iCloud Backup Music?

[blairh]

Why is it that stored music on our iOS devices can't be backed up and restored from iCloud?

I can iCloud backup my podcasts with Downcast. A third party app. But I can't back up stored music with iCloud???

Can someone explain this? Yes, I would pay $3 a month for 200 GB of iCloud storage just to cover my music collection (52 GB).

Do you think this will ever become a feature with iOS? Right now restoring your iPhone from a backup means automatically losing your pinned music, and that really sucks to get back onto your iOS device.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Well any music purchased through iTunes is automatically redownloaded when restoring from an iCloud backup. I have a feeling you are talking about music not purchased through iTunes. For that, Apple makes you purchase iTunes Match. This will transfer all your non-iTunes purchased music to the cloud and can be downloaded from the cloud at any time.

Music and movies do not go against available storage on iCloud.

 

[blairh]

Well any music purchased through iTunes is automatically redownloaded when restoring from an iCloud backup. I have a feeling you are talking about music not purchased through iTunes. For that, Apple makes you purchase iTunes Match. This will transfer all your non-iTunes purchased music to the cloud and can be downloaded from the cloud at any time.

Music and movies do not go against available storage on iCloud.

iCloud Match still won't restore your music from a backup if you pinned it for offline use.

 

[Mlrollin91]

iCloud Match still won't restore your music from a backup if you pinned it for offline use.

Yes it will. If the songs are on the device it is captured in the backup data. The actual music isn't. But data that the songs were on the device is. So anything on the device that is also in the iTunes cloud will be restored via iCloud backup. Have done it multiple times.

 

[blairh]

Yes it will. If the songs are on the device it is captured in the backup data. The actual music isn't. But data that the songs were on the device is. So anything on the device that is also in the iTunes cloud will be restored via iCloud backup. Have done it multiple times.

You use iTunes Match, have pinned music, and have had it restore and appear re-pinned on your iOS device post-backup?

 

[Mlrollin91]

You use iTunes Match, have pinned music, and have had it restore and appear re-pinned on your iOS device post-backup?

What do you mean by pinned? As in actually on the device, for offline and not cloud only music? I've never heard the term pinned before. But if that is to what you are referring to then yes. Any music that I have in the cloud via iTunes purchases or iTunes match are automatically redownloaded for offline use after an iCloud restore.

From Apple's support website: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

• Purchase history for music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
  
  Your iCloud backup includes information about the content you purchased, but not the purchased content itself. When you restore from an iCloud backup, your purchased content is automatically downloaded from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store.

iTunes Match = Purchased Music, so anything that is in the cloud via iTunes purchases or iTunes Match will be downloaded for offline use once the restore from backup is complete. Same goes for podcasts through iTunes, you don't need to redownload them or save them to a third party app.

 

[blairh]

What do you mean by pinned? As in actually on the device, for offline and not cloud only music? I've never heard the term pinned before. But if that is to what you are referring to then yes. Any music that I have in the cloud via iTunes purchases or iTunes match are automatically redownloaded for offline use after an iCloud restore.

From Apple's support website: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

• Purchase history for music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
  
  Your iCloud backup includes information about the content you purchased, but not the purchased content itself. When you restore from an iCloud backup, your purchased content is automatically downloaded from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store.

iTunes Match = Purchased Music, so anything that is in the cloud via iTunes purchases or iTunes Match will be downloaded for offline use once the restore from backup is complete. Same goes for podcasts through iTunes, you don't need to redownload them or save them to a third party app.

Pinned means music from the cloud is downloaded onto your device for offline listening.

I'm speaking about music I have potentially uploaded, not purchases from Apple. I have never read online that pinned music from iTunes Match (music I have chosen to download back onto my device from iCloud) will automatically re-download if it has been part of an iCloud backup. (Just so we are clear, I mean re-download back onto my iPhone so I don't have to pin it yet again.) Perhaps this is third party related but Google Play Music on the iPhone does not do this. Anything I pin from that app will not re-download.

Allow me some follow up questions.

1. If I pin say 50 GB of music from iTunes Match onto my iPhone, then I must have 50 GB of iCloud storage to complete this backup correct?

2. Once my collection is initially uploaded via iTunes Match, can I delete the music it from iTunes itself (on my Mac)? I don't like keeping music files on my computer. And then when I want to add music to iTunes Match I can simply add those songs to iTunes and delete them once they are up in the cloud?

