Avoid music matching with the Apple Music service

[linear2202]

I am contemplating signing up for Apple One, however, Apple Music is something that concerns me. I have a large library of music. Around 115 gigs of music. I'm not really interested in the streaming aspect of having my library available everywhere. I want to be able to download music I want to listen to. I do this to decide what I might want to buy. Download it, listen to it. If I like it, then I'll buy it physically.

The main question, is there any way to avoid the match/upload that would happen if I sign up? All of my music is on a laptop. I can't imagine how long it might take for the whole process to be complete and I don't want titles, album art messed up as I read about often happened to people.

I contemplated creating a new ID just for Apple Music that would not have the subscription. That's doable as I don't have any digital music purchased at this time. Maybe that would be my only solution?

Thanks.

 

[Tartarus]

Simply sign up for Music and don’t enable ‘Sync Library’ (or just disable it if it was enabled by default.)

 

[linear2202]

Is that it? I didn't even look at that. I have this on a Windows PC too with iTunes. The same setting is not available there.

 

[gnirkatto]

based on how yu described your music listening habits, Apple Music doesn't seem to be the right thing for you nor neccessary.
Look for "iTunes Match". It's much cheaper, synchs an existing library with iCloud, new purchases & gifts can be integrated easily, and you can download what you have to every device that runs the (former) iTunes app.
It's well hidden and not advertised aggressively (for obvious reasons), but it still exists. I've been using it since a few years now and am perfectly happy with it. I don't need a music streaming option at all. I have what I want, and purchase new stuff if I like it.
P.S. and I can still "stream" my own stuff, if I forgot to download something I want to hear when being on the road.

 

[Tartarus]

based on how yu described your music listening habits, Apple Music doesn't seem to be the right thing for you nor neccessary.
Look for "iTunes Match". It's much cheaper, synchs an existing library with iCloud, new purchases & gifts can be integrated easily, and you can download what you have to every device that runs the (former) iTunes app.
It's well hidden and not advertised aggressively (for obvious reasons), but it still exists. I've been using it since a few years now and am perfectly happy with it. I don't need a music streaming option at all. I have what I want, and purchase new stuff if I like it.
P.S. and I can still "stream" my own stuff, if I forgot to download something I want to hear when being on the road.

iTunes Match is everything that he doesn’t want.
Therefore the advice I gave is the most suitable.

I don’t remember where the setting for iTunes is on a pc. I’m not behind any computer right now.

 

[linear2202]

Thanks. iTunes Match isn't what I want. I don't want my music everywhere. I'm probably an outlier in how I manage my music library. Spotify works right now as I pay for the premium to download offline. Listen to what I am interested in trying out, buy the good stuff and then delete what I don't want.
Thought I might try Apple Music, but didn't want to deal with all the stuff I mentioned.
Was hoping to just open up the music app, download something to try out. Buy it physically if I like it. If I don't like it, just delete it and be on my way.

Thank you again.

 

[gnirkatto]

@OP & others.
I might have misunderstood. Maybe because I over-read the reference to Music as part of Apple One.
I constantly wondered 'why is he concerned about Apple Music, if he doesn't want nor need any of its services'?

• he buys music 'physically' if he likes it ==> no subscription needed
• he then stores it on his PC ==> no subscription needed

So why does he just NOT subscribe?

Then I (falsely?) concluded it might be about the backup and freeing up space aspect, while being concerned of the upload process taking forever. iTunes Match only 'matches' songs with those already in Apple's databases, so there will not be a physical upload (with very few exceptions).

But if the main concern was 'it comes with Apple One, regardless of me wanting it or not - will it then instantly start uploading my library? And how to avoid that' ==> yes that's a valid question, of course. Sorry for not getting it in the first place.

 

[linear2202]

@OP & others.
I might have misunderstood. Maybe because I over-read the reference to Music as part of Apple One.
I constantly wondered 'why is he concerned about Apple Music, if he doesn't want nor need any of its services'?

• he buys music 'physically' if he likes it ==> no subscription needed
• he then stores it on his PC ==> no subscription needed

So why does he just NOT subscribe?

Then I (falsely?) concluded it might be about the backup and freeing up space aspect, while being concerned of the upload process taking forever. iTunes Match only 'matches' songs with those already in Apple's databases, so there will not be a physical upload (with very few exceptions).

But if the main concern was 'it comes with Apple One, regardless of me wanting it or not - will it then instantly start uploading my library? And how to avoid that' ==> yes that's a valid question, of course. Sorry for not getting it in the first place.

Hi- the reason for the subscription? So I don't waste money buying music for one or two songs. I have a collection of 700+ plus cd's. I bet I have gotten rid of a couple hundred for that reason, only one or two good songs. Back in the 80's into the 90s, I would hear a couple of good songs by an artist on the radio. Go buy the album to find out those were the only two good songs. Waste of money. Not interested in that anymore. So the music has to be good now to make it into my collection. Hope that makes it a bit more clear.

