Quick Question about Music you own from the past...

[Soundburst]

Hey everyone,

I'm a big Apple Music fan , use it every day and am very happy.

One question though. . .having an iMac and MacBook that have CD's I've ripped, along with iTunes songs I've bought leaves me with the fear that if I use iCloud Music Library, that I won't have a backup of the music I own.

If something goes wrong on my computer. . .how will I get all the music back that I've ripped? Do Apple devices, and Apple Music KNOW which songs come from you, and which you've downloaded from the service? Is there a folder where all the stuff you've ripped yourself is kept that I can copy and backup? Or will all the songs be mixed in together.

How do you guys approach this?

Thanks!

I'm just thinking about what happens 5 years down the line when I get another computer and want to copy all my music over - but I may not be a member of Apple Music etc.

 

[Paco II]

Apple Music should *not* be considered a backup source. The computer or computers that contain your personal music should be backed up, ideally to two sources, with one being remote. I personally use Time Machine and CrashPlan. As long as you're backing up the ITunes Media folder, you'll have everything you need.

 

[doolittle27]

iTunes do know which songs are purchased, which aren't. However, iCloud Music Library that came with Apple Music will only sync/match your library with their catalog, and added DRM when you download music file(s) to your computer. Therefore, you will not be able to play downloaded songs after your subscription with Apple Music expired.

If you want to use this kind of service as a backup to your library, perhaps consider iTunes Match as it would be a better choice. This way, songs matched on your library can be re-downloaded DRM-Free, and available across devices just like iCloud Music Library that came with Apple Music.

 

[Soundburst]

Thanks guys

 

[M. Gustave]

Is there a folder where all the stuff you've ripped yourself is kept that I can copy and backup?

In iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences
On the last tab "Advanced", your iTunes media library location is shown at the top.

Copy the entire folder iTunes > iTunes Media > Music to an external hard drive or sdcard.