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AirJordanFan93

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 7, 2015
27
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I am consdiering signing up for Apple Music with some of the prices with albums on iTunes I think the $9.99 a month fee works out much cheaper than purchasing albums. My one query comes with the Offline Listening function. I know I can save songs/albums onto a device to listen without the need of WiFi or a Celluar connection. My question is how long can I keep offline files on my device. Say if I saved an album for offline listening how long would I be able to keep it on my device. I know with Spotify they have some sort of thing where you have to remove offline files after a certain period of time.
 
I am consdiering signing up for Apple Music with some of the prices with albums on iTunes I think the $9.99 a month fee works out much cheaper than purchasing albums. My one query comes with the Offline Listening function. I know I can save songs/albums onto a device to listen without the need of WiFi or a Celluar connection. My question is how long can I keep offline files on my device. Say if I saved an album for offline listening how long would I be able to keep it on my device. I know with Spotify they have some sort of thing where you have to remove offline files after a certain period of time.

For as long as you are still subscribed to AM.
 
It may have a time-out if you have it on a device that is not connected to a network - I've had that happen before with Spotify when I was traveling overseas and not able to connect - but that was like a month of time. Otherwise, yes, you can keep them on your phone just like music you own for as long as you subscribe.
 
In Spotify the device has to go online at least every 30 days, so it can check if you are still a subscriber (see here). Apart from that you can keep the files offline as long as you want. Apple Music probably has a similar policy.
 
In Spotify the device has to go online at least every 30 days, so it can check if you are still a subscriber (see here). Apart from that you can keep the files offline as long as you want. Apple Music probably has a similar policy.
Yeah the online check would be the thing I was referring to in my OP. Does it matter which device I check in on. So would using Apple Music on my Macbook count as them checking to see if the subscription is still valid. Or does it need to do it per device.
 
Yeah the online check would be the thing I was referring to in my OP. Does it matter which device I check in on. So would using Apple Music on my Macbook count as them checking to see if the subscription is still valid. Or does it need to do it per device.
I don't know for sure, but very likely it's per device (if you kept a device permanently offline, the DRM enforcement on that device couldn't possibly "know" that you have verified your membership on another device).
 
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In Spotify the device has to go online at least every 30 days, so it can check if you are still a subscriber (see here). Apart from that you can keep the files offline as long as you want. Apple Music probably has a similar policy.

Where does it say anywhere on AM that its required to connect every 30 days?
 
I don't know for sure, but very likely it's per device (if you kept a device permanently offline, the DRM enforcement on that device couldn't possibly "know" that you have verified your membership on another device).
Yeah thats true. Well my iPod is connected to wifi pretty much everyday so I guess its not that much of an issue.
 
Where does it say anywhere on AM that its required to connect every 30 days?
It doesn't. Spotify does check once a month to see if a subscription is still valid. Apple would most likely have a similar thing in place though it hasn't been publicised. I get the impression Apple would enforce such a thing.
 
It doesn't. Spotify does check once a month to see if a subscription is still valid. Apple would most likely have a similar thing in place though it hasn't been publicised. I get the impression Apple would enforce such a thing.

I'm not sure about that. If you don't pay your bill each month you lose all the music except for tracks you own. Why would you have to "check-in" to keep offline music?
 
I'm not sure about that. If you don't pay your bill each month you lose all the music except for tracks you own. Why would you have to "check-in" to keep offline music?

The device doesn't know if you've paid your bill if it can't connect to wifi. So it would make sense that Apple would build in logic to have that device "check in" to make sure your subscription is still valid. If the device can't verify the subscription after x number of days, access would stop.
 
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The device doesn't know if you've paid your bill if it can't connect to wifi. So it would make sense that Apple would build in logic to have that device "check in" to make sure your subscription is still valid. If the device can't verify the subscription after x number of days, access would stop.

As long as you open the music app you're golden. Nothing special about that.
 
But if your device isn't connected to the Internet, then you're also golden aren't you?

Not necessarily. If you don't connect, after a period of time, you music may "expire." That's how most services like this work.
 
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