Apple's iCloud Music Library service can be great for letting you stream content from multiple music libraries (say, your work Mac's library and home Mac's library) on one computer; even better, you can also use it to consolidate your iTunes library if you're trying to make a manual backup.
![Music Music](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134047807/512381414.jpg)
Jan 04, 2020 Moving your library on a Mac that's running macOS Catalina is a different process, mainly because iTunes has been retired as the default application for storing and organizing media. As such, your. Mar 24, 2019 Some iTunes users then attempt to access their iTunes music library by selecting the ‘Music’ dropdown menu but still are unable to find their local music library. Not to worry, if you can’t find your local music collection in iTunes, we’ll show you how to quickly access the local music library in iTunes on the Mac or Windows PC.
Turn Off Icloud Music Library Macbook
What you need to know before downloading
iCloud Music Library stores music you've purchased on any device, uploaded or matched from your Macs, and any subscription content you may have downloaded from Apple Music. It won't store items like PDFs or full uploads of WAV files you may have recorded, however. If you have some of those types of files on a work computer you're trying to consolidate to your home library, you'll need to manually move them to your other Mac.
Purchased, uploaded, and matched music remains yours forever after you've downloaded it — it can't be removed from your library or rendered unplayable. (Purchased music may need to be authorized with your Apple ID, however.) In contrast, Apple Music-branded subscription tracks are only downloadable and playable while you have an active Apple Music subscription; cancel your subscription, and those tracks are rendered inert.You can check to see which songs fall under which categories on your Mac before downloading, and even organize them by type.
If your Mac's hard drive is too small to fit your entire music collection, you may need to move your iTunes Library to an external hard drive.
How to download all your music to your Mac
- Pick the computer you want your canonical library to live on.
- Open iTunes.
- Make sure iCloud Music Library is enabled in iTunes > Preferences > General.
- Select Music from the dropdown menu, and select the Library tab.
- Go to View > Show View Options.
- Click on the checkboxes next to iCloud Download.
The iCloud Download status icon (shaped like a cloud) shows you whether those songs are downloaded locally to your Mac or not; if not, you'll see a cloud with a downward arrow. You can download tracks one-by-one by clicking on the cloud icon, or by selecting multiple songs and control-clicking on them, then selecting Download.
Once everything's downloaded to your satisfaction, you can then make a backup of your iTunes Library.
Music Library Software Mac
Questions?
Let us know in the comments.
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Apple Music
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![Music library manager Music library manager](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134047807/804451948.jpg)
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iCloud Music Library is Apple's cloud-based repository for all your music (and music you've saved or downloaded from Apple Music). Anyone who has an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription can take advantage of it. But before you enable iCloud Music Library, there are a few things to know.
Apple Music Subscription
Merge photo library mac sierra. Apple Music is Apple's massive music service, comprising a subscription music catalog, iCloud Music Library syncing across your devices, Beats 1 live and algorithmic radio, customized playlists, and more artist exclusives than you can shake a stick at.
Cloud-based matching can be buggy
iCloud Music Library has come a long way since it first launched with Apple Music in 2015. It syncs more reliably now, and keeps everything in order. But like any computer system, errors are bound to crop up that need your personal attention.
What kind of errors? Stuff like:
- Missing or mismatched album artwork
- Live tracks matched to their studio versions
- Wrong metadata
- Albums refusing to sync
The vast majority of people's libraries shouldn't see these errors, but regardless: Before spinning up iCloud Music Library, you should make a backup of your music library. This way, in case anything goes pear-shaped, you have a place to reset.
What do I lose when I disable iCloud Music Library?
If you choose to turn off iCloud Music Library, you'll no longer have access to:
- A cloud-based copy of your Mac's iTunes library
- Your Mac's Matched or Uploaded tracks to stream on your other devices (if using Apple Music or iTunes Match)
- Any saved songs from the Apple Music catalog
Cant find library mac. Even with iCloud Music Library off, however, you'll still have access to purchased iTunes content; that's always available for streaming across your devices whether you have iCloud enabled or not.
Don't want to use iCloud Music Library but still want to jam out to Apple Music? Here's how to use Apple's subscription service without it. You can also use iCloud Music Library with a secondary iTunes Library if you want to keep your primary music collection separate, but still sync some of your tunes to your other devices.
How to enable or disable iCloud Music Library
If you want to turn iCloud Music Library on or off, here's how you go about doing that.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
- Open Settings.
- Tap Music.
- Clang library path. Tap the iCloud Music Library switch to turn it to the 'off' position.
- Tap Turn Off.
- Tap the switch again to turn on iCloud Music Library.
On your Mac
- Open iTunes on your Mac.
- Click iTunes in the Menu bar.
- Click Preference.
- Click the checkbox next to iCloud Music Library to uncheck it. Click the box again to check it and turn on iCloud Music Library.
A note on iOS 13 and macOS Catalina
In Apple's upcoming iOS 13 and macOS Catalina software releases, these options work as outlined in the instructions above, except that the option is now labeled 'Sync Library' instead of iCloud Music Library, and on macOS, the process takes place in the Music app, rathar than iTunes, which is being split into separate Music, Podcasts, and TV apps.
Any other questions?
Let us know in the comments. (We've also got a bunch of iCloud Music Library troubleshooting articles available.)
Updated August 2019: Instructions updated through macOS Mojave and iOS 12.4.
Sweet Music
Apple Music
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