WARNING: iCloud Music Library just destroyed my Mac's iTunes Library

strannik,

In order to use Google, did you have to allow them to upload your music into their cloud first? Do you have a lot of tracks that you have added artwork to yourself + your own EQ settings + genre settings? Did they try to match those anyway or leave them alone? If all this works, can you then download everything to your Mac for standalone use? Do you now still have your iTunes library in addition to whatever you have with Google?

JazzmanJohn wrote:

strannik,

In order to use Google, did you have to allow them to upload your music into their cloud first? Do you have a lot of tracks that you have added artwork to yourself + your own EQ settings + genre settings? Did they try to match those anyway or leave them alone? If all this works, can you then download everything to your Mac for standalone use? Do you now still have your iTunes library in addition to whatever you have with Google?

All of my music is in a system of folders and files. I have been dropping album folders onto the web interface and letting it upload. I have had to add artwork to a couple of albums. Many of my files have embedded artwork, plus I have a "folder.jpg" in each album folder to make sure that the artwork doesn't get lost. I don't have the greatest upload speeds, so it is taking a while. I did take the laptop to a Starbucks with super speeds and was able to upload the entire Beatles set (Flac) in an hour or two. I don't really care about how they classify genre, as long as my albums and playlists are intact.

At the risk of thread drift... I've been spending around $100/month on LPs and CDs for about 35 years (I'm 50 now). I started digitizing my LPs six or seven years ago, then all of my CDs. Then another music collector friend asked me to digitize his CDs, followed by five other friends, and then a *very* serious music collector lent me his 5,000-CD collection to add to the pile. All told, I've been digitizing music relentlessly into iTunes for the past six years (not to mention maintaining an eMusic subscription and the occasional Music Store purchase. I only do albums, no singles. So the collection is around 10,000 albums now. So to answer your question, it all just grew organically, and it's almost all ALAC lossless.

Yes, managing it has become something of a hassle. 4TB drives are cheap these days, but backups are a hassle (thanks Backblaze!). I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts and smart playlists to mark candidates for deletion or archiving, etc. Doing that more aggressively now, trying to pare down some of the cruft (yes there is cruft!).

It does feel like a lifetime's worth of music, but really it's only about 400 days of continuous playback, all told.

Scot,

How on earth do you ever have time to even listen to music and choose a playlist or album to listen to? 😁

Jazzman: I don't know if you are confused or I am confused LOL. No offense here, but you seem to be contradicting yourself. You say you don't want iTunes, but then you say you want iTunes untouched and still want it. All your folders are by artist in itunes music in your finder. If you want them to stay in itunes music folder but don't want to use itunes as a player, there are plenty of alternative players for you to use, that point to your itunes folders. But back to Google: you seem to have a problem with ''the cloud" but like I said earlier, only the songs you are streaming and purchasing are in the cloud. If you purchase them you can download them and own them and back them up, just like itunes. When you upload to google, they are stored in the cloud, but the hard files still live on your hard drive. Think of their cloud as back up. I uploaded all my beatles releases and bootlegs. Not one of them lost artwork. Not one bootleg had a track replaced. Google does not have the beatles in their library. Another example: Google has the entire Rolling Stones catalog. So I added all of those to my library and stream them. BUT: I have hundreds of live and rare Stones boots. I uploaded all of them, and no artwork was missing, no songs replaced with released, studio versions. Not one. Since I still have my itunes music folder, those boots are still in there, and in google folders that i used to upload. I don't mind, I have the room and consider the doubles, along with time machine back ups, a good thing. If I did not have the room, I would delete the itunes files, as I don't use itunes. THEREFORE: everything is in google play music. Organized any way I want. And just a note you CAN organize by genre in google play. Click the ''edit information" and you can change genre, create your own genre, change artwork, etc. I created a genre called ''new sh*t" where I put new releases, and one called ''listen to'' for albums I want to check out but don't want to file just yet till I know I want them forever. Seems to me it is perfect for what you say you want. But perhaps I am just not understanding you correctly. Good conversation this is cool :-)

