In Apple Music Cloud Library how to handle with "Removed" status
I recently subscribed to Apple Music and then turned on “Sync Library” in the Music app on my Mac. I have Sync Library turned ON on my iPhone but turned it OFF on my iPad. After the sync process was complete I have now have the various descriptions in the Cloud Status column such as Purchased, Uploaded, Matched, Apple Music, Duplicate, etc. which I understand.
However, I have a couple of hundred songs marked “Removed” in the Cloud Status column and I’m having a hard time understanding the significance of this. Apple resource Identify cloud status icons in your music library on your Mac or PC - Apple Support (IN) states: “You have multiple computers that have Sync Library turned on and a song was deleted from one of those computers. Songs that you delete from your music library are immediately removed from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, but stay on other associated computers until they're manually deleted.”
OK, but not terribly helpful in deciding what to do with these files. When I click on the status I get the option to “Delete Song”, “Keep Song”, “Add to Music Library”.
If I “Delete Song” what is it deleted from? The message panel says it has already been deleted from my cloud library. If I “Keep Song” apparently nothing changes. (OK).
Further to the curiosity is that these “Removed” songs all have a duplicate song marked as “Purchased”, *and*, have not been downloaded to the Mac. So here’s what happens: If I click on the “Removed” song and choose “Add to Library” I end up with just one song instead of two and it shows “Purchased”. But if I first download the (Undownloaded) Purchased song, and then choose “Add to Library” to the “Removed” song I end up with two songs, one of which is labeled “Duplicate”. Argh!
I would really appreciate it if someone has an explanation about the behavior of these “Removed” tracks as I am trying to decide whether I should do something with them, or just leave them alone. Although it seems like they are taking up additional memory on the Mac.
I have tried to research this on the Internet but the “Removed” status designation is ambiguous with other topics of Apple Music songs being removed, so I have found no useful information.
Thanks,
Marc
MacBook Pro Apple Silicon