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Apple Music won't play songs on Windows 11

I'm using Apple Music on Windows 11. It loads just fine, but I can't play any of my songs (downloaded locally or not). I click on the play button and nothing happens while the song is stuck at 0:00. I dug into the processes using resmon (Resource Monitor) in Windows 11 and found that AMPLibraryAgent.exe is likely the issue. I analyzed the wait chain on AMPLibraryAgent.exe and found it has a number of threads stuck. The error on the wait chain is "One or more threads of AMPLibraryAgent.exe are waiting to finish network I/O.


I'm guessing this is an issue with my specific network configuration (although everything else I use in my house works fine). I have a Ubiquiti network and have tried everything at this point including disabling firewalls, validating the router is not dropping any traffic, etc...


I tested with another PC and found the same issue.


Anyone else experience this or have any luck?

Posted on Dec 30, 2024 9:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 5, 2025 1:10 PM

I'm running into the same issue (also on Windows 11). I'm able to load my library and click on songs, but they refuse to play beyond the 0:00 mark. I first noticed the issue 2 days ago, but before that, I hadn't played music on my PC for 2-3 weeks (so I don't know EXACTLY when the issue started).


I WILL ADD: Apple Music will not load the library after closing it unless I force closed it via Task Manager (see final screenshot).


I tried all the fixes in this GeekChamp article to no avail. That is to say, I:

  • Made sure internet is connected. (It is.)
  • Force-closed Apple Music via Task Manager and relaunched.
  • Restarted my PC.
  • Signed out & signed into the Apple Music within app itself.
  • Ran the Audio Troubleshooter on Windows 11. (Pointless, but I tried it anyway. Sound works on other apps.)
  • 'Repaired' the Apple Music app via system settings.
  • 'Restarted' the Apple Music app via system settings.
  • Checked for updates for Apple Music app via Microsoft Store. (App is up-to-date.)
  • Uninstalled & Reinstalled Apple Music app.
  • Closed MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner (unapplicable for me, I don't have either).
  • Checked for updates for Windows updates. (It's up-to-date.)


Other notes:

  • Apple Music works fine on my android phone, so nothing's wrong with my subscription.
  • I made sure I'm using the right output device within the Windows volume mixer. (Screenshot below.)
  • Apple needs to stop taking its frustrations with Microsoft out on the people giving them money. I want to play music on my computer again.
  • Screenshots below.





(When I try reopening Apple Music without force-closing first, it loads forever and doesn't load the library.)

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Jan 5, 2025 1:10 PM in response to morsorcred277

I'm running into the same issue (also on Windows 11). I'm able to load my library and click on songs, but they refuse to play beyond the 0:00 mark. I first noticed the issue 2 days ago, but before that, I hadn't played music on my PC for 2-3 weeks (so I don't know EXACTLY when the issue started).


I WILL ADD: Apple Music will not load the library after closing it unless I force closed it via Task Manager (see final screenshot).


I tried all the fixes in this GeekChamp article to no avail. That is to say, I:

  • Made sure internet is connected. (It is.)
  • Force-closed Apple Music via Task Manager and relaunched.
  • Restarted my PC.
  • Signed out & signed into the Apple Music within app itself.
  • Ran the Audio Troubleshooter on Windows 11. (Pointless, but I tried it anyway. Sound works on other apps.)
  • 'Repaired' the Apple Music app via system settings.
  • 'Restarted' the Apple Music app via system settings.
  • Checked for updates for Apple Music app via Microsoft Store. (App is up-to-date.)
  • Uninstalled & Reinstalled Apple Music app.
  • Closed MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner (unapplicable for me, I don't have either).
  • Checked for updates for Windows updates. (It's up-to-date.)


Other notes:

  • Apple Music works fine on my android phone, so nothing's wrong with my subscription.
  • I made sure I'm using the right output device within the Windows volume mixer. (Screenshot below.)
  • Apple needs to stop taking its frustrations with Microsoft out on the people giving them money. I want to play music on my computer again.
  • Screenshots below.





(When I try reopening Apple Music without force-closing first, it loads forever and doesn't load the library.)

Reply

Jan 7, 2025 12:23 PM in response to McSlappamuffin

  1. Are you paying for the Apple Music subscription service? This lets you stream content from the Apple Music collection, tracks, albums, and playlists, in iTunes, Apple Music for Windows, or any compatible iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV, or Apple Music on the web: https://music.apple.com/.
  2. See Play lossless audio in Apple Music on Windows - Apple Support. That is perhaps the only benefit of Apple Music over iTunes. Again you need the subscription service to take advantage.
  3. Indeed. If it suits your needs then great. I like to use scripting tools I write to clean up and reorganize my library, and I will occasional rip CDs. These features are not supported in Apple Music.


tt2

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Jan 7, 2025 10:23 AM in response to turingtest2

I "upgraded" from Spotify to Apple Music in the middle of 2023 when Spotify increased its subscription cost to match Apple's... and I'd prefer to continue using Apple Music over iTunes.

