There actually is only one problem with Apple Music

[navaira]

And that problem is called iCloud.

I want a service that will allow me to sync MY FILES to my phone and add to that streaming/offline files available on the service. Allow me to choose whether I want to use my own files or the AM files, if only by order of upload (if I upload a local version first, then overwrite with AM version, obviously I want AM version). Stop trying to "match". You can't do it anyway. Stop trying to save space by replacing remixes/live versions with either album versions or random compilation edits. Just don't do it. Take a page from Spotify's book. If a song is neither on my device as a local file nor in AM library just don't play it at all. Let me use my local space to store my local songs. More 64GB devices will sell as well. Profit! This should speak to you!

Give me the old functionality where I select playlists or files I want on my device and transfer them to my phone. Then allow me to supplement that with AM files or streams. That's all.

Sincerely,

a person who exchanged 16 e-mails with Spotify customer service today about the topic of local files and now considers buying a cassette Walkman on eBay

 

[Tech198]

I agree, but would say two problems. iCloud has always been one of them, and whichever service u with Apple, always will be.

i still have to say before Apple music came along we knew how iTunes match worked "it matched and allow you to download upgraded copies if a match was found"

For some reason i think the ball dropped with Apple music... no one knows exactly how it matches anymore and just uses the term "well my music got replaced by a live version" even though they don't know that Apple music, unlike iTunes Match, does *not* match/scan the songs themselves. If it did, them there would be far more accurate than it currently is with playlist.

The reason i believe it stuffs up, is it only looks at title of song only... no duration, no artist or anyting else,, which is why we get other versions..

not to say iTunes Match is perfect either, since if it's not on the iTunes Store, it still not be matched, but I believe Apple music has more problems than iTunes Match just because of the *way* it matches.

http://www.mcelhearn.com/apple-music-matches-files-with-metadata-only-not-acoustic-fingerprinting/

 

[navaira]

Yup, correct, song title only and even then "Song X (Slow Version)" will be the same somehow as "Song X (Dance Mix)".

I guess that's what they meant by Match and AM being "separate but complimentary"? "If you don't want your library to turn into something resembling your local compost pile, pay for both, xoxo"? (I am not paying for Match to test that theory.)

I believe Spotify's solution is the best, but implementation absolutely sucks, while Apple already HAVE the matching technology but won't use it because I don't know.

 

[skiltrip]

My solution to this was creating a new empty iTunes library for use with Apple Music. I populated my collection (and continue to do so) with Apple's streaming library. Anything they don't have, and that I own, I drag it in to the new iTunes library from my other original iTunes library. This way, nothing is repeated, no redundancy. It's working out awesome. Meanwhile my old iTunes library just exists quietly and safely on my hard drive (it's backed up too of course).

 

[navaira]

Yeah, that's not really comfortable though for a mobile device All the time I spent trying to stream a bloody playlist gapless AND to keep songs that were actually on it is probably going to result in me going off streaming entirely and getting more stuff from torrents iTunes.

 

[Sill]

My solution to this was creating a new empty iTunes library for use with Apple Music. I populated my collection (and continue to do so) with Apple's streaming library. Anything they don't have, and that I own, I drag it in to the new iTunes library from my other original iTunes library. This way, nothing is repeated, no redundancy. It's working out awesome. Meanwhile my old iTunes library just exists quietly and safely on my hard drive (it's backed up too of course).

Thats a good idea and one I may just try.

I'm interested in trying Apple Music but only for the ability to explore albums and investigate new material. I have no desire to use their idea of what a radio station should be, after hearing the rap-heavy Beats1 horror stories on this forum and elsewhere, plus I have zero interest in what passes for pop these days. I'd also like to avoid the music replacement problems people have had, especially people who cancel and then find their entire library is mulched or even gone. Not to mention the more than creepy idea of any company scanning what I own on my local machine.

Is there simply a way to turn off the scan so Apple Music doesn't even look at the local library?

 

[Tech198]

nope... its either on or off. No middle ground. if u still want internet access
... I tried "blocking incoming connections" in firewall, but this didn't do anything.

if "icloud music library" is on it will scan/match and/or upload when it needs to. There is no way to not do this unless u disable iCloud music library.

The only conceivable way i found is to "make music available offline" (download) turn off internet connection, and play.(*Apple keeps changing this option in different versions*, which ticks me off)

 

[navaira]

I can't believe that of all companies in the world Apple can't get this right. I would understand this from, dunno, TIDAL. But not from Apple.

 

[Sill]

nope... its either on or off. No middle ground. if u still want internet access
... I tried "blocking incoming connections" in firewall, but this didn't do anything.

if "icloud music library" is on it will scan/match and/or upload when it needs to. There is no way to not do this unless u disable iCloud music library.

