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User profile for user: sarahfelldown
sarahfelldown Author
User level: Level 1
40 points

New Apple Music Subscriber, Have Playlist & Sync Questions

I just signed up for Apple Music and I've got a couple of questions, if anyone can help:


  1. I have a ton of playlists in my iTunes Library on my Mac at home (which is where my owned music files are located). When I open iTunes on my PC laptop at work, none of those playlists are there and neither are my owned songs. I thought the point (or one of the points) of having Apple Music was so I could listen to my owned library of songs and playlists anywhere I was signed in. Is this possible?
  2. If I turn on iCloud Music Library on my Mac at home (which might be the answer to #1?) do I need to have enough space in my iCloud storage to hold all the music files in my library? (i.e. - it's 70GB, do I need 70GB of space in iCloud?)
  3. I'm a Spotify user and on that platform, I can "subscribe" to one of their curated playlists and it will show in the sidebar among my other playlists (both created by me and curated by others). I found some playlists on Apple Music (kind of) but can't see any way to subscribe to them or save them for later or as a favorite. Possible?


Thanks for the help!

Posted on Aug 10, 2019 3:51 PM

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User profile for user: Urquhart1244
Urquhart1244
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
143,466 points

Posted on Aug 15, 2019 9:34 PM

To be safe, you are advised to make a backup of your pre-existing music. Apple Music is not a backup service, and it may be difficult or too late to get your ‘original’ music back if something irreversible happens (like replace with a DRM’ed subscription-only copy – that will be a choice, but also irreversible once it’s done).

To enjoy the Apple Music and its personal iCloud Music Library and playlists on all your devices, you would have to activate iCloud Music Library on all those devices. For iTunes on a computer you can find that in Preferences: Show Apple Music Features and iCloud Music Library. Turn those on. Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music - Apple Support

You do not need extra iCloud storage for your music from other sources, with an Apple Music subscription. Included with the subscription is the online storage of up to 100,000 songs, other than from the iTunes Store or Apple Music catalog.

Unmatched music from other sources will have to be uploaded. If you don’t start the Apple Music subscription on your Mac, then I’m not sure to what extend iTunes will guide you through that. Later custom additions can always be uploaded manually by selection (Add to iCloud Music Library).

You can add playlists from other users to your account, without adding the tracks to your iCloud Music Library (a preference setting). These playlists stay administrated by their creator, and any changes to these lists will be reflected on the “subscriber’s” side.

You can also follow friends, and see what they are listening to, and that acts both ways. See what friends are listening to in Apple Music - Apple Support

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User profile for user: Urquhart1244
Urquhart1244
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
143,466 points

Aug 15, 2019 9:34 PM in response to sarahfelldown

To be safe, you are advised to make a backup of your pre-existing music. Apple Music is not a backup service, and it may be difficult or too late to get your ‘original’ music back if something irreversible happens (like replace with a DRM’ed subscription-only copy – that will be a choice, but also irreversible once it’s done).

To enjoy the Apple Music and its personal iCloud Music Library and playlists on all your devices, you would have to activate iCloud Music Library on all those devices. For iTunes on a computer you can find that in Preferences: Show Apple Music Features and iCloud Music Library. Turn those on. Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music - Apple Support

You do not need extra iCloud storage for your music from other sources, with an Apple Music subscription. Included with the subscription is the online storage of up to 100,000 songs, other than from the iTunes Store or Apple Music catalog.

Unmatched music from other sources will have to be uploaded. If you don’t start the Apple Music subscription on your Mac, then I’m not sure to what extend iTunes will guide you through that. Later custom additions can always be uploaded manually by selection (Add to iCloud Music Library).

You can add playlists from other users to your account, without adding the tracks to your iCloud Music Library (a preference setting). These playlists stay administrated by their creator, and any changes to these lists will be reflected on the “subscriber’s” side.

You can also follow friends, and see what they are listening to, and that acts both ways. See what friends are listening to in Apple Music - Apple Support

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User profile for user: sarahfelldown
sarahfelldown Author
User level: Level 1
40 points

Aug 16, 2019 2:14 PM in response to Urquhart1244

Thanks! The library started showing up once I adjusted the iCloud setting on my other devices.


And thank you on the instructions for adding playlists. The "Add to Library" wording was misleading me. Even though I have my preferences set to NOT automatically add songs to library when adding to playlists I was worried all those playlist songs would show up in the master list of my library songs. But they didn't so thank you!

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New Apple Music Subscriber, Have Playlist & Sync Questions

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