Can i sync Apple Music Library across devices without uploading all my music to iCloud?

[Sharky II]

Hi!

I have a Mac Pro with music on it (wav/mp3/aac), a MBP with music on it, and an iPad and iPhone that currently have no music downloaded to them.

I'd like to leave the music on the Mac Pro and MBP untouched, but on my iPad, i've begun creating a cool library of albums that i like, using Apple Music.

I'd like to see this library across all devices - I don't care about being able to access the downloaded/ended albums on my MBP/Mac Pro from my iPad - the vast majority will already be on Apple Music if i want to stream them from my phone.

I just want the library to be synced, and to stream the songs that aren't on the local device.

When I turn on iCloud Music library, that works, but it also starts doing a huge upload of stuff, which i don't want. It also duplicates a bunch of albums, which is addressed in other (very long) threads.

I'm also a musician and producer/engineer, so I have a ton of stuff in my itunes that i certainly don't want uploaded anyway - i don't want to/need to upload anything. I also have most things encoded lossless or straight WAV, so it'd be so time consuming on my slow internet.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

Ed

 

[flur]

It's possible IF you're willing to make a (possibly major) concession. If you create a new, blank iTunes Library and sync that with the cloud, then you'll be starting fresh, and you can add whatever Apple Music tracks/albums you want to it via your devices or your computer. Basically, if your music files aren't connected to iTunes, you won't have to worry about iTunes uploading them to the cloud and creating a mess. Everything will work then as you desire. Except I don't think you'll be able to play any of your owned music on your computer via iTunes...

 

[whsbuss]

It's possible IF you're willing to make a (possibly major) concession. If you create a new, blank iTunes Library and sync that with the cloud, then you'll be starting fresh, and you can add whatever Apple Music tracks/albums you want to it via your devices or your computer. Basically, if your music files aren't connected to iTunes, you won't have to worry about iTunes uploading them to the cloud and creating a mess. Everything will work then as you desire. Except I don't think you'll be able to play any of your owned music on your computer via iTunes...

This is exactly what I did. And Glad I did!

 

[flur]

Oops. Delete.

 

[Sharky II]

Thanks for your replies, guys. This is pretty disappointing, am I the only person who wants this? Very un-apple like!

 

[flur]

Thanks for your replies, guys. This is pretty disappointing, am I the only person who wants this? Very un-apple like!

Nope, you're not the only one to want it. We'll see if Apple gives us the option. Right now I'm not holding my breath, I'm just using Spotify instead.

 

[HopefulHumanist]

You may be able to if you turn iCloud Music Library off on your phone/computer and leave Apple Music on. I think then you can sync your personal collection locally and then stream the catalog. Haven't tested it myself since I've been an iTunes match [now iCloud Music Library] user for years but I think it should work.

 

[flur]

You may be able to if you turn iCloud Music Library off on your phone/computer and leave Apple Music on. I think then you can sync your personal collection locally and then stream the catalog. Haven't tested it myself since I've been an iTunes match [now iCloud Music Library] user for years but I think it should work.

Yes, you can sync the normal way and still use AM if you turn off iCML on both your computer and your phone. But you can't make playlists with AM songs on them, add to My Music, or download for offline listening. It very much decreases what you can do with AM.

 

[HopefulHumanist]

Yes, you can sync the normal way and still use AM if you turn off iCML on both your computer and your phone. But you can't make playlists with AM songs on them, add to My Music, or download for offline listening. It very much decreases what you can do with AM.

I see. I'm surprised you can't add Apple Music songs to playlists with non-AM songs. If anything, I'd just think you'd have to sync the playlist manually. Definitely needs to be fixed if that's the case.

 

[flur]

I see. I'm surprised you can't add Apple Music songs to playlists with non-AM songs. If anything, I'd just think you'd have to sync the playlist manually. Definitely needs to be fixed if that's the case.

With they way they have AM and iCML divided, iCML is what tracks what songs you've saved, what you've added to a playlist, etc. So it's not just the repository for the songs you've downloaded/uploaded. You can't even create a playlist of only AM songs, because all that data is stored in iCML. AM is only the song-streaming side.

It's a logical design if and only if you believe that everyone who uses AM will also use iCML.

 

[HopefulHumanist]

With they way they have AM and iCML divided, iCML is what tracks what songs you've saved, what you've added to a playlist, etc. So it's not just the repository for the songs you've downloaded/uploaded. You can't even create a playlist of only AM songs, because all that data is stored in iCML. AM is only the song-streaming side.

It's a logical design if and only if you believe that everyone who uses AM will also use iCML.

I see that as a meaningless distinction. What's the difference between streaming from the catalog and adding that song/album to your library and streaming it that way? I see no difference.

 

[flur]

I see that as a meaningless distinction. What's the difference between streaming from the catalog and adding that song/album to your library and streaming it that way? I see no difference.

One is stored for easy access later and can be mixed into a shuffle with your other music, and one can't.