How to add non-AM catalog music to my AM on iPhone

[skiltrip]

I'm looking to add my Beatles albums to Apple Music on my iPhone. I can't even just drag the albums onto my iPhone because I get this message Some of the files were not copied to the iPhone “Kip's iPhone” because iCloud Music Library is enabled on this iPhone.

How can I do this so I can play my Beatles (and other non-AM tracks) to co-exist with my the Apple Music library on my iPhone?

 

[Julien]

You just rip your CD's to your iTunes library on your Mac. Then they appear on your iPhone completely integrated with Apple Music tracks. If you add them to a Playlist on your Mac they will just show up in the Playlist on your iPhone and vice versa.

With Apple Music you CAN'T copy or drag music to your iPhone. All music is synced through iCloud Music Library.

 

[skiltrip]

You just rip your CD's to your iTunes library on your Mac. Then they appear on your iPhone completely integrated with Apple Music tracks. If you add them to a Playlist on your Mac they will just show up in the Playlist on your iPhone and vice versa.

With Apple Music you CAN'T copy or drag music to your iPhone. All music is synced through iCloud Music Library.

That makes sense. But, my Beatles are all greyed out. I didn't buy them from iTunes. I ripped them many years ago before I was using iTunes.

I just looked closer, and SOME of my Beatles albums are playable, and some not. Could it be meta-data issues with the greyed out ones? Any way to get them to play?

 

[Julien]

That makes sense. But, my Beatles are all greyed out. I didn't buy them from iTunes. I ripped them many years ago before I was using iTunes.

I just looked closer, and SOME of my Beatles albums are playable, and some not. Could it be meta-data issues with the greyed out ones? Any way to get them to play?

Metadata won't keep them from playing. The files are likely corrupt if grayed out. You best bet (and ONLT bet if corrupt) is to go back and rip them again. This way you can also improve the quality. HD space is cheep so go ALAC.

 

[skiltrip]

Metadata won't keep them from playing. The files are likely corrupt if grayed out. You best bet (and ONLT bet if corrupt) is to go back and rip them again. This way you can also improve the quality. HD space is cheep so go ALAC.

Thanks. Interestingly enough, they all play fine uploaded to Google Music. They also play fine on my Mac in iTunes.

 

[skiltrip]

It seems a lot of my "greyed out" problems seemed to stem from my not having allowed iTunes to fully sync with my iCloud Music Library. I have a MacBook Pro, so I never leave it on for more than whatever I need it for, which is usually just to do some quick work for my job, or to look something up, pay bills, etc. I think iTunes never got a chance to finish the sync. I left it open for a few hours tonight and all my Beatles tracks seem to be playable now.

Thanks to any and all the advice above, as it all helped me to discover what was happening, and to understand the inner workings of Apple Music a little better.

I'm still running trials of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Music deciding what to stick with. I absolutely love the suggestions in the For You section, and I feel like Apple Music "gets me", and understands my tastes way more than the others. Apple is the only one for example, that seems to understand that a skate session playlist for an 80s kid could and should have Agent Orange AND Run-DMC together in the same playlist along with the Misfits and LL Cool J.

Spotify is my least favorite, and also seems to be missing the most music, and has no real way for me to add my own non-Spotify tracks to my library. Both Google and Apple let me do this pretty easily. The suggestions and radio are pretty lacking.

Google Music is great to use, quick to get around, great catalog, but the suggestions are barely even there at all. I have absolutely no use for their "waking up in a good mood", "gazing at the stars" , mood-type radio playlists. The radio stations based on a chosen song usually serve up good results though.

I'm totally rooting for Apple Music to get more refined over time. I'm hoping iOS 9 brings some positive changes. I also am really hoping for a web player at some point.