  1. I'm primarily interested in streaming, and iTunes only lets me stream radio stations; it won't let me stream individual songs or playlists I've added to my library from Apple Music (unless I purchase the songs individually within iTunes).
  2. I'm even more interested in lossless streaming, and although iTunes lets me set sample/bit rates within playback settings, the interface doesn't say which quality is being utilized during streaming sessions like Apple Music does with its "Lossless" or "High Res Lossless" labels.
  3. iTunes for Windows looks and feels overall outdated at this point... And it's the principle of the darn thing; I shouldn't need to transition to an older software over a (hopefully temporary) technical difficulty.
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Jan 10, 2025 8:05 PM in response to McSlappamuffin

I FOUND A PERMANENT FIX


Reinstall the Audio Driver

  • In Device Manager, right-click your audio device and select Uninstall device.
  • Check Attempt to remove the driver for this device, then uninstall.
  • Restart your computer, and Windows should automatically reinstall the audio driver.


Apple Music now works without issue each time I boot my computer with no extra steps. Is it embarrassing that I didn't try this sooner? Yes... Was this Apple's fault? ... Probably not. So Apple, sorry for some of the things I've said.


In the end, the one who led me to the answer was... *drumroll*: ChatGPT.

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Jan 5, 2025 1:47 PM in response to McSlappamuffin

When did you "upgrade" to Apple Music? If you're not wedded to it I would consider uninstalling Apple Music/TV/Devices and reverting to iTunes. You can add your media folder to the library to bring it up to date with any recent additions.


Direct download link should you need to reinstall:


tt2

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Jan 7, 2025 12:56 PM in response to turingtest2

I am indeed paying for Apple Music; like I said in my initial comment, it works fine on my Android phone. I imagine the author, morsorcred277 is also paying for an Apple Music subscription; he'd likely run into an error message after trying to play songs at all. It's been working fine until just recently.


I've got a nice DAC/amp and headphone setup, so like I said, I want the lossless audio-- and that's not possible on the web app (https://music.apple.com/)... So back to square one, I want the Windows app to work.


UPDATE: the windows app works fine (with lossless audio) on my laptop (also running Windows 11), so it's just a problem with my desktop PC...

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Jan 10, 2025 7:35 PM in response to McSlappamuffin

I FOUND A TEMPORARY SOLUTION


Restart Audio Services

  1. If Apple Music is open, close it via Task Manager.
  2. Press [Win + R], type "services.msc", and press Enter.
  3. Find Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder.
  4. Right-click each service and select Restart.
  5. Open Apple Music, select a track and sees if it plays audio.
    • If tracks still aren't playing audio, close Apple Music via Task Manger and open the Services window again, and right-click the services from Step 3. If one or both of the services give you the option to 'Start' the service, then select 'Start' and repeat Step 5 once more.
    • If the issue STILL persists, restart your computer, and before starting Apple Music, repeat steps 2-5.


After I do those steps, Apple Music finally plays music, and as a bonus, it even closes like normal without needing to use Task Manager. HOWEVER, the fix only lasts until the computer is shut down or restarted... but as long as I repeat the steps above once the computer boots, it seems to work like normal. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to make the solution more permanent or if I just to wait for the next windows update or Apple Music update. For now, I'm just happy I can listen to my nice headphones again.


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Jan 15, 2025 1:19 AM in response to McSlappamuffin

I'm also having a similar issue on my Desktop PC with 1 slight difference.

If I close Apple Music through the task manager and then reopen it. It will load my library and allow me to play 1 song.

If I try to skip, pause, or change a song then it locks down again and I have to use the task manager and close and reopen it and the same thing happens.


I previously had this issue and I ended up formatting the Desktop PC and it worked again but now it's stopped working and I haven't installed any new applications/hardware since.

Just to make sure I did a clean install on my laptop with a fresh install of Windows 11 (version 23H2) and it worked fine.


Similar to McSlappamuffin, I use a DAC/amp and lossless audio so the Windows app is needed.

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Jan 15, 2025 2:07 AM in response to Rannock

This might help others but after looking at my Volume mixer settings at the bottom right of windows I have 2 instances of Apple Music listed. One has the Output device set to Default Audio and another set to the Wave Link Music (Elgato XLR Dock) channel of my StreamDeck+.

I changed the audio so that both were Default Audio.


I then went into the Task Manager and to the Details tab and right-clicked AMPLibraryAgent.exe and selected "Analyze the wait chain" and it said "One or more threads of AMPLibraryAgent.exe are waiting to finish network I/O" with about 20 beck boxes under there.

I picked one at random selected it and clicked "End process" which caused the Apple Music app to give an error stating it needed to be closed and restarted.


After opening it again I have been able to play through multiple songs with max lossless quality enabled.


None of this is a fix but it works for now so hopefully it will stay that way and Apple will identify and eliminate the issue in the next update

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Apple Music won't play songs on Windows 11

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