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PLAY NEXT • PLAY LATER option missing in Music App on Mac

I often used the "Play next/Play Later" feature while listening to music on my mac. With Big Sur and Apple Music 1.1.1.3 the option, when click on the 3 dots on the right side of a song, no longer display those options UNLESS the song has already been added to my library?


So now when browsing music, that I have not downloaded, the option is not available. WHY? and how do I get those options to return! Thank you.

iMac Pro

Posted on Nov 23, 2020 11:29 AM

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Posted on Jan 23, 2021 3:15 PM

Play Next feature has been completely broken since Big Sur came out. There are more things not working properly on top of this issue, for example: Cannot change order of songs in "Play Next" queue. Not even community specialists can help here as there are no solutions or workarounds for these problems on the horizon.


Let's recap, shall we - in year 2021 Music on Mac is the only music player in the world that doesn't allow you to add songs to play next or later, and you can't change order of the songs that are in the queue. This tells us that these essential features were completely disregarded during Big Sur development that nobody was able to detect them, and even if they were the senior team hasn't bothered to fix them at all. Meanwhile, same functions work flawlessly on iOS, giving us a clearer picture on where the company's focus really lays.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 23, 2021 3:15 PM in response to stevenfromfort lauderdale

Play Next feature has been completely broken since Big Sur came out. There are more things not working properly on top of this issue, for example: Cannot change order of songs in "Play Next" queue. Not even community specialists can help here as there are no solutions or workarounds for these problems on the horizon.


Let's recap, shall we - in year 2021 Music on Mac is the only music player in the world that doesn't allow you to add songs to play next or later, and you can't change order of the songs that are in the queue. This tells us that these essential features were completely disregarded during Big Sur development that nobody was able to detect them, and even if they were the senior team hasn't bothered to fix them at all. Meanwhile, same functions work flawlessly on iOS, giving us a clearer picture on where the company's focus really lays.

Jan 24, 2021 6:25 AM in response to stevenfromfort lauderdale

What makes this problem weird is, that it seem to work for some people. I talked to a friend and he definitely can use "Play next" for songs too. So I tried several things in order to make sure, that it's not a local problem:

  • Turning iCloud library sync on and of in settings of Music app - No difference
  • Deleted Music preferences in macOS Library - No difference
  • Using Recovery Mode to install macOS new while keeping user accounts and settings - No difference

I have no idea what to try else


I'm using newest macOS Big Sur and the problem exists across my whole account, the options is missing on my MacBook as well as on my iMac so it looks like it's connected to the account and not a local installation. What also doesn't work and seems to be related ist the drag and drop stuff like dragging a song to the "Now playing" window to queue it up next, that Apple describes here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/guide/music/musb1e6d1c76/mac

Dec 1, 2020 1:48 PM in response to stevenfromfort lauderdale

Hi stevenfromfort lauderdale,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand you're not seeing the option to Play Next or Play Later when using Apple Music. We'd like to help.


You mentioned that you have not downloaded these affected songs to your library yet. Just to confirm, do you mean that you've added them to the library but haven't downloaded them for offline play? It's possible that this resource can help you:


Use the Playing Next queue in Music on Mac


Hope that helps!


Dec 19, 2020 7:08 AM in response to Bill_McC

McSteve I agree.....works if you want to listen to an entire album but dragging it up to the current song playing box.....


Interesting today, I did the above, dragged an entire album up to the now playing box, I then went back and removed ALL of the songs playing next..... and magically, for that album, play next/last are now available to me by either clicking the 3 dots or (I am using an apple trackpad) by a two finger tap on a song. What the heck is going on?


1st photo is shot of me listening to music

2nd is adding entire album to playing now (Dragged the NEW MUSIC MIX icon up to Josh Grobans photo)

3rd shot is the play now/later option available

4th is removing all the songs from playing next (accept the two songs I had there originally) and the play next is still there....

NOT a good work around, very time consuming... to add/delete but it works. Not sure for how long.....



Crazy. APPLE pull it together and give us back our play next/later function all the time.

Dec 5, 2020 9:08 AM in response to Joseph_S.

I have this issue as well.

Play Next/Play Later is no longer shown for songs when using Apple Music streaming on macOS after updating to Big Sur (v11.0.1). Prior to update, no problem, you could Play Next/Later for a song from you Library or from Apple Music streaming service.

Logging out and back into Apple Music did not help.

Shutting down the computer and restarting did not help.

Swearing did not help.

In iOS this is NOT an issue with the same song from the same album from the same artist, which points to an issue with the Apple Music app itself rather than with the subscription or royalty/permissions issue.

(Songs in my Library do show Play Next/Later.)


Apple Music shows:


Play Next

Play Later

should be above Create Station.

Dec 19, 2020 6:56 AM in response to Joseph_S.

When I am using MUSIC app on imac running BIgSur and go to listen now, browse or search function..... when I use the 3 little dots on the right (they appear when hovering over the time length of song) of a song, the PLAY NEXT or PLAY later functions do not appear in the pop out that appears. Add to library, add to playlist, create a station etc appear). If you click on the 3 dots next to the entire album or playlist the play next/later option IS THERE.


Play next/later was always a function of any apple playlist individual songs. For example I select Topsify 100 GREATEST Christmas list and want to hear Candy Cane Lane from Sia as my first song..... I cant not play it next. This feature exists on iphone and ipad using the same criteria above ....... this changed once BIG SUR was release.


I hope this makes it clearer. Try the above example to see what I mean. THANK YOU for your reply.


Steven

Dec 19, 2020 12:49 PM in response to stevenfromfort lauderdale

Hello there,


I am going to assume that you either bought the song or have an Apple Music subscription, but if you don't then that is the problem. The first thing to do is to check that your computer has no updates. Next, try quitting out of the app and if that doesn’t work, restart your computer. If neither of these work, then the only solution I can think of is that there is a software bug and you should either wait for the next update or contact apple about the problem.


I will say that I have experienced problems with Play Next/Later as well, as in one version the buttons were present but did nothing. They do work now, but I am on version 11.1. In the meantime, you can use the Song button in the menu bar and there is a Play Next and Play Later button there as well, but I have experienced problems with that in the past. I know it is not ideal, but I don't know what else could be causing the issue. Apple Music for Mac in general always seems to be buggy which is a surprise considering Apple macs the app. They would really fix all of the app's problems.


Let me know how it goes!

Jan 4, 2021 7:13 AM in response to stevenfromfort lauderdale

I'm noticing this issue today as well, running Big Sur 11.1. To throw another wrench into the buggy behavior, if I listened to a song previously, but did not add it to my library, Play Next/Play Last will be available. Interestingly, I just played a new-to-me song by double clicking, and even though I didn't add it to my library, the plus button to add spun like I was adding/downloading it for a second. After that, Play Next/Play Last was available.

Jan 4, 2021 9:02 AM in response to RyCoCo

It appears that Apple Music is making a distinction between what's in and not in your library. The "Play Next" and "Play Later" menu options are there for my library entries, but not for tracks that are not yet part of my library.


I definitely don't want to have to add things to my library just to listen to them. Quite often, only after listening to something many times do I decide to add it, to "save it for faster access later."

PLAY NEXT • PLAY LATER option missing in Music App on Mac

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