iPad Sort music on iPad like I can on my MacBook Pro?

[PhillyAnt]

Hi folks! Are any of you aware of a way or program that will allow me to sort the music on my iPad using the same options that I can on my iMac or MacBook Pro? I was hoping to be able to use my iPad the same way I do on my MacBook Pro when I do live shows using the music I’ve purchased throughout my 25+ years in the entertainment industry, but the sorting options on my iPad are very limited compared to the others. I do not subscribe to Apple Music. I have synced my iPad with the music from my iTunes library on my iMac and want to be able to sort it the same way we can on macOS. Is that just not possible anymore?

I like to sort by track length, genre, date purchased, and a few other options. Is that just not possible anymore in iOS or iPadOS? I’m fully aware I can create playlists on my Mac and sync with my iPad, but that doesn’t solve the problem.

And before any of you go there (🙄 lol), I am fully licensed with record labels through the radio stations I work with. I can legally play any of the music I have for live entertainment purposes.

 

[Phuz01]

Unfortunately, the Music apps on iOS and iPadOS have chosen to basically ignore the needs of we dinosaurs who have huge physical media collections that we've ripped into iTunes. Actually, a lot of the sort functionality you've mentioned can't be performed by Apple Music customers, either.

The best work-around I've found is to take full advantage of the metadata fields in the desktop app and use those to create robust smart playlists. Sadly, it doesn't seem likely we'll be given any sort criteria beyond Title, Artist, and Recently Added in the mobile apps.

It's entirely possible third-party apps exist to work around these shortcomings, but the ones I've tried have tended to be unstable when dealing with extensive libraries.

 

[PhillyAnt]

Unfortunately, the Music apps on iOS and iPadOS have chosen to basically ignore the needs of we dinosaurs who have huge physical media collections that we've ripped into iTunes. Actually, a lot of the sort functionality you've mentioned can't be performed by Apple Music customers, either.

The best work-around I've found is to take full advantage of the metadata fields in the desktop app and use those to create robust smart playlists. Sadly, it doesn't seem likely we'll be given any sort criteria beyond Title, Artist, and Recently Added in the mobile apps.

It's entirely possible third-party apps exist to work around these shortcomings, but the ones I've tried have tended to be unstable when dealing with extensive libraries.

Thanks for your reply. It’s so very frustrating. We invest so much money in this company and they leave things out that are so very simple… all the time.

 

[Phuz01]

Thanks for your reply. It’s so very frustrating. We invest so much money in this company and they leave things out that are so very simple… all the time.

I realize we're not the base to which Apple is marketing its Music app, but as you said, we've invested a lot in the ecosystem (both time and money). It wouldn't be a heavy lift from a programming perspective to add sort criteria into the Music Settings and allow the customer to select both the sort criteria and ascending/descending order. It never hurts to make a feature request; every once in a while, Apple will surprise you.

 

[Mr. 123]

Just a button in settings that says “advanced features” would be enough. I am also missing the ability to view playlists in album view (especially useful for smart playlists of artists or years).

 

[bscheffel]

I have been frustrated for years that iOS/MacOS music app has stagnated with the only enhancements coming for Apple Music. Apple clearly doesn't want to you manage music libraries - they want you to subscribe to their music library - Apple Music. There will be no upgrades coming to either Mac or iOS for managing your music library - streaming is the future (and a very lucrative one for Apple).

 

[PhillyAnt]

I have been frustrated for years that iOS/MacOS music app has stagnated with the only enhancements coming for Apple Music. Apple clearly doesn't want to you manage music libraries - they want you to subscribe to their music library - Apple Music. There will be no upgrades coming to either Mac or iOS for managing your music library - streaming is the future (and a very lucrative one for Apple).

I hate them for this. I really do lol. Yet I still give them my money 🙄

 

[taxi_driver]

oof this is disheartening....I'm wanting to buy a new iPad soon with the hope/intention of accessing my library and based on the comments here, seems like I'll have to manage my expectations accordingly.

 

[bscheffel]

oof this is disheartening....I'm wanting to buy a new iPad soon with the hope/intention of accessing my library and based on the comments here, seems like I'll have to manage my expectations accordingly.

Sadly, there is very little you can do with iPadOS, iOS Music app. You can't add music to library (unless bought from never to be lossless iTunes Store), you can't modify track tags and you can't create smart playlists, etc.

 

[pdaholic]

I dump all my (meticulously edited metadata) music files into Dropbox and use an app like Readdle Documents for playing them on my iOS devices. I tried Apple Music Match years ago, will never do that again.