Apple Music - Finally Ready To Merge Libraries - What About Boots, Live Shows, and Other Alternates?

[boltjames]

So within my library I've got about 2,000 songs I've ripped from various versions of CD's over the years, many songs with the same name, many from live concerts, many from boots, etc.

I've been enjoying Apple Music without merging libraries for the past year but it's time for me to take full advantage of the service and that means (gulp) taking the plunge and doing the dreaded "merge library".

Can someone tell me how to do this so that it's foolproof and I don't lose alternate versions of songs and their specific album art? So for example:

The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - 1988 CD
The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - 2009 CD Remaster
The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - 2018 Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary - Studio
The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - 2018 Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary - Take 2
The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - 2018 Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary - Take 5 w/Trumpet Ending
The Beatles - Penny Lane - Stereo - Ultra Rare Trax Disc 30 - Demo

The Beatles - Nowhere Man - Stereo - 1988 CD
The Beatles - Nowhere Man - Stereo - 2009 CD Remaster
The Beatles - Nowhere Man - Stereo - 1966 Live At Budokan

You get the idea...

Is there a specific and fool-proof system that will prevent Apple Music accidentally overwriting these songs and/or mistaking them for something already in their database and/or changing album art?

Thanks.

 

[swandy]

It’s been a while since I first set up my library - and there are many horror stories about Apple Music mid-matching tracks and albums - but they seemed in my experience to have gotten most of the kinks out. (Though I do occasionally see mistakes in the album artwork - not on my main library on my iMac but on the devices that share the library like my iPad.)
However unless they have added it in he past year or so, I don’t think there is a way to merge multiple different libraries. Maybe someone else can explain if there is a way. But Apple seems to have gotten the matching issues out. I also have multiple versions of songs - like 11 different versions of Acid Queen by The Who from multiple sources and they are no longer confused or replaced. However if the album title and the album artist are identical they may get merged together. I have albums by Crosby Still and Nash - one the original studio and one a rip of a live bootleg called “Daylight Again” and I had to rename the studio one “Daylight Again (studio)” to keep them separate.

 

[boltjames]

It’s been a while since I first set up my library - and there are many horror stories about Apple Music mid-matching tracks and albums - but they seemed in my experience to have gotten most of the kinks out. (Though I do occasionally see mistakes in the album artwork - not on my main library on my iMac but on the devices that share the library like my iPad.)
However unless they have added it in he past year or so, I don’t think there is a way to merge multiple different libraries. Maybe someone else can explain if there is a way. But Apple seems to have gotten the matching issues out. I also have multiple versions of songs - like 11 different versions of Acid Queen by The Who from multiple sources and they are no longer confused or replaced. However if the album title and the album artist are identical they may get merged together. I have albums by Crosby Still and Nash - one the original studio and one a rip of a live bootleg called “Daylight Again” and I had to rename the studio one “Daylight Again (studio)” to keep them separate.

Thanks! I won't have duplicate libraries. It's just one physical library that will be merged with the streaming but I haven't created anything on the streaming side, just hit 'love' on a bunch of songs over the years.

So to a) avoid false duplicate merging and b) to retain album art one has to simply make sure the Song Title field is unique for each song?

Penny Lane (2009 Remix)
Penny Lane (1988 CD)
Penny Lane (Take 1)
Penny Lane (Demo)

Like that? Just the Song Title field?

 

[swandy]

Thanks! I won't have duplicate libraries. It's just one physical library that will be merged with the streaming but I haven't created anything on the streaming side, just hit 'love' on a bunch of songs over the years.

So to a) avoid false duplicate merging and b) to retain album art one has to simply make sure the Song Title field is unique for each song?

Penny Lane (2009 Remix)
Penny Lane (1988 CD)
Penny Lane (Take 1)
Penny Lane (Demo)

Like that? Just the Song Title field?

I never did it for individual songs as Apple seems to have resolved the matching. I did have an issue with Albums being merged if the title of the album AND the Album Artist (the way I sort albums in my library) were the same. I don't believe you have to do it with individual songs - at least I never did.