Let's clarify a few things:
- Rip from CD - you copy from a CD into your iTunes Library
- Songs (in your Library) - music that you have copied from your CDs, bought from online stores such as Amazon and Bandcamp etc., or purchased (note, purchased or bought) from the iTunes Store, all of which have been added to your iTunes Library. They are all "songs in your Library". With each of these sources, you own a copy of the music and it's yours to keep, forever
- Apple Music - this is a subscription service, whereby you pay a fee each month for access to music (lots of it). You do not buy or purchase this music, you effectively rent access to it. Consequently, there are three important considerations to note:
- once you stop paying the monthly fee, you will no longer have access to any of that music
- you cannot copy Apple Music onto an iPod Classic or other iPods that lack internet access
- you cannot make or keep copies of Apple Music
I'll refer mainly to iTunes, since I don't know enough about Finder, but in basic terms, it's similar to iTunes. Finder is used to manage iPods on later Macs, using OS Catalina or later. I was unaware that Finder had a sync entire library option, but if it does, I assume it is the same as it is in iTunes. If you have added music (not Apple Music) to your iPod in the past, using sync entire library, when you add a new CD or two to your library, you continue to use the same sync entire library option. Sync means just that; to synchronise, or make the same. So a Sync will add only the new songs to the existing ones on your iPod. It will not remove the other songs unless you have specifically deselected them and it does not re-sync existing songs.
However, if you see a message when you try to use Sync that states that existing music will be erased/removed/deleted from the iPod, that suggests that the iPod has music on it that came from a different iTunes Library. If you allow that Sync to continue, then yes, it will remove everything else from it.
dabster1979 wrote:
I have to resync like 900 songs when adding just two cds. WHY?
No, that's not how it works and that is not what is happening.
As stated, when you use Sync entire Library, what iTunes and Finder do is add the new additions to your library to the iPod - and:
- send information from the iPod back to iTunes (or Finder) about the Last Played times for songs that you have played on the iPod
- copy any changes you have made to a song's rating (the star rating) back to iTunes (or Finder)
- various housework type chores, that may involves songs already on the iPod. You do not need to concern yourself with what these chores are
- it does not sync every song again. It simply ensures that the changes you have made in your library and certain changes made on your iPod (as described above) are synchronised (made the same, so that both iTunes or Finder and your iPod have the same information). The additional housework chores take a short while and you may see references to existing music on the iPod
- a sync does not delete or remove and existing songs unless you have told it to do so (by unticking songs, or because Smart Playlists cause a song to be removed, but again, that is your choice and under your control). The only other time when songs will be removed from the iPod is if you allow a Sync to take place with an iPod that has music from a different iTunes Library on it
To summarise:
- you cannot add Apple Music (see definitions above) to an iPod Classic
- using Sync entire library does not mean that every song is re-synced. It means that the newly added songs are synchronised with the iPod - and additional housework is done at the same sync
I miss the old way of doing this.
On that point, I agree with you. But that's because at my age I already own so much music that I don't need a monthly subscription to listen to what I already own copies of.