It's probably just me, jctez😁, and it wouldn't be the first time. First and foremost and disregarding anything I may have said, I would like for Apple to just fix iTunes/Apple Music. I'm going to keep it anyway. Then I would like to get a second library/player, separate from iTunes, where I can copy whatever I want from my iTunes library. I would like to be able to manage what is copied and how manually at my own pace. I don't want a program that simply scans my iTunes library and matches whatever it can based on a set of guidelines established by someone else. Like you I have a lot of songs that are not studio versions. I do not want those songs matched or tampered with in any way. I have EQ'd many, made my own album covers, set genres the way I like plus I have a lot of boots. If Google can upload this without screwing it up, I'm ready to try it. Yet I want to upload the music on my terms and at my pace to see how it goes. I want to download songs as I go along onto Google Music's library on my computer. Then I want to back it up on an external drive and be able to stream music.

If I can do all of this, then I'm ready to try. What do you say?

Collection size has no impact on ability to create or use playlists or to select albums to play. But yes, the project filled a *lot* of free time through the years I was working on it. But it was very rewarding time, and time that took me very close to a lot of off-the-grid music. And now I've got a collection for the ages - one I'll be proud to pass on to my child someday. It was time well spent, but I'm glad the bulk of the work is done. Now just need to trim it down, get it into the cloud, and move on.

then google is your answer. everything you said you want is there, except perhaps your custom eq jobs. doubt that can/will happen with ANY service. You can customize eq playback with the spotify app though. I have no faith in Apple Music to be fixed. They never fixed itunes match and it has been years. AM is not for music lovers like us. Apple has abandoned all their pro apps. What they did with Aperture was diabolical. They have made it clear they are only concerned with the masses, and the masses don't care about music, it is disposable to them. Great post right here, and I agree completely with the writer:

http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/07/22/apple-music-is-a-nightmare-and-im-done-wit h-it/

BTW: custom EQ are useless. At least use predefined settings. I found custom EQ (even sets for each song separatelly) useless when I started using AirPlay and Apple TV. The best setting is Classic (for everything). Custom EQ setting work only on iTunes (on computers), they are always ignored on iOS synced devices. You can not use custom EQ settings for each song separatelly on iOS devices. In shorter words: storing custom EQs in cloud is not argument. It is just useless even if it will be stored in cloud (in meaning of cloud use, in fact: not listning only on stupid iTunes, but with sync to other devices like iPhone or iPad). Just use (predefined) EQ in settings for device (or iTunes) and not for individual songs. Predefined EQ settings in iTunes are the same on iOS devices.

I don’t know if someone else has posted this link already, but Kirk McElhearn has talked to “knowledgable people” (at Apple, I suppose) and explains why this whole drama happened:

http://www.mcelhearn.com/why-itunes-12-2-changed-metadata-artwork-and-icloud-sta tus-for-files-in-some-users-itunes-libraries/

It’s an interesting read and explains why I didn’t have any issues with iCloud Music library at all - I got the dialog asking wether to “merge” or “replace” the music on my iPhone & iPad when turning on iCloud Music Library, and I chose “replace”.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

If you use a third party software music editing program like Audacity, you can change a music file to sound anyway you want. Then you can import it into iTunes or whatever library you are using , and it will sound just the way you edited it.

sweet-jane,

Your link was one of the most useful articles I've seen about this whole thing. Thanks.

Good article but not a solution. And not really a reason per se. I DID get the merge/replace option and it still messed up my library. I stand by my conviction that a large connissuer's library will never be a smooth, perfect fit with Apple Music. Ain't gonna happen. It is not made for us. I hope and wish this not to be true but experience tells me nah. I don't even care anymore. Even if it didn't mess up my library, the app is a mess. Not user friendly at all. Just want my music and not all the other cr*p. I'm not 16 I don't need or want to ''connect'' with Pharrel or Taylor Swift. Very happy with Google and Spotify.

jctez,

I'm with you on this. I'm ready to move on. Do you use iTunes anymore at all? I take it you have signed out of Apple Music. Do you still have your iTunes library?

Have you moved or duplicated your iTunes library to either Google or Spotify? Where do you search for and buy new music? Which streaming service are you using?

If you use an iPad or iPhone or both, how have you incorporated them into your system?

If there's anything else important, address that too.

Thanks😎