Genius results can’t be updated because the iTunes Store doesn’t recognize your iTunes library.

iCloud Music Library is for subscribers of Apple Music or iTunes Match.

Try the following all-purpose steps for dealing with erratic device or sync behaviour. They assume that all of the content you want on the device is in your library ready for restoring. If it isn't see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device first. I would also recommend you copy everything out of the camera roll if you haven't already.

1. Backup device to iTunes.
2. Restore as a new device.
3. Restore the backup you made earlier.

Use an encrypted backup (*) if you want to preserve passwords, Wi-Fi settings, web history and health data where appropriate. I also suggest syncing with a selection of playlists (unless you're using iCloud Music Library) rather than manually adding content as, if nothing else, the process above is easier to do if you ever have to go through it again.

(*) The downside with backup encryption is that if you forget the password when you need it again, which could be years later, you may need to invoke a workaround to turn off encryption as shown in Re: disable encrypted backups, which can only help if your device is in a state that can backup to iCloud.

tt2

Hi Jim,

I tried that several times and I keep getting the same message. I don't have the option to "turn off Genius and Turn back on" as in Library (under File) I only get the option to update iTunes Library or update Genius. I have tried both and the same error message appears. Hopefully you can help... I'm on a PC and have iTunes 12.6.

Thank you kindly,

Angela

See Open a different iTunes Library file or create a new one - Apple Support to create or swap between libraries.

I was talking about making a new Windows user account for test purposes, not a new iTunes account.

tt2

That fixed the "Genius results can’t be updated because the iTunes Store doesn’t recognize your iTunes library" error for me. My iCloud music library can now update properly, although not sure when this broke.

Also, I had 230 movies that were already downloaded show up overnight as iCloud movies too (basically a duplicate listing), with a "cloud and arrow" icon to download them, even though the HD and SD versions were both downloaded. The new listed movies to download had some of their "date of release" or "date added" become different from the downloaded copies, but if I would download one I'd just get an identical file or duplicate with the different date.

This "sign out, quit, and sign back in" also made all the duplicate movies in the cloud go away. Thanks.

Unfortunately it also marked almost all of the movies in my iTunes library as "watched", so out of the 1100 movies we have, where a couple hundred were unwatched, now only 30 are tagged as unwatched and show up in the unwatched tab. I have to select all the movies that we want to show up in the unwatched tab, and change the status manually now.

This started to happen on iTunes 12.6 (MacOS). The error says "Go to File>Genius>Turn off Genius" but I didn't have that option at all in my File menu. Rather than sign out of iTunes and all the risk that entails, go to iTunes options (cmd+, on Mac), General, and uncheck "iCloud Music Library", then close that screen. Wait a minute then go back in and turn it on again. That worked for me, even though iTunes crashed afterwards. I now have the options to turn off or update Genius from the File menu and so far I have not gotten the "Genius results can’t be updated because the iTunes Store doesn’t recognize your iTunes library" error again.

Sorry I'm just replying here because I don't understand where this board begins. But Jim seems to be fixing all so I hope you can help.

I cannot get music to sync to my phone. When I go to preferences, although I can check the box to enable the icloud music library, it will not stay enabled. I hit ok, it closes, and when I open it again, it is deselected. I can also not turn genius on, not that I want to but it will not allow me.

I always have issues uploading my own music (Dance studio, purchased music that I OWN, but it's next to impossible each time I try there is a different issue so I never know what magically makes it work when it does all of a sudden appear on my devices). I have tried wifi and usb. I have uninstalled itunes on my computer twice. I have also uninstalled icloud. It keeps coming back the same way. I don't even care about the current music. If it is wiped, fine. But this should not be this difficult to get a couple songs onto itunes. It took me a week of fiddling to get them from the computer onto itunes on the computer and now I can't get them onto my phone or ipad.

When I click on store, it is blank. When I click on help, it is a blank pop up. ***?!?! This is so frustrating. HELP! PLEASE!!

So I just spent a lot of time with apple support. Basically they updated their system and I now have to turn apple music off to sync my phone. ***? This was the case over 2 years ago and when you do this you lose all of the downloads from apple music... every single time you want to sync. I don't understand why they would revert to something that is so inefficient. I am so disappointed that all my music is gone. I guess I'll have to reconsider my subscription.

It has always been the case with iCloud Muisc Library (iTunes Match/Apple Music). Either iCloud Music Library is turned off on the device and you sync it to iTunes, or it is turned on and the device syncs with your iCloud Music Library over the air.

tt2

I've been able to do it with my apple music still on for the past 2 years no problem, no music loss.

My icloud music library isn't working. I told them this was the problem. I spent 3 hours dealing with them last night and now I have less than I started.

Why isn't my icloud music library staying on? This should be a question that apple can answer. They cannot though.

Is there an app that you know of that I can add my own music to and play it off my phone to avoid having to upload anything through itunes?

Is iCloud Music Library not staying turned on in your iTunes library, your device, or both?

Is your own media stored locally on your own computer and backed up?

I use iTunes Match, rather than Apple Music, but I did run the free trial and iCloud Music Library essentially works the same with either service. iTunes is going to be the only application apart from the Music app on the device that you can use to work with Apple Music content due to DRM.

tt2

Just on my itunes. My phone and ipad are fine. Yes it's stored locally and backed up but I don't care about the music backed up on my computer. I primarily use apple music and that is all gone now. I have 8 songs I would like from my computer to be on my phone. It should be as simple as drag and drop.

I have deleted and reinstalled everything. Twice. There has to be another way.

Windows or Mac? If running Windows try right-clicking the iTunes shortcut and use run as administrator. This sometimes fixes issues with permissions. Alternatively test behaviour with a new library and/or user profile until you can get one where iCloud Music Library will stay active after closing and reopening iTunes, then add your new songs to that library without downloading any other content to it. The new songs should then be available in the cloud for your iPhone and iPad to download for offline use.

tt2

Windows. Run as admin didn't work 😟

How do I create a new library? I shouldn't have to do this when I know where the glitch is. I really shouldn't have to create an entire new account. This will affect all the apps on my phone.

Also I've logged out of itunes and now I cannot log in. It says apple server error. I am literally going to have to burn a CD and buy a CD player to play this music for my dance studio tomorrow. This should not be the case.

I'm having this same problem. Starting a few weeks ago, my iCloud Music Library suddenly wouldn't update. It says Genius won't recognize my library, and the only way to fix it is to use an option in iTunes that doesn't exist. I spent more than TWO HOURS on the phone with Apple Support about two weeks ago. We tried all sorts of things, including doing a recovery mode reinstall of OSX to see if it was an iTunes bug. Nothing worked. The senior advisor who was helping me was supposed to call me back after consulting with engineering. He did not. I've left voice mails for him. He has not replied.

This is very frustrating. Clearly something is wrong with Apple's server or the latest version of iTunes. I hate the fact that I can't upload my newest music files to the cloud. And I hate even more that I'm paying for iTunes Match, a service that now does not work.