My problems started way before ever subscribing to the Apple Music service. I don’t recall if it was the transition from iTunes to the Apple Music app or shortly before. Nonetheless… Where to begin?
I managed most of those horrors by disabling "manage my library"
See, I actually leave both of those checked intentionally and I’ve never had trouble due to those settings. Keeping the folder organized for me means that when I rename a song, it renames the file, and when I change any sort of other metadata, that updates the files as well. I like that. Copying to the media folder also just means that anything I import to the library will go into the central media folder location which is where I want everything.
Otherwise when I add things they would remain where they are, which is more difficult to manage for me. But I like to keep a computer that has large enough storage for me to just keep everything on the main drive itself.
My issues have always been specifically related to Apple Music and iCloud music library, which are the offenders driving me bonkers. Sadly there are no such settings to fix those.
Yes. Those toggles
should only manipulate/edit file name and file location, nothing else whatsoever. …Which leads me to...
Oh yesss that to. It’s becoming harder and harder to listen to old Eminem songs. It’s already annoying that they don’t publish the lyrics but actually swapping out songs for their censored version is literal censorship on another level. But for me it doesn’t matter if it’s explicit. For example Lorde‘s Royals from its release album was swapped for the same version in a „New years eve 2013“ album… I don’t care who listened to it on New Year’s Eve, I didn’t so leave my library alone.
Also with Eminem I have this problem that it doesn’t save songs from a specific album. Playing a song from the Marshall Mathers LP shows one album cover but going to the album shows a different album with a different sort order. Playing them in chronological order makes everything even weirder.
That’s close enough to my first WTFH moments. I’ve had songs magically move about albums. I’ve also had albums disappear, although, it’s actually Music modifying the metadata, including but not limited to sorting them by another detail, such as composer. By the way, with the main search field focusing on the online catalog, a person needs to move to All Songs and use that secondary/alternate(?) search function in hopes of maybe finally locating what Apple decided to misplace.
The second 😳🤔🤷♂️😆😡😐 …
On my iPhone, most album artwork is completely borked, that is, mismatched or missing. On macOS, artwork appears mostly okay, some is missing though I haven’t noticed any mismatching (yet).
Most recently...
I decided to give another attempt at fixing/correcting (at least some of) my music library. Yet again, it’s like tangling with a grizzly bear, mountain goat, and wild boar.
• Editing multiple items no longer functions (for me, nevertheless). After clicking “OK” in the Get Info dialog, nothing happens. Literally nothing changes.
• When editing songs individually, every application (i.e., clicking “OK” in the Get Info dialog after editing) — except for the earlier described instances — I get the pleasure of seeing the pinwheel/beach ball for a few seconds. Yes, every edit.
• Some changes, no matter which approach I take, aren’t saved. It’s somewhat consistent per song but there’s no differentiating reason that I’ve been able to determine.
Apple, AYFKM?!
I have about 10K CDs ripped. I did a backup before I tried iTunes (back in the day) and still maintain a backup out of Music's reach. No - I don't trust it.
I don’t even see those stats shown anywhere. IIRC, song count, storage size, and a few other details were displayed at the bottom of the iTunes app window.
P.S. Initially, during the days when I was ripping the CD collection, I put a lot of time and effort meticulously searching details, entering as much info, and seeking good quality album artwork images.
All to be eventually mangled. 😡😔
P.P.S. Apple Music is also pushing...
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. Learn what you need to use Sync Library and how to turn it on.
support.apple.com
Apple Music isn't a backup service. Make sure to back up your music library before you make any changes.
The irony of that statement.