How do I get MY iTunes back from the cloud

If I pay for a song/album and I download said song/album to my device, it is physically there, one my device, and the seller of said song/album then moves it onto their "cloud" then I have lost access to that song/album without having a network connection. You call it what you want, but my data was stolen from me and moved to a place I could no longer access it for no good reason and without my knowledge or consent. I do not barge into your kitchen and take your silverware, relocate it to the silverware cloud and not tell you, or a sky your permission, that's theft. All my LED Zeppilin, Rolling Stones and numerous others were on that device for years and yesterday, they weren't.

When they abandoned the iPod classic platform, I knew there was fundamental shift away from what made Apple, Apple. There is a whole industry built around accommodating the iPod as a entertainment source, your car, your boat, docking stations from home, music servers... Jobs started a revolution around taking your whole library where ever you go. Job dies, next thing you know, they kill the iPod, then they slave you to the stupid cloud. What if I can't (or don't want to) access to cloud. This whole "Internet of Everything" is starting to creep me out.

Are the tracks that now show as being in the cloud still physically located on your computer? If so, and if they became cloudy following an iTunes update, then see Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

tt2

Did it happen on your computer or your device? I've had my iPhone freeze, reboot and show no music. Just at the start of a long car journey. I wasn't pleased, but I don't ascribe any malice. Stuff happens. If it happened on your computer any crash has the potential to do same if iTunes is active. AV software has also been known to interfere with the way iTunes saves its database. A solid backup of the library means the database and or the media can be quickly and easily restored.

tt2

As above, try Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash, or give us some more details. Your library going cloudy is typically the sign of a corrupted database, which is usually fairly easy to fix. Backups protect you from more serious issues.

tt2

JLE499 wrote:

I just got 3 new mp3 songs and added them to my iTunes library after I purchased an album and 5 or so other songs off iTunes.. I want to take them to where I get a massage and there is no WiFi.. Guess what? They are now ALL ON THE ICLOUD!!! And now I have to find out what to do to put them where I want them. Also, I noticed that I back up to the Cloud AND all my stuff it also loaded up to the could so it can be shared. Thus duplicating the space I need which quickly requires buy in more space. I guess that is the idea. Starting to switch all my storage to google. Much cheaper and they don't double charge so far. Just after switching to the apple platform after years of being a PC. I am disgusted.

What do you mean, they are all "ON THE ICLOUD". You got three new songs and added them to your iTunes Library where? On your computer?

Are you using Apple Music?

If not, then please explain where you want to "put them" and what is preventing you from doing that?

Also, your stuff doesn't get "loaded up to the cloud" so it can be shared. If you mean you are using Family Sharing and you have an Apple Music Family Sharing Plan, then that music is stored in your iCloud Music Library. It is not also backed up. No purchases are backed up. There is nothing duplicated in iCloud, and your storage is not being used to hold the same data in multiple places.

If you are using Apple Music, then you need to educate yourself on the nature of the service. It is a streaming service. That means that everything is stored in your iCloud Music Library until you specifically create a playlist that is downloaded to your device. If you don't like that process, then don't use Apple Music and go back to the syncing with iTunes method:

Join Apple Music on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC - Apple Support

Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music - Apple Support

Add music from the Apple Music catalog to your library - Apple Support

GB

roosmari wrote:

Basically, I think Apple should give you the option of keeping the music downloaded on your computer and simultaneously putting it in iCloud. That way you can play your own music even if you are not connected to wi-fi.

You can download any of the Apple Music Store music so that you can listen to it offline:

Add and download music, shows, and movies from the Apple Music catalog - Apple Support

Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music - Apple Support

Cheers,

GB

gail, the question is: why aren't our questions being addressed?

I asked: why when I my redeemed movies they went to "the cloud" and not my hard drive, and I can't find any way to put them on my hard drive. I don't want any part of this cloud thing. I didn't ask for it, I can't op-out. Can you help? Can you address my concerns? -TT

Do you use Apple Music? Are you talking about your iTunes Library in iTunes on your Mac? Do you ever remove songs manually from your devices?

There is no "theft" involved. You don't seem to understand the meaning of the cloud in this context. Long before iCloud came along there was iTunes in the Cloud. What that means is that if you don't have a particular track physically in your iTunes library you can tap on the cloud to put it there. It just means that you have a "bookmark" for it in iTunes in the Cloud, and you can download it when you wish.

But without understanding every possible configuration you may have been using, actions you may have taken on your iOS devices, etc. there is no way to know for certain at what point they may have been physically removed from your library. You always have the option to select them all and download them.

GB

None of your devices are guaranteed to operate flawlessly for all time. You should back up your device and you iTunes on a regular basis to be prepared for just such an eventuality. If your device has dumped its library this is a mistake, not an intentional action. The remedy is to restore the device and reload the content from the library.

tt2

There were no updates done. My content was removed to a cloud without my knowledge. It took hours to download that music again. It's done, but it shouldn't have occurred. I want a settin that I control that will keep this from ever happening. These songs were not grayed out. They were only available to be streamed from a cloud that I did not put them on. Apple needs to own this. If they continue down this path, another entity will develop an ecosystem that allows the end user the ability to control these things in a simple, intuitive manner, and all that amassed wealth will wither and die. I don't mind the option of allowing this, but I do mind that it happened without my knowledge or my conscious consent. That's disturbing and should be alarming to us all.

That fits within the realm of possibilities, so I guess my complaint would become, why isnt there some mechanism available to let me know this occurred? If the cloud servers and iOS (mobile device BTW) knew I used to have those in my library, and they put that cloud beside them in Music, why not give me a dialog box indicating this when the device is restarted? That would save loads of frustration and confusion.

twade1 wrote:

If I pay for a song/album and I download said song/album to my device, it is physically there, one my device, and the seller of said song/album then moves it onto their "cloud" then I have lost access to that song/album without having a network connection.

If you have music downloaded to your device, then it stays download to your device unless you specifically take an action to remove it. It doesn't happen by magic. You also did not specify if you are using Apple Music, so there simply may be a misunderstanding on your part about how this works.

GB

I'm sorry, but my experience says otherwise. I know that all my Led Zeppilin, Rolling Stones, Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and Red Hot Chili Peppers were on this device (iPad Mini 3) and my iPhone 7, and yet when I looked yesterday, they were in the cloud. Those are simple facts observed by me. This happened, it requires no "understanding" on my part. I saw it. It is plausible that the device locked up and required a restart since the last time I saw this music downloaded, and it is possible that this restart required me to reload that music to my Music Library, but I did not, in any fashion, remove it from my library. Since many seem to have seen this issue, I'm okay with said scenario, but I still feel iOS should alert me to this, so that I, not some software engineer, me, the owner of the music, can choose to correct it immediately or when a network is available rather than discovering ⅓ of my library is missing when I want to listen to it. If I had knowledge that something happened to all the forks in your silverware drawer, wouldn't you want me to pass that on to you before you steak tartar dinner party, or would you rather find out moments before the guests arrived that they would have to eat with their fingers? This should go without saying, and yet, here we are. So my request is simple. Let me know when you first discover this issue. I'll be thankful and I'll correct it in my time. Most importantly, I will not be surprised to find my data gone.

As I said, I know there are scenarios in which the library can be corrupted and essentially reset in both iTunes and on devices. For iTunes it would be relatively trivial to detect such a dramatic change to the library and offer to automatically restore a recent database backup. In some sense it was easier when your purchase history didn't show up with cloud links, particularly for those with a large proportion of purchased content, as it is less clear that the library has been damaged.

tt2