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iCloud Music Library
- Thread starter Liam Steven
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You can either pay $25 a year for just iCloud Music Library [your personal library in the cloud] or $10 a month for both Apple Music [entire steaming catalog] AND iCloud Music Library. Choice is yours.
With the caveat that the Apple Music will only steam songs in the Apple Music Library--hence the need to have both if you want to stream songs not included in Apple Music (such as The Beatles).
That is incorrect. With Apple Music, you can still add your personal collection. The difference is that it will add DRM to any files you download from the service. So say, you remove your original files and redownload from the cloud, you will receive DRM'd versions. That's the only reason to keep paying for iTunes Match (iCloud Music Library without Apple Music) -- to keep your personal collection DRM free. It doesn't matter though, if you keep a backup of your originals.
In essence, they are. When you subscribe to iTunes Match, the option is to "Update iCloud Music Library". The term "iTunes Match" exists nowhere in iTunes except in the store where you subscribe to it. The backend that does the matching is the same for both iTunes Match subscribers and Apple Music subscribers.
I mean if you wanna draw a meaningless distinction, feel free but that's just semantics to me.
The matching is the same, yes, but iCML uses DRM'd files and iTunes Match does not. And with the existing bugs, iCML can replace your purchased files on your hard drive with DRM'd versions, and iTunes Match does not. That's a lot more than semantics to most people who care about their music files.
Yeah but if you're an iTunes match subscriber, you will still see "Update iCloud Music Library" not "Update iTunes Match."
I believe the bolded part is incorrect. I only see this happening if you choose to remove the originals from your library. And since 12.2.1 or whatever the latest update was, it warns you when you attempt to remove originals that will be replaced by DRM versions.
There's a lot of problems with the service, we don't need to invent more lol
Look a little harder at the forums. Just because something hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it hasn't happened to other people. There is a bug that makes AM think some of your owned music belongs to it, and it replaces it with AM files that sync back via iCML to your hard drive. It's likely the same bug that makes iCML delete music when it's turned off. You don't even need to do anything to trigger the bug, just turn on iCML and AM.
Alright, fair enough. I can't contest the experiences of others. We both agree there's a lot of issues with the service. Let's leave it at that.
OK--that does make sense. I suppose the only way to know for sure since so much of this is confusing is to let my Match expire and see what I'm left with. I have all of my matched music on an external drive and backed up so there is no danger of losing the physical copies--just not totally sure how the music not in Apple Music will work--primarily my Beatles music. As long as I can stream it from the cloud, I don't really care.
I appear to have opened a hornets nest here...
I don't use Apple Music. It will NOT allow me to sort my music by "date added" and that is ABSOLUTELY essential.
I use Spotify but sometimes the headunit in my car falls back onto iPod and as such I need to understand iCML.
I don't use Apple Music. It will NOT allow me to sort my music by "date added" and that is ABSOLUTELY essential.
I use Spotify but sometimes the headunit in my car falls back onto iPod and as such I need to understand iCML.
Try this. It clears things up pretty well I think.
It's called iCloud Music Libary: Understanding differences between Apople Music and iTunes Match.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204962
It's called iCloud Music Libary: Understanding differences between Apople Music and iTunes Match.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204962
Because icloud music library is part of Apple Music, do you need to sign up for Apple Music before having the ability to disable icloud music library? I'm curious to see if streaming through Apple Music is appreciably better than using iTunes Radio, but am terrified by the horror stories I've read of files being deleted and metadata being corrupted by the icloud music library. I cannot find the option to disable under the preferences general tab in itunes and do not know if I am just missing it or if it wouldn't be there until I activate Apple Music. If activation is required first, is there ample time to disable before icloud music starts doing its thing? Any help is appreciated.
Yeah, you would need to make a new iTunes library to use Apple Music without uploading your music to iCloud Music Library. On OS X, open iTunes while holding option, on windows you hold shift (or alt, I forget).
They're different though. The Radio is for when you want it to play songs based on a theme (artist/album/song/genre, etc.) and Apple Music is for when you want to play specific songs on demand and/or get custom recommendations and curated playlists.
Appreciate the response but I just want to clarify. If I activate Apple Music, everything will begin uploading immediately before I even have a chance to disable icloud music library, even if that's the first thing I do? My only option if I want to try out Apple Music without using icloud music library for even a few seconds is to start a new library from scratch?
Actually, I'm not quite sure about this. I already had mine on because I was an iTunes Match subscriber. I wouldn't want to tell you it'll be fine and then it's not lol. Maybe someone else here has more information on this?
Thanks again for trying. Maybe a simpler way for me to ask is two questions:
1) Is it normal that I don't see the setting for enabling/disabling icloud music library before activating Apple Music?
If yes,
2) After activating Apple Music, is the default for icloud music library disabled on enabled?
1) Is it normal that I don't see the setting for enabling/disabling icloud music library before activating Apple Music?
If yes,
2) After activating Apple Music, is the default for icloud music library disabled on enabled?
1 - Yes, unless you subscribed to iTunes match, in which case you would see the option.
2 - I think it's disabled by default, but I'm not 100% sure. I think when you put Apple Music on, you get the "For You" and "New" tabs but won't be able to add them to your library without enabling iCloud Music Library though. Again, not 100% sure but I believe that's how it works.
You could very well test it by making a new iTunes library though. I can't do it on my end because the Apple Music and iCML settings persist between libraries, so I would have to turn it off first. Whatever setting is enabled when you quit one library will persist when you open another.
Have you updated to the current iTunes? If so, go into iTunes preferences. You *may* have two checkboxes there (I'm not at home with my Mac to make sure how this works, so bear with me), one for AM and one for iCML. Or you may only have one for AM. Either way, turn off your internet access to be on the safe side, and then select the check box for AM. Once this is selected you *should* show two checkboxes, one for AM and one for iCML, and the iCML box should be unchecked. If it's checked, uncheck it. Then you can turn your internet access back on and you should be good to go.
If you have not updated to the latest iTunes, run the update and then turn off your internet access before opening iTunes. Get your checkboxes the way you want, then turn internet access back on. This is a precaution because some folks have NOT gotten the option to turn on iCML, it just turns on and starts up automatically.