 

[Tartarus]

Music matching only affects your stored songs when and if you decide to delete them from your computer and re-download them from the cloud.
I forgot to mention that in my very first reply in this thread.

So, as long as you don’t delete your own carefully curated songs from your computer, subscribing to Music won’t do any harm to your owned songs.

You can even toggle a switch in iTunes that makes it possible to not stream your own songs to other Music enabled devices.

I did this with a few artists I barely listen to, but still want to keep on my computer in iTunes.
Their songs don’t show up on my iPhone and TV.

As an added precaution you should copy all of your songs to a external hard drive for safekeeping.
That way you can revert back to that if you somehow manage to bork something.

 

[gnirkatto]

Hi- the reason for the subscription? So I don't waste money buying music for one or two songs. I have a collection of 700+ plus cd's. I bet I have gotten rid of a couple hundred for that reason, only one or two good songs. Back in the 80's into the 90s, I would hear a couple of good songs by an artist on the radio. Go buy the album to find out those were the only two good songs. Waste of money. Not interested in that anymore. So the music has to be good now to make it into my collection. Hope that makes it a bit more clear.

It does, thanks.
But why don't you just buy single songs?
Or do you usually want/buy so many, that buying them individually would be more expensive than a One/Music subscription?
I'm just asking, because I'm buying maybe 3 or 4 songs a month. Or one 'CD' every other month. So a subscription wouldn't pay off for me.

 

[Tartarus]

It does, thanks.
But why don't you just buy single songs?
Or do you usually want/buy so many, that buying them individually would be more expensive than a One/Music subscription?
I'm just asking, because I'm buying maybe 3 or 4 songs a month. Or one 'CD' every other month. So a subscription wouldn't pay off for me.

You totally missed the point that was made in the OP.
By having a subscription he can listen to all kinds of songs for an unlimited time period and make up his mind about purchasing some of the songs he likes.
In the long run that can prove to be cheaper than buying a few songs and then decide that you don’t like them. Hence literally throwing away money when you delete them from your library.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Does Music still have those Title and album cover issues like they did in Music's infancy? I thought iTunes fixed that.

 

[Tartarus]

Does Music still have those Title and album cover issues like they did in Music's infancy? I thought iTunes fixed that.

They fixed those eons ago.

 

[gnirkatto]

You totally missed the point that was made in the OP.
By having a subscription he can listen to all kinds of songs for an unlimited time period and make up his mind about purchasing some of the songs he likes.
In the long run that can prove to be cheaper than buying a few songs and then decide that you don’t like them. Hence literally throwing away money when you delete them from your library.

Could we have a normal conversation please?
I'm not missing ALL the points, ALWAYS.
I overread something in the OP, and I explained and apologized.
One can pre-listen to any song on iTunes or other platforms, thousands of times, without subscribing to anything. Sometimes for 30 seconds, sometimes longer. Even I know that.
So an answer to my question could have been eg "I'm buying MANY songs each month, and even listening to one for 2 minutes or so is not long enough for me to decide whether I like it or not."
Or "oh yes, that's right, this pre-listening would be a cheaper option for me than a subscription"

So I'm not a complete i***t, and I'm asking questions because I'm interested in how and why people do certain things, because that could also enhance my own music purchasing & consuming habits. If that maddens someone, I apologize.

 

[Tartarus]

Could we have a normal conversation please?
I'm not missing ALL the points, ALWAYS.
I overread something in the OP, and I explained and apologized.
One can pre-listen to any song on iTunes or other platforms, thousands of times, without subscribing to anything. Sometimes for 30 seconds, sometimes longer. Even I know that.
So an answer to my question could have been eg "I'm buying MANY songs each month, and even listening to one for 2 minutes or so is not long enough for me to decide whether I like it or not."
Or "oh yes, that's right, this pre-listening would be a cheaper option for me than a subscription"

So I'm not a complete i***t, and I'm asking questions because I'm interested in how and why people do certain things, because that could also enhance my own music purchasing & consuming habits. If that maddens someone, I apologize.

Don’t apologize, because there is no need to.
I explained and I stand by it. I don’t think I was harsh in any regard.

 

[linear2202]

It does, thanks.
But why don't you just buy single songs?
Or do you usually want/buy so many, that buying them individually would be more expensive than a One/Music subscription?
I'm just asking, because I'm buying maybe 3 or 4 songs a month. Or one 'CD' every other month. So a subscription wouldn't pay off for me.

Hi, I'm kind of funny that way. I would much rather have a full album than just a few songs. Don't know why that is my preference, it just is. I don't really create playlists either. I pick an artist then album and listen. Too old school? not sure, but that's my own way of doing things.

From a pure cost perspective, it might cost me more really in the long run to have the subscription and then buy music. I've gotten into a ton of music that I never would have purchased on my own, but because I could listen to and then enjoyed it enough; I went out and bought it.

 

[linear2202]

They fixed those eons ago.

this is what I was most concerned about. The titles and album art mismatches. That and the time it would take to upload everything from my laptop.

I do have an offline backup to a portable hard drive and a NAS.