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Switch to a different Music library on iPhone

Having used the Music app, and before that the iTunes app, for many years to organise my music collection, I am trialling an Apple Music subscription to access the various benefits. However my main music library (along with two other libraries I created) is curated and tagged with such details as composer names in my preferred format and album covers and such, so I don’t want to sync this library to the Cloud at the risk of losing my tags. I have created a new library to use exclusively with downloaded and sync’d songs. So here’s my problem: While I am savvy in switching between libraries on my mac, I want to use this sync’d library on my iPhone, without risk of uploading my curated “main library” to the Cloud. So how do I set up the Music app on the iPhone to engage with this new library and not my “main library”?

Posted on Mar 3, 2023 8:59 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 3, 2023 11:49 AM

As far as I know, about the only thing you can do is keep a backup of your music library (or libraries) before you begin the trial I(with Time Machine) in case something goes awry. Once you begin your trial subscription and turn on Sync Library, there is no option but to upload your music library to the cloud.

Use Sync Library to access your music library across your devices - Apple Support

As the disclaimer in that link says: Apple Music isn't a backup service. Make sure to back up your music library before you make any changes.


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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 3, 2023 11:49 AM in response to airduster

As far as I know, about the only thing you can do is keep a backup of your music library (or libraries) before you begin the trial I(with Time Machine) in case something goes awry. Once you begin your trial subscription and turn on Sync Library, there is no option but to upload your music library to the cloud.

Use Sync Library to access your music library across your devices - Apple Support

As the disclaimer in that link says: Apple Music isn't a backup service. Make sure to back up your music library before you make any changes.


Mar 4, 2023 4:50 AM in response to javaliga

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to reply. Your advice confirms that the only safe way forward in my position is to cancel the Apple Music subscription and continue with Spotify for my music streaming and downloading. I am not prepared to pay for both, and I can still maintain my curated library with Apple Music and purchase any recordings I want to keep (with track lists and sleeve notes) from the iTunes store. Maybe someone at Apple will see this conversation. I suspect that I will not be the first person to be confronted by these options. Luckily I have been careful to back up my libraries. Apple makes it dangerously easy to sync with the cloud by tapping on a wrong button unwittingly. It's clear where they want us!

Switch to a different Music library on iPhone

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