I signed on for the Apple Music 3-month, free trial. With a month or so to go, I cancelled the free trial. Before I signed up with Apple Music, I had over 400 songs in my iTunes. Now, all of them are gone except maybe 30 of them. What happened? How do I get my songs back?
Never mind. I figured it out. Some advice for those who may have a similar problem or who may be contemplating signing up for Apple Music. First, if you are thinking of signing up for Apple Music, DON'T! Apple Music is a cancer that can, and probably will, mess up your music library in ways you can't even imagine. Further, although they won't tell you this when they are hyping you to sign up, songs you download for free from Apple Music aren't yours. They are merely on loan from AM and whenever you decide to cancel, guess what? All the songs you downloaded from AM are GONE.
Another very important reason for not going with AM is what happens when you cancel. I subscribed for a 3-month free trial. Two months into it, I canceled. When I did, 90% of the songs I had on iTunes disappeared. Flat GONE. These weren't just songs I had downloaded from AM. These were songs I had collected (and paid for) over the years. I had at least 400 songs in there and probably a lot more.
So - those are reasons to avoid Apple Music at all costs. Now - if what happened to me happens to you, here's what to do about it. First, relax - your songs aren't gone, they're just "relocated" for a while. Here's how to get them back: Open iTunes and click on File/Add Folder to Library. In the dialogue box that comes up, navigate to where your iTunes music files are located. On my computer (and probably yours as well, since I think this is the default location for iTunes music files), they are at: C/Users/(Your Name)/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Media. Select the iTunes Media folder and click on Select Folder. Sit back and watch all of your iTunes music returned to your iTunes library.
You may have to create some new Playlists to replace the old ones, but at least you should have your songs back.
Never mind. I figured it out. Some advice for those who may have a similar problem or who may be contemplating signing up for Apple Music. First, if you are thinking of signing up for Apple Music, DON'T! Apple Music is a cancer that can, and probably will, mess up your music library in ways you can't even imagine. Further, although they won't tell you this when they are hyping you to sign up, songs you download for free from Apple Music aren't yours. They are merely on loan from AM and whenever you decide to cancel, guess what? All the songs you downloaded from AM are GONE.
Another very important reason for not going with AM is what happens when you cancel. I subscribed for a 3-month free trial. Two months into it, I canceled. When I did, 90% of the songs I had on iTunes disappeared. Flat GONE. These weren't just songs I had downloaded from AM. These were songs I had collected (and paid for) over the years. I had at least 400 songs in there and probably a lot more.
So - those are reasons to avoid Apple Music at all costs. Now - if what happened to me happens to you, here's what to do about it. First, relax - your songs aren't gone, they're just "relocated" for a while. Here's how to get them back: Open iTunes and click on File/Add Folder to Library. In the dialogue box that comes up, navigate to where your iTunes music files are located. On my computer (and probably yours as well, since I think this is the default location for iTunes music files), they are at: C/Users/(Your Name)/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Media. Select the iTunes Media folder and click on Select Folder. Sit back and watch all of your iTunes music returned to your iTunes library.
You may have to create some new Playlists to replace the old ones, but at least you should have your songs back.
Apple Music Stole My Itunes Songs!
