Apple Music w/o iCloud Music Library?

[LinusR]

I've avoided AM for now (and any streaming service, for that matter), but given the lockdown I'm tempted to try one -- just more time to listen to music these days

I'd prefer to go with AM but I heard it does the file matching that was originally iTunes Match (and still is I guess), and hence could change files in your local library, which I'd like to avoid. Is there a way to use AM without having your library affected? Has anyone tried this?

The internet has given contradictory details on this, so if anyone has an idea whether that's possible, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Jjayf]

Apple Music does horrible nasty terrible things to your library. It will screw with it, rearrange it, place each song under an artist into separate albums, change versions etc. it will flat out refuse to play some songs on a playlist if they don’t offer that version. If you have spent time and effort on your personal library, stay far away from Apple Music.

 

[lostom]

Turn off Sync music, it's on by default.

Use Sync Library with your Apple Music subscription – Apple Support (AU)

Use Sync Library to stream your music library on any device that's signed in to the Apple Music app with the Apple ID that you use with your Apple Music subscription. Find out what you need to use Sync Library and how to turn it on.

support.apple.com

 

[sublunar]

I have been reluctant to try Apple Music for this very reason (I have no subscription audio).

I know that the move from iTunes to the Apple Music app in Catalina has upset a lot of people but would it make a difference for Catalina users who have already endured that pain and transferred their iTunes library? I'm still on Mojave and have that pain to come in due course - might wait out Catalina altogether to be fair. Its been a dumpster fire by all accounts.

 

[LinusR]

Apple Music does horrible nasty terrible things to your library. It will screw with it, rearrange it, place each song under an artist into separate albums, change versions etc. it will flat out refuse to play some songs on a playlist if they don’t offer that version. If you have spent time and effort on your personal library, stay far away from Apple Music.

That's what I feared... I don't need to add anything to my library, if AM just left my library alone I'd be happy.

I have been reluctant to try Apple Music for this very reason (I have no subscription audio).

I know that the move from iTunes to the Apple Music app in Catalina has upset a lot of people but would it make a difference for Catalina users who have already endured that pain and transferred their iTunes library? I'm still on Mojave and have that pain to come in due course - might wait out Catalina altogether to be fair. Its been a dumpster fire by all accounts.

For me Catalina has been pretty stable (I did a fresh install) but the music app is just not nice. It doesn't look good, although it runs pretty well for me. I wish they had spent more time perfecting the UX (which is something they used to excel at!)

Turn off Sync music, it's on by default.

That's what I tried, and while you can do exactly that on Catalina straight away, the Music setting on iOS doesn't allow for that to be switched on or off if you are not subscribed to AM. So I wonder: in the process of signing up, can I ensure that there's never any syncing happening? If I can avoid any matching with my library (and not just switch it off after the damage is done) I'd give AM a try -- is that possible?

 

[Moi Ici]

Apple Music does horrible nasty terrible things to your library. It will screw with it, rearrange it, place each song under an artist into separate albums, change versions etc. it will flat out refuse to play some songs on a playlist if they don’t offer that version. If you have spent time and effort on your personal library, stay far away from Apple Music.

I unwittingly signed up for the cloud Apple Music years ago. I get depressed when I think of the Permanent damage it did to my music files. I had spent years ripping music to a pretty good hearing standard (for digital files). Apple did an absolute ***** job explaining what was going to happen to my personal (pre subscription music) library. I assumed my personal music was gong to be pulled to the could intact and then delivered back when wanted. I realize I also screwed up by not understanding their system. They took original music and cd’s and substituted it with absolute garbage and lower quality. Albums just gone for good because they DELETED everything. I’m not even going into what it did to years of arranging playlists etc, but it‘s the actual destroying/deleting and substituting albums of my music library that I personally owned that just fries me. Still pissed at them for that.

 

[Krypton Deer]

Apple Music does horrible nasty terrible things to your library. It will screw with it, rearrange it, place each song under an artist into separate albums, change versions etc. it will flat out refuse to play some songs on a playlist if they don’t offer that version. If you have spent time and effort on your personal library, stay far away from Apple Music.

Apple Music has gotten really good with real-time lyrics, AW streaming and web player, and it's cheaper than Spotify and YouTube Music if you choose the annual plan. But the few issues below have driven me crazy during the time I use it. If OP decides to try iCloud music library, only proceed with backups of your existing library.

1. After adding the deluxe version of albums, it separates the album into the original one (with original album covers) and leaves the 3-4 extra songs under the deluxe version.
2. It does not recognise artists as tags, therefore in the artist view, all classical albums, duets and remixes are grouped into dozens of entries. (but can manually edit the information for yourself)
3. For a collaboration that is listed also under another album, it somehow thinks it's a good idea to separate that one song, and change the info to under the other artist's album.
4. There is no way to see/reset all your liked songs or listening history.

 

[lostom]

That's what I feared... I don't need to add anything to my library, if AM just left my library alone I'd be happy.



