Apple Music Stream Apple Music Hi-Res on macOS iMac

[acrakes]

I currently have 300GB of music on an external hard drive at 256kb AAC, with iTunes Match and Apple Music.

I have streaming set to hi-res lossless and downloads set to AAC.

Currently, all of my music plays from the hard drive at the lower bit rate.

Is it possible to change settings (or disconnect the hard drive) so that the music already in my library will stream in hi-res instead of playing off the hard drive?

I've turned off automatic downloads, and when I add new music to my library it streams in hi-res.

 

[acrakes]

I tried disconnecting the hard drive, and when I try to play a song previously on it, I'm asked to locate it and click cancel, at which point the song streams, but because it's 'matched' to the cloud, it streams as an AAC file..

 

[acrakes]

Right now it looks like the only option is to delete entire albums (which loses the cloud matching / ownership status) and re-add them through Apple Music..

 

[Crunchynut]

Right now it looks like the only option is to delete entire albums (which loses the cloud matching / ownership status) and re-add them through Apple Music..

That’s exactly where I got to. The matching process between Apple Music and my CD rip library produced 80% duplicates, so I just forgot about my CD rips and used the Apple Music download. It’s worked out quite nicely that way.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It's yet another reason to get rid of local music files…if Apple Music has the same ones.

 

[acrakes]

It's yet another reason to get rid of local music files…if Apple Music has the same ones.

Looks like there's no way to do it, though, except deleting every album from my hard drive *and* library and then adding them back to my library through Apple Music? A. time-consuming B. don't I lose 'ownership' of all the music I uploaded through iTunes Match?

It's all so convoluted, Apple Music is great, but anyone grandfathered in with Match has a mess on their hands..

 

[acrakes]

That’s exactly where I got to. The matching process between Apple Music and my CD rip library produced 80% duplicates, so I just forgot about my CD rips and used the Apple Music download. It’s worked out quite nicely that way.

I'm thinking about buying a 4TB external drive so that I can re-download everything in Lossless.. but Hi-Res Lossless would take like 16TB..

I wish there were an option in the app to stream from Apple Music *instead of* playing from the hard drive. I can't find one.

 

[acrakes]

Will Apple Music match everything I currently have on iTunes Match if I cancel IM?

 

[acrakes]

Apparently purchased music from iTunes isn't lossless or HRL either..

 

[acrakes]

i'm just manually deleting everything matched from my library and re-adding since I'm paying to have it either way.. but going from owning music to renting it.. Apple's going to have that subscription up to $25/month any day now

 

[Reggaenald]

It's yet another reason to get rid of local music files…if Apple Music has the same ones.

I wouldn’t and don’t get rid of my music files. If you have it, keep it. Because it’s yours and not tied to the fate of Apple, Apple Music or your subscription.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t work out the way one would want, even considering iTunes Match was once a $100/y subscription, wasn’t it ? But, keep what’s yours.

 

[Reggaenald]

Will Apple Music match everything I currently have on iTunes Match if I cancel IM?

I believe that it does (try to) match what you have with what’s available on Apple Music. When I got started with M it added what it thought was what I had, so iTunes Match is basically part of it now. But don’t trust it, it can screw up easily. It might even add songs that were originally from one album from different albums ~ originally: 10 songs, (from) 1 album; Apple Music: 10 songs (the same songs, but „provided“ from) 10 albums.

 

[acrakes]

I believe that it does (try to) match what you have with what’s available on Apple Music. When I got started with M it added what it thought was what I had, so iTunes Match is basically part of it now. But don’t trust it, it can screw up easily. It might even add songs that were originally from one album from different albums ~ originally: 10 songs, (from) 1 album; Apple Music: 10 songs (the same songs, but „provided“ from) 10 albums.

i don't think, though, that Apple Music will upload to the cloud the songs it *doesn't* recognize?

 

[Reggaenald]

i don't think, though, that Apple Music will upload to the cloud the songs it *doesn't* recognize?

It does, at least it did for me when I joined 2-3 years ago. I didn’t have a huge library it tried to match, like yours, but it was still a pain to sort through the following weeks and months.

 

[swandy]

It's yet another reason to get rid of local music files…if Apple Music has the same ones.

I did this a while ago - but first I made a backup of all the albums/tracks that I had in my library for those times that a particular album is removed from Apple Music then I can re-add it from my older library drive.

 

[acrakes]

I'm not bothering with a backup, but it does bug me that I'll lose music if copyrights lapse. Planning to get an SD card to store all my uploaded iTunes Match files not on Apple Music. They're missing some major classic box sets.. Harry Smith's Anthology is a big one

 

[WebHead]

On iOS I've avoided adding anything from Apple Music to my library, and just search for albums and songs I want to stream (when searching I select Apple Music rather than My Library).

Not sure if it works the same on macOS, or if this approach would even suit your requirements.

Alternatively, if you have an iOS device you could try the above approach and use your Mac as an AirPlay speaker?

 

[acrakes]

On iOS I've avoided adding anything from Apple Music to my library, and just search for albums and songs I want to stream (when searching I select Apple Music rather than My Library).

Not sure if it works the same on macOS, or if this approach would even suit your requirements.

Alternatively, if you have an iOS device you could try the above approach and use your Mac as an AirPlay speaker?

You can add to your library with automatic downloads turned off.. and if you hit the maximum added song limit (I’m not sure how many I have now) you can get around it by adding one track and then clicking show full album..

Only Macs you can Airplay to see the new M1s