Syncing library with Apple music

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French_Chris Author

Level 1

27 points

Syncing library with Apple music

Hi,

Sorry, this may sound basic but I have just cancelled Spotify and taken out a Family Apple One plan.

So, I have to learn my way around Apple Music.

First question:

It seems obvious to sync my iTunes (Music) library with Apple Music BUT, if I do this where will be music be stored? Will it be on my iCloud storage plan or on Apple Music servers somewhere else associated with my account?

It's quite important because the music on my computer (all my old CDs and Analog stuff put there over the years) is about 100 Gb.

Many thanks.

Christopher

Posted on Jun 29, 2021 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

274,982 points

Jul 2, 2021 7:58 AM in response to French_Chris

You iCloud Music Library is independent of any iCloud Drive storage you have. Typically you would have your own music stored locally and matched/uploaded to the cloud so it is available to your other devices. You can then choose whether new content you get from Apple Music is downloaded automatically or not. You can remove local downloads to free up space if you're happy to stream, but I would recommend you keep full backups of your own content in case anything is deleted in error from the cloud library, is mismatched, etc.

tt2

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Answer 2

bailier

Community Specialist

Jun 30, 2021 10:21 AM in response to French_Chris

Hi French_Chris,

From your post, it sounds like you have some questions about syncing your personal music with an Apple Music subscription. When you copy music into your library on a Mac, the music is stored on the computer's hard drive. You can change this location by following the instructions mentioned here: Change where your music files are stored on Mac

If you'd like your personal music to be stored iCloud and also available on other devices using the same Apple ID, you may want to look into the iTunes Match service: Subscribe to iTunes Match

Take care.

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Answer 3

French_Chris Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 2, 2021 6:53 AM in response to bailier

Hi. Thank you for taking the time to answer.

My music is on an extended hard drive already.

My question related to the next step. Having activated Apple Music, my computer suggests I sync my iTunes library with Apple music so I can listen to it on all devices and Apple can learn my musical tastes.

That's great. BUT will my music library then be stored on my own icloud thereby using all my storage space? Or will it be stored independently so I can use my icloud to hold all my other folders, documents and photos?

Thznk you.

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