For me Catalina has been pretty stable (I did a fresh install) but the music app is just not nice. It doesn't look good, although it runs pretty well for me. I wish they had spent more time perfecting the UX (which is something they used to excel at!)



That's what I tried, and while you can do exactly that on Catalina straight away, the Music setting on iOS doesn't allow for that to be switched on or off if you are not subscribed to AM. So I wonder: in the process of signing up, can I ensure that there's never any syncing happening? If I can avoid any matching with my library (and not just switch it off after the damage is done) I'd give AM a try -- is that possible?

I haven't done this for a long time to be honest.
No doubt whatever you do, make sure you have full back up of your library.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Apple Music has gotten really good with real-time lyrics, AW streaming and web player, and it's cheaper than Spotify and YouTube Music if you choose the annual plan. But the few issues below have driven me crazy during the time I use it. If OP decides to try iCloud music library, only proceed with backups of your existing library.

1. After adding the deluxe version of albums, it separates the album into the original one (with original album covers) and leaves the 3-4 extra songs under the deluxe version.
2. It does not recognise artists as tags, therefore in the artist view, all classical albums, duets and remixes are grouped into dozens of entries. (but can manually edit the information for yourself)
3. For a collaboration that is listed also under another album, it somehow thinks it's a good idea to separate that one song, and change the info to under the other artist's album.
4. There is no way to see/reset all your liked songs or listening history.

For point #3 Above I think I've figured this out.

In my library I have a LOT of songs by DJ/Producer Black Coffee (of Africa), whom collaborates with a lot of artists - singers/musicians/DJ's etc over the years. In my screenshots attached I've shown how I have:

3 listings in my personal library 'Black Coffee' (all music under his name), 'Black Coffee ft Ringo' (a collaboration and thus NOT under his albums/singles released but a remix he's done), and 'Black Coffee Ft Soultar' which you'll see in my personal library is listed as ' Song: Rock My World (Jullian Gomes Remix ft Soulstar , "Artist: Black Coffee" and "Album Artist: Black Coffee Ft. Soultar". NOTE this as it's a mistake in my personal library as you'll see that Apple Music, as licensed by Black Coffee's production company, is in fact a song remixed by Julian Gomes alongs a long of other artists for different renditions and is under the artist Black Coffee.

Screenshots will make sense, as the final one shows my library of the song not the right, Apple Music search in the background and their listing on the left.

Footnote:
Think of this as a song you want to purchase called 'Jump' by Van Halen. We all know that song was sung by David Lee Roth ... BUT when Van Halen performed this live with Sammy Haggar they needed license permission from David to sing it and he collects royalties each time they release or perform that song since he contributed to the lyrics but the performance itself is NOT involved with David Lee Roth.

Thus you'll want to ensure your personal library is properly laid out ... this will take a LOT of time and patience, then back up, and backup again. My tracks are all in AAC now at 256/320kbps.


I'm looking for a solution on disabling mixing of personally curated/owned music library FROM Apple Music (either entirely or allowing only uploading via Apple Match where personal library is NOT touched in any way). I'll add more when I have a solution. Right now I'm VERY upset Apple has not made a very concise step by step and clear way of what we want. Ask an Apple Genius to stump them if you'd like

 

[lostom]

For point #3 Above I think I've figured this out.

In my library I have a LOT of songs by DJ/Producer Black Coffee (of Africa), whom collaborates with a lot of artists - singers/musicians/DJ's etc over the years. In my screenshots attached I've shown how I have:

3 listings in my personal library 'Black Coffee' (all music under his name), 'Black Coffee ft Ringo' (a collaboration and thus NOT under his albums/singles released but a remix he's done), and 'Black Coffee Ft Soultar' which you'll see in my personal library is listed as ' Song: Rock My World (Jullian Gomes Remix ft Soulstar , "Artist: Black Coffee" and "Album Artist: Black Coffee Ft. Soultar". NOTE this as it's a mistake in my personal library as you'll see that Apple Music, as licensed by Black Coffee's production company, is in fact a song remixed by Julian Gomes alongs a long of other artists for different renditions and is under the artist Black Coffee.

Screenshots will make sense, as the final one shows my library of the song not the right, Apple Music search in the background and their listing on the left.

Footnote:
Think of this as a song you want to purchase called 'Jump' by Van Halen. We all know that song was sung by David Lee Roth ... BUT when Van Halen performed this live with Sammy Haggar they needed license permission from David to sing it and he collects royalties each time they release or perform that song since he contributed to the lyrics but the performance itself is NOT involved with David Lee Roth.

Thus you'll want to ensure your personal library is properly laid out ... this will take a LOT of time and patience, then back up, and backup again. My tracks are all in AAC now at 256/320kbps.