Forgive my reading comprehension tonight - I reread your post a few times and I still don't get it. First you're saying there's no way around it if I'm connected to the net, but then you say scan is active unless you disable iCloud Music library? Please clarify that for me. If disabling that library is a way around Apple Music scanning my library I don't have a problem with that. I didn't even know that IML existed until I started reading up about AM after the article about the demise of iTunes Radio a few days ago.
Of course, thats assuming I can find out how to disable it. It doesn't show in any of my preferences on any device, and all of them have the up to date OS and apps.

 

[Tech198]

in Preferences in iTunes on Mac : check or uncheck "iCloud music library"

on Iphone, go under Setting >> Music. and change it there.

"icloud music library" will automatically match or upload anything added to the playlist.
The only way to prevent automatically doing that is either:

1. turn off icloud music library..
2. Download music offline, and disable internet access. Any changes will sync when u get back online, but while internet is disables at least it won't sync "automatically" until u say so.

 

[Sill]

in Preferences in iTunes on Mac : check or uncheck "iCloud music library"

I don't have that setting in iTunes preferences.

on Iphone, go under Setting >> Music. and change it there.

No setting available for iCloud Music Library there, either.

Perhaps this is only something that is available when Apple Music is set up? That would be a real Catch-22: you can only turn off iCloud Music Library by turning it on first and allowing it to begin scanning/uploading your personal data.

 

[Tech198]

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204926

 

[Sill]

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204926

And, as I said earlier, those options aren't in my preferences on any of my devices.

 

[maxsix]

iCloud... Shades of the buggy Apple service called Mobile Me
Apple Music... Another dodgy service

Combined to equal a suitable example of Apple Services circa 2016... Mediocre at best.

There's certainly room for improvement before they reflect Apple's Inflated Image Of Themselves.

 

[swandy]

My solution to this was creating a new empty iTunes library for use with Apple Music. I populated my collection (and continue to do so) with Apple's streaming library. Anything they don't have, and that I own, I drag it in to the new iTunes library from my other original iTunes library. This way, nothing is repeated, no redundancy. It's working out awesome. Meanwhile my old iTunes library just exists quietly and safely on my hard drive (it's backed up too of course).

But if I have a live or alternative version of a song/album that is not in Apple Music (either because it was from a bootleg or purchased from a site like LiveDownloads) - they will still mistakenly "match" it to their version. So while your "solution" will work with a lot of music, it won't solve everything. (Or else, someone like me who loves live music will have to leave off a good portion of my library.)

 

[navaira]

Yup, that's the thing. A partial solution would be "force local version" checkbox. Not handy, but always something.

 

[iLunar]

So I actually got one of those elusive call backs from Tim Cook's executive support team. He was very friendly and nice, and actually had a very clear understanding on this issue. He assured me that the engineering team is aware of this very issue and that it is being worked on. He even mentioned a couple of live tracks he listens to that have been mis-matched.

Hoping that this issue does get resolved quickly since it is such a cluster-f***.

 

[swandy]

So I actually got one of those elusive call backs from Tim Cook's executive support team. He was very friendly and nice, and actually had a very clear understanding on this issue. He assured me that the engineering team is aware of this very issue and that it is being worked on. He even mentioned a couple of live tracks he listens to that have been mis-matched.

Hoping that this issue does get resolved quickly since it is such a cluster-f***.

I have been dealing with two senior Apple Techs since the release of Apple Music - primarily via email - and yes, they are well aware of the matching issues and hoping to solve it.

 

[navaira]

http://www.imore.com/breaking-down-apples-app-problem

Perhaps that's where the answer lies — in stopping the impossible. Tough as it is, letting go of the legacy Windows and iPod support would let Apple take iTunes to the cloud and modularize sync and other services on the desktop. Letting customers with old libraries manage them the old way would let Apple Music stream unencumbered.

Yes please.

 

[msvadi]

I'm with you 100% for 2 reasons:

1. I have tons of music files in my iTunes library that are not available on Apple Music. We now are forced to create duplicate copies of those files in another iTunes library, so that my wife can have access to them through Apple Music.

2. Many of my files are in the lossless format, but Apple Music converts everything into lossy. I would really like to have the ability to sync lossless files from my computer to my iPhone and at the same time being able to stream/save for offline from Apple Music.

I cannot believe that nobody came up with a 3rd party software that would restore sync capability with Apple Music.

 

[bilibug]

...I cannot believe that nobody came up with a 3rd party software that would restore sync capability with Apple Music.

Not quite the same, but WALTR allows you to drag media files to a window where they are transferred to your device. They show up in the proper media libraries, accessible with the default apps (Music, Videos, etc.) as if they were synced with iTunes.

 

[navaira]

I honestly don't understand why NONE of those services can understand how local files work. The only guess I have is that labels want to be paid for local plays as well so AM/Spotify/Google Play Music decides "when you said track X, you probably meant track X (short edit) which we have in the library and will substitute for your convenience, that will be $0.007, thanks".

Not quite the same, but WALTR allows you to drag media files to a window where they are transferred to your device. They show up in the proper media libraries, accessible with the default apps (Music, Videos, etc.) as if they were synced with iTunes.

But can you play those media files AND Apple Music tracks with one app?