 

[Mlrollin91]

Pinned means music from the cloud is downloaded onto your device for offline listening.

I'm speaking about music I have potentially uploaded, not purchases from Apple. I have never read online that pinned music from iTunes Match (music I have chosen to download back onto my device from iCloud) will automatically re-download if it has been part of an iCloud backup. (Just so we are clear, I mean re-download back onto my iPhone so I don't have to pin it yet again.) Perhaps this is third party related but Google Play Music on the iPhone does not do this. Anything I pin from that app will not re-download.

Allow me some follow up questions.

1. If I pin say 50 GB of music from iTunes Match onto my iPhone, then I must have 50 GB of iCloud storage to complete this backup correct?

2. Once my collection is initially uploaded via iTunes Match, can I delete the music it from iTunes itself (on my Mac)? I don't like keeping music files on my computer. And then when I want to add music to iTunes Match I can simply add those songs to iTunes and delete them once they are up in the cloud?

Third party such as Google Play will not have the same syncing with iCloud that iTunes does. As long as the song is located on the device and iTunes shows it being in the cloud, it will automatically redownload. This of course is assuming your icloud backup is completely up to date with the latest songs on the device at time of restore.

As I mentioned earlier, music in iTunes Match or iTunes purchases does not count towards iCloud storage. I have 10GB of music and a 5GB iCloud account, not a problem.

Once your collection is entirely copied over to iTunes Match, assuming every song is loaded and verified by iTunes Match then you no longer would need to keep a hard copy of the music on iTunes because it will all be in the cloud and every song will have the little cloud icon next to it. "Pinned" music or offline music that has been purchased by iTunes or iTunes Match will be redownloaded for offline use via iCloud backup.

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Edit. I did just think of something. If you don't keep the hard copy of music in iTunes, I'm pretty sure next time you sync your device to your computer the songs will be erased off the device, which is one of the downsides of using iTunes. You might be able to work around this by managing music manually, but if you were to add new music via iTunes I think you would run into problems.

The idea of iTunes Match is to have a complete digital copy of all of your music so you have it everywhere when you aren't near your computer. So I'm guessing the hard copy would have to remain

 

[blairh]

Third party such as Google Play will not have the same syncing with iCloud that iTunes does. As long as the song is located on the device and iTunes shows it being in the cloud, it will automatically redownload. This of course is assuming your icloud backup is completely up to date with the latest songs on the device at time of restore.

As I mentioned earlier, music in iTunes Match or iTunes purchases does not count towards iCloud storage. I have 10GB of music and a 5GB iCloud account, not a problem.

Once your collection is entirely copied over to iTunes Match, assuming every song is loaded and verified by iTunes Match then you no longer would need to keep a hard copy of the music on iTunes because it will all be in the cloud and every song will have the little cloud icon next to it. "Pinned" music or offline music that has been purchased by iTunes or iTunes Match will be redownloaded for offline use via iCloud backup.

---
Edit. I did just think of something. If you don't keep the hard copy of music in iTunes, I'm pretty sure next time you sync your device to your computer the songs will be erased off the device, which is one of the downsides of using iTunes. You might be able to work around this by managing music manually, but if you were to add new music via iTunes I think you would run into problems.

The idea of iTunes Match is to have a complete digital copy of all of your music so you have it everywhere when you aren't near your computer. So I'm guessing the hard copy would have to remain

So you are backing up 10 GB of music to iCloud daily? How much space does that take up then in your backup?

It seems I don't need to keep my music in iTunes post upload to iCloud.

http://www.imore.com/how-i-saved-140-gb-hard-disk-space-using-itunes-match

 

[Mlrollin91]

So you are backing up 10 GB of music to iCloud daily? How much space does that take up then in your backup?

It seems I don't need to keep my music in iTunes post upload to iCloud.

http://www.imore.com/how-i-saved-140-gb-hard-disk-space-using-itunes-match

As I mentioned before its independent. Read the support link quote I posted earlier. It does not store the actual content but the information. It takes literally zero space. iCloud music, movies, apps and iBooks are unlimited. They do not take space because it's information of the purchase that is stored and not the content itself. My iTunes library with music and movies is over 500GB. Takes up no space on iCloud. I have 4.7GB of my 5GB available. The 300MB is from my iPhone and iPad backups. That's it. Nothing else is stored in cloud even though I have 500GB of content.