I'm looking for a solution on disabling mixing of personally curated/owned music library FROM Apple Music (either entirely or allowing only uploading via Apple Match where personal library is NOT touched in any way). I'll add more when I have a solution. Right now I'm VERY upset Apple has not made a very concise step by step and clear way of what we want. Ask an Apple Genius to stump them if you'd like

I'm feeling for you, I spent so long (over years curating my library) and it broke with Match, I had live albums, some of which were composite from various concerts over different years, AM broke the album down into individual songs/ albums and destroyed the actual album concert ( I had backups, but it's a long process to rectify)

I purchased 2 applications from an english developer named Paul Taylor, he is pretty hard core into his music meta data etc.

Jaikoz which is full on customisation and fairly complicated and the other app is Song Kong, a simplified version of Jaikoz.
You can run these and I think there are settings that may override AM or at least fix after AM ruins it,, can't remember pricing, but Jaikoz was quite expensive from memory, but in saying that the both worked exceptionally well and Paul was a very active developer and always responded to feedback, quite briskly.

I am no way involved with these apps or the developer, I haven't used either for quite a while, I basically gave in my curation and meta data formation and just accepted whatever is available on AM, young family, business all took away my time and care for it, so I threw in the towel, (which I hate, but that's life )

Back to your issue, would it bother you to manually take away the "featuring" meta data and maybe add it into "notes", I'm not sure if that would help your issue, just a thought.

 

[heyyitssusan]

I don’t use iCloud Music Library, but I only stream with Apple Music. Don’t save any songs or anything either. when I did, only thing I used was saving music for offline listening.

 

[lostom]

I don’t use iCloud Music Library, but I only stream with Apple Music. Don’t save any songs or anything either. when I did, only thing I used was saving music for offline listening.

That's me now, I had a massive library, but lack interest in maintaining it now, happy to pay the money and listen to whatever I want, however they give it me. I'm satisfied with what I get.

 

[heyyitssusan]

That's me now, I had a massive library, but lack interest in maintaining it now, happy to pay the money and listen to whatever I want, however they give it me. I'm satisfied with what I get.

Yeah even when saving music was a thing back then, never really got into it. plus working for Apple Support for about 3-4 months, it made me realize what a PITA it was.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I'm feeling for you, I spent so long (over years curating my library) and it broke with Match, I had live albums, some of which were composite from various concerts over different years, AM broke the album down into individual songs/ albums and destroyed the actual album concert ( I had backups, but it's a long process to rectify)

I purchased 2 applications from an english developer named Paul Taylor, he is pretty hard core into his music meta data etc.

Jaikoz which is full on customisation and fairly complicated and the other app is Song Kong, a simplified version of Jaikoz.
You can run these and I think there are settings that may override AM or at least fix after AM ruins it,, can't remember pricing, but Jaikoz was quite expensive from memory, but in saying that the both worked exceptionally well and Paul was a very active developer and always responded to feedback, quite briskly.

I am no way involved with these apps or the developer, I haven't used either for quite a while, I basically gave in my curation and meta data formation and just accepted whatever is available on AM, young family, business all took away my time and care for it, so I threw in the towel, (which I hate, but that's life )

Back to your issue, would it bother you to manually take away the "featuring" meta data and maybe add it into "notes", I'm not sure if that would help your issue, just a thought.

Most of my music has info from DJ's ... I'd say about 40 tracks are collaborations from the artist and the producer with said DJ remix while the same song from another. I usually keep the 'featuring' meta data to help me know which song is which and these renditions are not simple 2 records playing at once from said 'club' DJ yet a full on completely different recording even with the lyrics being sung by the artist is different and thus has a completely different tempo/bpm and emotion, and could mess up my concentration or my workout.

Thank you for the tips I really appreciate them and will consider them!

 

[LinusR]

I don’t use iCloud Music Library, but I only stream with Apple Music. Don’t save any songs or anything either. when I did, only thing I used was saving music for offline listening.

I managed to set up the same: I was invited via my family to join Apple Music, but deactivated it on the macOS Music app in the settings and made sure that, before I opened the Music app on iOS (but after accepting the family sharing option in settings) I went to the Music settings in iOS and switched off Library Sync (it already was switched off). The next time I opened the Music app I was asked to set up Apple Music, recommendations, and I force closed the app. When I reopened it asked me to set up friends on AM and I pressed "Not Now" and that's where I am now. I can listen to anything I like via Siri, and nothing is uploaded -- my library is still intact.

I did do a backup of my library, though! You never know...

 

[Expos of 1969]

I've avoided AM for now (and any streaming service, for that matter), but given the lockdown I'm tempted to try one -- just more time to listen to music these days

I'd prefer to go with AM but I heard it does the file matching that was originally iTunes Match (and still is I guess), and hence could change files in your local library, which I'd like to avoid. Is there a way to use AM without having your library affected? Has anyone tried this?

The internet has given contradictory details on this, so if anyone has an idea whether that's possible, I'd love to hear it.

It is not popular with some people on this site, but give Spotify a try. I used iTunes and Apple Music for years and after reading many people say they found Spotify's service (particularly the Discovery suggestions) better I gave it a go. I agree with those opinions I read. I recommend the premium pay tier to avoid ads. You can cancel after a month if you don't care for it.