Apple Music How do I edit album/song information on an iOS device?

[swandy]

Is it possible to edit song or album information on an iOS device in the Music app like you can in macOS?

I have an M1 iMac, an iPhone 12 and an iPad mini 5 all sharing a Music Library. I can see how to delete and add albums/songs from all three devices, but don't see a way to edit an album information (for example the Genre) on either of the iOS devices.

(Reason I am asking is that lately, any changes I make to an album's information on my iMac - where I like to do it because it is easy - aren't being reflected lately in the Music apps on my iPhone or iPad. (And apparently not being reflected in Music.Apple.Com webpage when I log in there.)

Thanks

 

[Eisselmann]

Not at all.

That‘s the ****** thibg about the music ecosystem at Apple.
Sometimes changes won‘t sync to devices, sonetimes it lasts ages till you can see the changes.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Are these songs/albums being "matched" by Apple?

I don't know if Apple lets users change metadata on matched stuff. Maybe someone else does.

 

[swandy]

Are these songs/albums being "matched" by Apple?

I don't know if Apple lets users change metadata on matched stuff. Maybe someone else does.

No these are usually albums that I add from Apple Music or add from an outside source because they aren't available in Apple Music. But since I want all albums by a certain artist together, I will change the "album artist" so they all are put together. Also I like to change the Genre that Apple Music lists - especially I like all my rock/folk live albums to have a genre Live.

 

[rosegoldoli]

you have to do it on a desktop

 

[stephenschimpf]

you have to do it on a desktop

I recently noticed that my genre choices are no longer syncing to my other devices. So, if I change an album's genre from "Rock" to "Metal" on my iMac, it stays "Rock" on my iPad and iPhone.

 

[swandy]

I recently noticed that my genre choices are no longer syncing to my other devices. So, if I change an album's genre from "Rock" to "Metal" on my iMac, it stays "Rock" on my iPad and iPhone.

This has been an ongoing issue and every time Apple does a macOS update I hope they fix it. Today they released macOS, iOS and iPadOS updates and it seems to be working again. Just changed the data on a few albums - including Genre - on my iMac and the changes were reflected on my iPhone almost immediately. So perhaps they have finally straightened this out. (Would be great but unfortunately there have been other times that my changes - generally involve either the Genre or the Album Artist - have worked and the next day it wouldn't.)

 

[stephenschimpf]

This has been an ongoing issue and every time Apple does a macOS update I hope they fix it. Today they released macOS, iOS and iPadOS updates and it seems to be working again. Just changed the data on a few albums - including Genre - on my iMac and the changes were reflected on my iPhone almost immediately. So perhaps they have finally straightened this out. (Would be great but unfortunately there have been other times that my changes - generally involve either the Genre or the Album Artist - have worked and the next day it wouldn't.)

Unfortunately, I updated all my devices two days ago, and it's still broken for me.

 

[swandy]

Unfortunately, I updated all my devices two days ago, and it's still broken for me.

Yeah - just tried again and no-go. Strange how it worked for me yesterday and now again it won't.

 

[bscheffel]

Basically Apple has abandoned the iTunes/iTunes Match model of music. The only enhancements you will ever see from Apple going forward is in Apple Music. There will never be a way to manage music libraries on iOS/iPadOS, never a way to add music you don’t purchase from iTunes Store on iOS/iPadOS and lossless music downloads will never come to iTunes store. Why you ask? $$$$$$$ Apple wants you to pay them $9.99 a month for the rest of your life.

Apple used to always proudly say “music is in our DNA”, until it wasn’t.

 

[swandy]

Basically Apple has abandoned the iTunes/iTunes Match model of music. The only enhancements you will ever see from Apple going forward is in Apple Music. There will never be a way to manage music libraries on iOS/iPadOS, never a way to add music you don’t purchase from iTunes Store on iOS/iPadOS and lossless music downloads will never come to iTunes store. Why you ask? $$$$$$$ Apple wants you to pay them $9.99 a month for the rest of your life.

Apple used to always proudly say “music is in our DNA”, until it wasn’t.

But I have been able to (1) add music from other sources in macOS through the Apple Music App and have the songs/album show up on my iOS devices and (2) I have been able to edit the information for tracks/albums like Album Artist and Genre on my iMac and see the changes appear on my other devices. But with Monterey it seems much more hit or miss than it has in the past.

 

[Yoms]

I've been struggling with similar issues since I switched to Apple 12 years ago or so.

I also like to change the musical genre. What's really painful is if you dare chasing the musical genre of a purchased item, oh boy... here come troubles. The music.app marks the item as not downloaded probably because it no longer recognises it, then as the "download automatically" option is enabled, it downloads it again. The library is then completely f*****.

 

[swandy]

Interesting. Today I did some of my usual changes to several albums and they all went to my iPhone and iPad. What I noticed is that one of the albums kept looking like it was incomplete because some of change I made (Album Artist and Genre) were only made to some of the tracks. So I deleted the entire album and after I made sure it was deleted everywhere, I re-added it on my Mac and then made my changes again and it worked everywhere. I did the same (delete, re-add, change) on four other albums I added in the last few days and they all worked (so far).
I love this - it's sort of like a puzzle game - what will work this time!! ???

 

[bscheffel]

But I have been able to (1) add music from other sources in macOS through the Apple Music App and have the songs/album show up on my iOS devices and (2) I have been able to edit the information for tracks/albums like Album Artist and Genre on my iMac and see the changes appear on my other devices. But with Monterey it seems much more hit or miss than it has in the past.

I have not had any issue with edits on Mac flowing down to iOS/iPadOS. My issue is that you can't do these basic tasks on an up to $2,300 iPad.

 

[swandy]

I have not had any issue with edits on Mac flowing down to iOS/iPadOS. My issue is that you can't do these basic tasks on an up to $2,300 iPad.

Well for me some edits (adding playlists, adding songs to playlists, adding/deleting albums and tracks) if done on my iMac will generally reflect on my iOS devices and on the online version of Apple Music. But generally changes when I edit an albums information (Genre and Album Artist are my two most common ones that I edit) lately have not shone on the other locations (iOS devices and online) on a regular, consistent basis. The other day - worked great. Today - nada again. And not being able to make changes in the information either on iOS devices OR the online version of Apple Music means I have to make them on my iMac and then - lately - they are not reflected on the other places (or perhaps it has to do with the day of the week??? ???).

 

[thisisart]

I know this is a late reply… but having been an early adopter of the whole “iTunes Match” thing—which eventually turned into Apple Music (long story short, I deleted 16 years of my music, like 30 gbs, out of sheer frustration when it synced all my live shows with the studio version tracks…) I learned that the “file > sync Apple Music library” dropdown menu is your friend. If you use it and still have these problems, sigh, of course that doesn’t surprise me.

I currently have tons of playlists for anything “Apple Music” and my music library on my iOS devices are virtually empty unless I’m syncing my own musical projects to preview them before releasing them online.

I honestly was hoping there was some new bootlegged side loading euro method to finally upload/change my songs info with my iPhone instead of going to my Mac, powering it on, selecting which operating system, opening iTunes (I still primarily run Sierra) and making a few small changes. Hey, I can still dream!