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Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

iPhone won't download entire playlist for offline playback on iOS 8.4

I'm about to give up on using apples new "iCloud music library". I've been trying to download all my music for offline use so I made a smart playlist that contained all my songs (3763, 29.49GB). The downloads start and the problems quickly arise. First off every so often i get an error promoting a song couldn't download then to retry or hit done. Second the downloads seem to do alright for the first several hundred downloads but then start to freeze and go really slow. My internet connection is fast and other downloads, like my podcast in my downcast app download gb's of data rather quickly. This has caused me to make several attempts to download them over night. However when i wake up i find the download halts at some random number. My most recent attempt got me down to about 200 songs however there were no ways to restart those stuck download. Restarting the phone and or hitting make available offline (again) results in all the songs already downloaded being removed. So basically at this point there is no easy way to download all my music. You think by now we are far enough in computing that downloading gb's of data should occur with out a hitch and as i said before for other apps and iTunes on desktop everything is fine. But right now my iPhone can just not download all my music. This a feature of both iTunes match and apple music that is essentially broken for me. And alternatives like turning off iCloud music library result in me not being able to use apple music.

So it seems i'm left with two options. 1. just deal with not having all my music offline and have said streaming eat up my data plan and battery. And hope that apple pushes an update that fixes these download issues. 2. Completely turn off iCloud library and as such apple music + iTunes match as well which ends up making all apples recent music product usless.

Does anyone have any solution to these problems?

iPhone 6, iOS 8.4, null

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 7:05 AM

Top-ranking reply

marcfromtimonium

Level 1

30 points

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 8:13 AM

Experiencing the exact same things as you. Trying to sync all my music (4400 songs) in a single playlist, and it's just not having it at all. Also a ton of error popups, freezes, crashes, restarts, just like you said.

I don't think it's isolated to a single playlist though, I think the whole offline service is messed up. I'm currently having issues syncing even a playlist with only 25 songs. It chokes and freezes when it gets to "Downloading 3 songs".

This is very disappointing, as reliable offline syncing is probably my #1 must-have in a streaming music service. I'll be going back to Spotify at the end of the trial if this isn't resolved.

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50 replies

etburnes

Level 1

9 points

Jul 2, 2015 10:49 AM in response to avlambo21

I just started trying to use Google Play All Access for the first time and even IT won't let me put songs from my computer on there despite its advertisement. And Spotify won't load my local playlists at all. It's like they're all conspiring to make music streaming s*ck on purpose.

Jul 2, 2015 10:55 AM in response to etburnes

hmmm that's really weird, i've never had an issues. i've had them match incorrectly a few times but always was correct really quickly. try downloading the Music Manager app from Google. If that doesnt work you could manually add by dragging them into the Add Music box that appears on the Play Music Website

Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

Jul 2, 2015 11:19 AM in response to etburnes

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to other services. I know everyone has their personal preference but i've tried all the major streaming services and by far apple's is the best in my opinion. So far its only the offline playback that is not working for me that well. But the recommendations, artist connect pages, radio and seamless integration with my existing library is nice. Plus iTunes can be a powerful program especially compared to the competition. However I know many are struggling with their libraries getting screwed up by apple music so that kinda *****. I hope over the next three months apple irons out some of these issues as I think it has a lot going for it.

kory1137

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2015 11:36 AM in response to Codycgb

I'm having the same exact problem. I tried downloading a playlist with 4,500 songs and it seemed like it was downloading them all, but now it's just stuck in an infinite loop of it downloading some songs, deleting everything it downloads, then showing errors that it can't download anything. I can't even use my phone now because it keeps trying to download things and it's just wasting battery. I can't cancel anything, signing out of Apple Music doesn't help at all either.

I switched from Spotify to use this new "revolutionary" service, but now my phone is just ******. Thanks Apple!!

Jul 2, 2015 11:44 AM in response to kory1137

*Bump*...Same issue here. Just want to see updates in here.

AG007

Level 1

32 points

Jul 2, 2015 12:14 PM in response to FrankH0112

See if this helps..

After i updated to ios 8.4 and itunes 12.2.. And synced my ipad and iphone... all my playlists got messed up.. most got deleted and iPad and iPhone showed different playlist... Total mess.... re-syncing just jumbled things around and still left the mess .

After many trials and errors the followng workd for me:

1- Back up all devices in iTunes to the computer .. Not icloud ( for safety reasons)

2- Turn on "iCloud music liberary" in itunes 12.2 preferences/general .. ( default is off.. but on on ios.. This may be one sourse if the problem )

Wait for iCloud library sync to complete.

3- Sync your devices, if things get messed .. Its ok .

4- Go to your device Settings on iphone or ipad... , settings/music and turn off iCloud music library .

Dont panic.. Playlists and some some or all songs will disappear. ( on iPad all songs disappeared , on iPhone only playlists)

5- Turn "iCloud music library" back on . Wait for library to load .

At this point all playlists and songs should reappear and nothing should be missing

6 - Try resyncing to make sure all is smooth and clear.

also.. If u have problem with streaming songs added to playlists not showing try the following:

For streaming songs to show up in playlists once they are added ... Go to playlist tab on your device. Click on the "my/all/apple playlist PINK link" to show the drop down menu

From the menu turn off "music available offline( only show music on device)" option.. Turn it off.. No green .

All of the above worked on my ipad and iphone.. Both of which got screwed up after ios 8.4 , itunes 12.2 followed by sync through itunes.

resetti

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2015 1:04 PM in response to Codycgb

There needs to be a simple 'available offline' switch like there is on Spotify - along with the missing shuffle button! Anyone know when Apple Music will update?

AG007

Level 1

32 points

Jul 2, 2015 1:27 PM in response to resetti

Maybe when ios9 is officially released ( around seltember ) we will see a more polished applemusic app.

resetti

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2015 1:35 PM in response to AG007

Hopefully it'll be in time for when everyone's free trial ends - if this isn't fixed (along with all the other bugs) by 30th September then Spotify will see many returning customers! 😁

AG007

Level 1

32 points

Jul 2, 2015 1:38 PM in response to resetti

YUP.. Agree.

Apple are you listening ? .... Im sure you are.. But are you hearing ?

Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

Jul 2, 2015 3:02 PM in response to resetti

Yeah. I love the "working parts" of apple music a lot. But I must be able to store my music offline when needed. And right now apple music can't do that reliably. If its not fixed by the trial end date then I'll go back to using plan old cable sync or go back to Spotify (although their far from perfect as well).

Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

Jul 2, 2015 3:07 PM in response to AG007

AG007. We weren't discussing the library glitches that some users are experiencing in this thread. We're talking about how offline sync is not working properly. Many users here are trying to download entire playlists for offline use but are running in to issues outlined in my original post. Thanks for the insight however for fixing messed up libraries. I had to do something similar yesterday to fix my library.

Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

Jul 2, 2015 3:11 PM in response to kory1137

Ran into the stuck download thing too. However I found that if your turn off like everything related to music, delete all your local music, hit the cancel on the downloads and restart your iPhone it may stop the downloads. However you may have to do a complete restore to fix the issue if what i just mentioned doesn't work.

Codycgb Author

Level 1

64 points

Jul 2, 2015 3:51 PM in response to AG007

It would be ironic if apple music works better on android when it's released. I hope iOS 9 fixes a lot of the issues too.

Jul 3, 2015 9:29 PM in response to Codycgb

I had been having the same problem, but it seems to have improved today. I went and redownloaded all the music that I had purchased through the iTunes store and that went very quickly. I've been adding other music back in smaller batches and that seems to be working more smoothly.

iPhone won't download entire playlist for offline playback on iOS 8.4