 

[blairh]

As I mentioned before its independent. Read the support link quote I posted earlier. It does not store the actual content but the information. It takes literally zero space. iCloud music, movies, apps and iBooks are unlimited. They do not take space because it's information of the purchase that is stored and not the content itself. My iTunes library with music and movies is over 500GB. Takes up no space on iCloud. I have 4.7GB of my 5GB available. The 300MB is from my iPhone and iPad backups. That's it. Nothing else is stored in cloud even though I have 500GB of content.

I'm going to call Apple tomorrow to just confirm a few things. You uploaded movies to iCloud? Or these are movies purchased from iTunes?

 

[Mlrollin91]

I'm going to call Apple tomorrow to just confirm a few things. You uploaded movies to iCloud? Or these are movies purchased from iTunes?

Purchased through iTunes. You cannot upload movies to iTunes via iTunes Match. Music only. iTunes Match will make your entire non-iTunes purchased library seem like it was iTunes purchased so all music is digital and does not need to be hard copied. Therefore any song you choose to be offline and hard copied on the device will be restored via an iCloud backup.

 

[blairh]

Purchased through iTunes. You cannot upload movies to iTunes via iTunes Match. Music only. iTunes Match will make your entire non-iTunes purchased library seem like it was iTunes purchased so all music is digital and does not need to be hard copied. Therefore any song you choose to be offline and hard copied on the device will be restored via an iCloud backup.

Let's say I upload my music to iCloud (using iTunes Match) and then delete it from iTunes. What if I find the wrong artwork or some other issues. How do I edit the information once it's already in iCloud?

Edit - Also previously you said Google Music cannot backup my music to iCloud, but why can Downcast backup my podcasts?

 

[Mlrollin91]

Let's say I upload my music to iCloud (using iTunes Match) and then delete it from iTunes. What if I find the wrong artwork or some other issues. How do I edit the information once it's already in iCloud?

Edit - Also previously you said Google Music cannot backup my music to iCloud, but why can Downcast backup my podcasts?

Your first question about editing issues. There won't be any issues to edit because the song is replaced by the one on iTunes server. So the artwork is supplied directly from iTunes. But if you needed to edit a song's information, you would have to download the hard copy. But as soon as you delete it from your computer it would revert back to the iTunes supplied information.

I can't answer your second question. Probably because of how Google built the software and didn't tie it to backup documents and data like downcast did. But I would not want Google Music to do that, because your backup size for your device would be massive and it would take up iCloud space when iTunes music takes no iCloud space.

 

[blairh]

Your first question about editing issues. There won't be any issues to edit because the song is replaced by the one on iTunes server. So the artwork is supplied directly from iTunes. But if you needed to edit a song's information, you would have to download the hard copy. But as soon as you delete it from your computer it would revert back to the iTunes supplied information.

I can't answer your second question. Probably because of how Google built the software and didn't tie it to backup documents and data like downcast did. But I would not want Google Music to do that, because your backup size for your device would be massive and it would take up iCloud space when iTunes music takes no iCloud space.

I appreciate all your answers. I've decided to stick with Google Music. It's free and I can manage my music from their web app. The only advantage I see with iTunes Match is that I could restore from a backup regarding my pinned music.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I appreciate all your answers. I've decided to stick with Google Music. It's free and I can manage my music from their web app. The only advantage I see with iTunes Match is that I could restore from a backup regarding my pinned music.

Agreed. It is a pricey option for convenience. I no longer have my iTunes Match subscription because of what happened with iTunes Radio. But I figure its not the end of the world to make a weekly iTunes backup and just sync restore my phone that way. Its faster anyway, even with my 200mbps internet connection, redownloading 40GB of data takes a while.

 

[zorinlynx]

>Why is it that stored music on our iOS devices can't be backed up and restored from iCloud?

Because you already have a backup.

- If you sync your music from iTunes to your phone, the copy of your music in iTunes is your backup.

- If you use iTunes Match, the cloud copy of your music is your backup.

- If you're purchased all your music on iTunes, the iTunes Music Store itself is your backup.

There's few situations where you'd really need to separately back up the music stored on your phone, unless you've been using "Manage Music Manually" and copying songs to your phone from other people's libraries or deleting songs from iTunes after you've copied them.

That said, if you have a collection that you've spent years building and really care about, you should probably have an additional backup, but the best place to make this backup is of your iTunes music library on the computer, not your phone.