HT204925: Add music from your own collection to your Apple Music library

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Frederick Wilson

Q: How to keep my CD-ripped music DRM free in Apple Music Library?

Greetings,

 

Several articles since the release of Apple Music suggest that, if I have an iTunes music library containing songs "ripped" from CDs I own, and I activate the Apple Music Library feature, it will in some way add DRM to music I've ripped from those CDs.

 

Is this true? Is there a way to manage/prevent this?

 

Thanks,

 

Tiger

 

Example article:

http://www.mcelhearn.com/the-real-difference-between-itunes-match-and-icloud-mus ic-library-drm/

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jul 1, 2015 6:47 PM

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Q: How to keep my CD-ripped music DRM free in Apple Music Library?

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  • by Oso Grande,

    Oso Grande Oso Grande Jul 2, 2015 11:14 AM in response to Frederick Wilson
    Level 1 (124 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 2, 2015 11:14 AM in response to Frederick Wilson

    iMore has a great article listing the differences:

    http://www.imore.com/apple-music-vs-itunes-match-whats-difference

     

    Apple Music does everything iTunes Match (now: iCloud Music Library) does with one caveat: FairPlay DRM.

     

    DRM for tracks you've already purchased and/or ripped is the only drawback* I see to Apple Music; however, if you have both iTunes Match and Apple Music, then you get the benefits of each, and your ripped music remains DRM-free.

     

    *I don't see this as a "show stopper" but I can see how some people might. I'm guessing this was a concession to RIAA but that's my conjecture.

  • by PetriSirk,

    PetriSirk PetriSirk Sep 27, 2015 1:52 AM in response to Oso Grande
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2015 1:52 AM in response to Oso Grande

    Hi Oso,

     

    I think that the new DRM prevents you from syncing the music to non-WiFi devices [1]. Practically making music unavailable when there is no network available. So driving in countryside, no music. It also makes old devices quite useless.

     

    [1] I can't transfer Apple Music to iPod Nano

  • by swandy,

    swandy swandy Sep 28, 2015 5:33 PM in response to Frederick Wilson
    Level 4 (1,536 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 28, 2015 5:33 PM in response to Frederick Wilson

    OK - the music that you rip to your own Mac through iTunes never gets DRM applied to the files.

    The files that get the DRM applied are music you select from Apple Music - that you don't own - and download them to your Mac. This is because if you cancel your Apple Music subscription, you don't have the right to listen to those tracks again.

    Also, if you use iCloud Music Library to download tracks to other devices - another Mac/PC iTunes Library or an iOS device - THOSE files will be downloaded as mP4 files with DRM. Guess it has something to do with the way that ICML is set up to work - any tracks that are downloaded to a different computer or iOS device are sent in an DRM version if they were matched by Apple Music. (One of the advantages of iTunes Match over ICML is the fact that the files are matched to the iTunes Store (no DRM) as opposed to Apple Music (has DRM).