After upgrading to macOS Big Sur Version 11.4 this morning the play count is no longer updating in Music (Version 1.1.5.74). I was playing music up until I did the update and can see the last songs prior did get added to the play count while any song player after the update is not being added. Can't see any obvious setting to update. Any suggestions to get this functionality back?
Mac Pro
I have this same issue.
Details:
Issue:
So...things don't update properly if you play using any Airplay devices.
Also note:
I posted this as a bug on the Apple Music service site, but there is no opportunity to report a bug for the MacOS Music desktop App. Also, you cannot specify the current OS when posting this bug.
I hope they fix this soon! I need my smart playlists with play count and last played functions working properly.
I saw this same behavior yesterday: any media kind played via AirPlay, would not update its play count or last played.
For me, it only impacts lossless tracks from Music. All of my local lossless tracks record plays properly.
I can get the play count to update if I'm accessing my music library through Apple TV, but not using AirPlay to my HomePod or even playing songs on the Mac Pro through its speaker (which I don't really do normally). It impacts all music purchased whether pre- or post update to 11.4 so something changed. And the Mac Pro has been through the normal shut down, restart, etc. and those actions didn't help.
I'm having this same issue as well. Running Big Sur 11.4. Whenever I stream from Mac to AppleTV, HomePod, or any AirPlay device, playcount does not update. All are running the most recent update. Playcounts update when I am only playing on my Mac.
Logging in / out and reauthorizing doesn't help.
This is a frustrating bug.
“Lossless” is short for “Apple Lossless” aka “ALAC”. It’s an audio format, like MP3 or AAC. Apple recently began offering music in this format, which is compressed without any loss of data, from Apple Music.
Music.app, and iTunes before it, have been able to play music in this format for some time now.
So it comes in two flavors:
It sounds as though you are suffering from the same issue of no play counts, but with your local music. I’m guessing this happens when you use AirPlay? That’s what others have reported here.
It seems there’s two flavors to this bug, as well:
I did log out of the account, restart the Mac, and then log back in. The play count is still not updating when I play songs directly from Music on the Mac either through the computer speaker or a HomePod using AirPlay.
Seriously @wildcelt43? Wow. Good detective work!
How could the file format of the track cause Music to advance the play count or not? Crazy. I didn't notice the difference on this because my collection is (mostly) lossless. Fingers crossed for an update soon - especially with the recent push for lossless streaming.
I have also discovered that another feature does not work with lossless tracks: setting the stop time (“Get Info” on a single track, then switch to the “Options” tab) is ignored, the track continues to play past the set time, but the playback progress bar respects the stop time.
Feels somewhat related, since it’s limited to lossless tracks. There’s something different about their playback that’s different from lossy media kinds.
thanks for sharing a workaround, though doesn't seem to work for me :/
I just tried remove download, set streaming/download to 256kbps, uncheck lossless audio, and didn't work to fix this unfortunately. For what it's worth I'm playing a smart playlist using Shuffle, which definitely used to update my play count, so not sure if the workarounds aren't working due to my listening setup.
Dolby Atmos is off, though I did previously turn it on just to try it out.
I also can reproduce the problem via AirPlay or playing on my computer. The only thing that does seem to update my play counts is explicitly tapping on a song on my iPhone or iPad (i.e. not via shuffle), or asking my HomePod to play a specific song, and then that'll eventually sync to my cloud library and in turn the Music app, but I don't think that is new behaviour
The AppleScript solution shared previously does not seem to permanently save, seems to be overwritten by a cloud sync within a few hours.
Either way, all of us seem to be having problems since 11.4 :/
I don't own any lossless music, and my play counts are continue to not update whenever I connect to an airplay device. In other words, my original problem remains: play counts only update (for me) if I play exclusively from the computer hosting my Music library. The moment I play from any airplay device, play counts stop updating.
I am sorry but I do not even know what lossless tracks mean. I am not a subscriber to Apple Music - my issue is the core Music Application with my own music stored within. Is Lossless an Apple Music thing ? Thanks
Thank you for the explanation, much appreciated.
You are 100% the issue that I have is 'no play count updates using AirPlay to any device'.
If I play music on my iPhone/iPad and sync then the updates happen, if I play directly through the Thunderbolt screen then updates happen .... ** with AirPlay nothing.
I’m aving same problem. I’m an Apple Music subscriber. It affects all songs not just songs added after Big Sur 11.4 update. I did the log out as instructed above and it didn’t help.
To a T, this is exactly my issues with same trying to reboot, restart, etc. (Except I do have Apple Music Subscription) Thanks for writing it up this way.
Unfortunately that didn't seem to work for me.
Music play count
