Can't play downloads w/o Apple Music Sub

Question

Level 1

4 points

Can't play downloads w/o Apple Music Sub

This morning when I went to listen to a certain album on my iPhone, upon selecting any song from the album, a prompt pops up to sign up for a subscription to Apple Music. The album in question was purchased in CD format and then copied to iTunes (and converted to .M4A format later), after which it was added to my phone.

Has there been a new update that prohibits listening to not-purchased-in-iTunes-Store music that's downloaded on your iPhone? I was just listening to this same album yesterday with no issues. I have a plethora of albums I've put on my phone which were ripped from CDs, so if Apple is now requiring a $10 per month subscription to listen to music I've already purchased, this is likely a deal breaker for me since I listen to music constantly with my phone.

I've tested my theory and it seems to be that any album I originally copied from a CD cannot be played without an Apple Music subscription. I truly hope this is a bug...

iPhone 6s, iOS 10.3.1

Posted on Apr 14, 2017 9:40 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 14, 2017 9:45 AM in response to aaron.mem

How were these albums put on your phone?

If you used the iCloud Music Library option to upload them to the cloud, and then download them from there to your iPhone then yes, they will require the Apple Music Subscription to be active for them to play.

If you synced them to your iPhone from iTunes on your computer directly, they should not require the Apple Music subscription be active.

If you were using the iCloud Music Library then you'll need to turn it off, and then sync them from the computer.

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes on your computer using USB - Apple Support

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Answer 2

LACAllen

Level 8

43,602 points

Apr 14, 2017 8:45 PM in response to aaron.mem

Yeah... you don't need Apple Music to play "your" songs, but you do need an active subscription to have an iCloud Music Library to stream them.

An iCloud Music Library is not part of a standard iCloud account. You get one with other Apple Music or iTunes Match. Both are paid services. For iTunes Match, the annual cost of $28 covers the hard costs Apple incurs for storage and bandwidth.

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