchases are made on account from another region)
Song Uploads/Downloads Keep Stopping Randomly
Problem may occur if you:
- Have iCloud Music Library enabled (either iTunes Match or Apple Music)
- Do not have an active iCloud plan larger than 5GB
- Have an iCloud Music Library that is significantly larger than your iCloud storage
- Are attempting to download/upload large numbers of songs from your iCloud Music Library
Symptoms you may face:
- Uploads stop at any random step of the upload process and do not continue until 'Update iCloud Music Library' is selected
- Downloads stop halfway and do not continue until iTunes is restarted
- Corrupted uploads/downloads (songs in library that cannot be downloaded)
To fix the issue:
- Purchase an iCloud storage plan larger than 5GB
- Alternatively: Connect to a VPN
Theories for the issue:
- Apple still somehow uses your iCloud storage to upload songs
- Apple uses your iCloud storage as a cache for iCloud Music Library uploads
Do let me know if you have any other solutions, theories, or problems you want to add! Just wanted to share because I found no guide to solve these 2 problems online.
Problem may occur if you:
- Have iCloud Music Library enabled (either iTunes Match or Apple Music)
- Own more than 1 Apple ID
- Have purchases from other Apple IDs uploaded onto your iCloud Music Library
Symptoms you may face:
- Songs refuse to download on iOS
- Error -206 when trying to download on iTunes
- Occasionally downloads will work
To fix the issue:
- Remove any songs you have in your iCloud Music Library that were purchased from your secondary Apple IDs
- Select 'Update iCloud Music Library' in File > Library
- Remove all iTunes tags from your purchased M4A files from your secondary Apple IDs using Mp3tag's Extended Tags feature
- Convert your M4A files to any lossless format using a media converter (I use ALAC)
- Upload the ALAC files to your iCloud Music Library
- Select 'Update iCloud Music Library' in File > Library
- (Optional) Create AAC versions of the ALAC files in your iCloud Music Library and remove the ALAC versions (saves space, but may reduce audio quality)
Theories for the issue:
- Purchase information is retained even though extended tags are removed, requiring a re-encode to completely remove
- iCloud Music Library automatically refuses downloads if songs are purchased from another account, most likely to prevent piracy
- iTunes Match matches the songs using information from the extended tags, which results in corrupted matches (most likely occurs if purchases are made on account from another region)
Song Uploads/Downloads Keep Stopping Randomly
Problem may occur if you:
- Have iCloud Music Library enabled (either iTunes Match or Apple Music)
- Do not have an active iCloud plan larger than 5GB
- Have an iCloud Music Library that is significantly larger than your iCloud storage
- Are attempting to download/upload large numbers of songs from your iCloud Music Library
Symptoms you may face:
- Uploads stop at any random step of the upload process and do not continue until 'Update iCloud Music Library' is selected
- Downloads stop halfway and do not continue until iTunes is restarted
- Corrupted uploads/downloads (songs in library that cannot be downloaded)
To fix the issue:
- Purchase an iCloud storage plan larger than 5GB
- Alternatively: Connect to a VPN
Theories for the issue:
- Apple still somehow uses your iCloud storage to upload songs
- Apple uses your iCloud storage as a cache for iCloud Music Library uploads
Do let me know if you have any other solutions, theories, or problems you want to add! Just wanted to share because I found no guide to solve these 2 problems online.
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