Please, help me understand iCloud Music Library

[mic j]

On my MBP, I have my iTunes library and all of the tracks on an HDD attached to my AEBS. In preferences I have the iCML turned on. It has uploaded or matched my tracks. Great...so far, everything looks good. So my understanding is that I should be able to listen to my iTunes tracks when the NAS is not available through iCML. To test it, I turned off the HDD and tried to play a track from iTunes on my MBP. First, it gives me a popup asking me to connect to my AEBS. I hit ok and that disappears, then I get a message saying it can't locate the track because it can't locate the file. It asks me if I would like to find the file. I hit cancel because I know it can't find the file, the HDD is off. After I do that, the track starts playing, so I have to assume it is playing from iCML, right? The big problem is, I have to go through this whole sequence for each track I ask iTunes to play.

I know this can't be how it really is supposed to work. Does anyone have any suggestions to improve the situation?

 

[M. Gustave]

iCloud Music Library is a streaming service, yes, but you already told iTunes you have local copies of these songs, yet you've now disconnected your hard drive. How would you expect this to work?

To do what you want, i.e. stream, you need to delete all the local song files in iTunes (but not remove them from your library).

And obviously you should save a backup somewhere else before doing anything with Apple Music.

 

[mic j]

As in the past, you have helped me understand my misconceptions about how this service works. I thought if my local library was not available, it would automatically default to my iCML. So there is the core of my misunderstanding. So instead I need to load the MBP library with iCML links instead of local links, correct? Is there a way to have 2 different iTunes libraries, one local links and the other iCML links? If that can be done, is there any advantage to having it set up that way?

As always, thanks for taking the time to help me understand iTunes.

 

[Zea74]

Just as when you listen to your iCML on your iPhone, you can (should maybe?) do the same on your MBP; copy your current library to one (or even better: a few) disks as backup, put those in a drawer, delete on your MBP all LOCAL COPIES of the songs, and as of then, when you press play, it'll stream from iCloud. Of course, you'll need (decent) coverage in order to be able to stream - just as on your iPhone. And when your library is a bit larger, you could choose to download copies of some favourite songs/playlists to avoid streaming issues when coverage is flaky - again, just like you'd do on your iPhone.

 

[mic j]

So that reflects what M. Gustave said in #2. Which is good and makes me feel comfortable doing it. Do you have any thoughts on the idea of creating 2 iTunes libraries, one for local files and one for iCML, then switching between them depending on need. e.g. using the local for when at home and the iCML one for when traveling?

 

[Zea74]

That would in my opinion unnecessarily complicate your setup...

 

[M. Gustave]

Do you have any thoughts on the idea of creating 2 iTunes libraries, one for local files and one for iCML, then switching between them depending on need. e.g. using the local for when at home and the iCML one for when traveling?

Two points:

You can have more than one iTunes library, you just have to point to the new one in your iTunes preferences Advanced tab.

But...

I agree that this is unnecessarily complicated. Upload/match all your music files to Apple Music, then retire iTunes. It's no longer needed.

 

[mic j]

Two points:

You can have more than one iTunes library, you just have to point to the new one in your iTunes preferences Advanced tab.

But...

I agree that this is unnecessarily complicated. Upload/match all your music files to Apple Music, then retire iTunes. It's no longer needed.

Thanks for the guidance everyone!!

 

[mic j]

Just as when you listen to your iCML on your iPhone, you can (should maybe?) do the same on your MBP; copy your current library to one (or even better: a few) disks as backup, put those in a drawer, delete on your MBP all LOCAL COPIES of the songs, and as of then, when you press play, it'll stream from iCloud. Of course, you'll need (decent) coverage in order to be able to stream - just as on your iPhone. And when your library is a bit larger, you could choose to download copies of some favourite songs/playlists to avoid streaming issues when coverage is flaky - again, just like you'd do on your iPhone.

So, I just screwed up. Was trying to get my wife MBP iTunes ready to use iCML instead of local files. Guess I misunderstood. I deleted the tracks in iTunes but not on my local drive. I then clicked update iCML in the Library menu and nothing appeared. I thought doing that would download all the iCML tracks it had matched/uploaded. Instead there is now nothing. Yes, I do have a library backup which I am installing now. But help me understand what I missed in this process. You say to delete all LOCAL COPIES. I thought that meant in the iTunes library, which was obviously wrong. Is this what I should do?

1) add back the tracks I deleted to iTunes, using my backup
2) update the iCML (under Library)
3) delete the folder containing the local music files (so iTunes cannot automatically try to play that file instead of the iCloud file)

 

[M. Gustave]

What you were supposed to do:

In iTunes, right click on a song, you see the option "Remove Download" (yes, even for songs you ripped yourself):

After you delete the local file this way, you see the song's iCloud status change to the download icon:

Which means the song is still in your library, but no longer stored locally.

 

[mic j]

What you were supposed to do:

In iTunes, right click on a song, you see the option "Remove Download" (yes, even for songs you ripped yourself):

View attachment 672845

After you delete the local file this way, you see the song's iCloud status change to the download icon:

View attachment 672849

Which means the song is still in your library, but no longer stored locally.

I can assume I can "Select All" and do the same thing and not have to do one track at a time, right?

Thanks again. You've been very helpful and most of all very patient.