Can't use Apple Music in iPhoto slide show

I called Apple on this. It is as described in this thread. If you get your music from an Apple Music subscription it apparently isn't the same as personally owning the song. If you want a specific song for a slide show you must pay the $.99 or $1.29 and buy it from the iTunes store. But if it is part of your library that you have built using Apple Music, you will need to remove it from your library before you purchase it. Once you've purchased it it will be back in your library (as a purchased ACC audio file) and it can be used for your slide show.

Apple stopped attaching DRM to songs purchased from the iTunes Store some time before iTunes Match came out. At that time we could pay once for iTunes Plus and all protected songs have been turned into songs without DRM, if such a version was available at the iTunes Store. iTunes Match did the same.

See: About iTunes Plus - Apple Support

All songs now for sale in the iTunes Store are iTunes Plus. If you previously bought music with DRM from the iTunes Store, you might be able to download DRM-free versions of your songs with an iTunes Match subscription. The tracks must show as Matched or Purchased in the iCloud Status column in your iTunes library. The same album or song must also still be available in the iTunes Store.

But Apple Music introduced an even more rigid new protection. There nearly nothing you can do with Apple Music but listen to it.

I just purchased a song, and it is still grayed out.

Perhaps it needs downloading from iCloud. Are you Music in the Cloud? Then play the song in iTunes once or click the download arrow to force the download from iCloud, before you try to access your iTunes Library from Photos.

Its been a while since I did this but if I remember correctly I needed to close Photos and reopen it. At that point the recently purchased song is not grayed out and is available for use. I've got a short memory, however, (I know I closed something down -- think it was photos) so please let me know if this worked for you. 🙂

It's been a while since I did this but I think I had to close down Photos and reopen it. Then when it reopened it was available to use. But I have a short memory so please let me know if this works for you. 🙂

Apple Music was not introduced until 4 years after Steve Jobs died. Before Apple Music one had to burn any iTunes purchased music to CD and then rip to remove the DRM and use the tracks in slideshows, etc. Not sure when the opportunity to purchase DRM free tracks from iTunes was introduced.

Add music to a slideshow

1. Do one of the following:

   • Select the slideshow in the Source list, and then click the Music button in the toolbar. (If you’re in full-screen view, first exit it by moving your pointer to the top of the screen and clicking the Full Screen button that appears in the top-right corner.)

   • While a slideshow is playing, move the pointer to make the slideshow controls appear, and then click the Music button:

     

2. In the Music Settings window, make sure the “Play music during slideshow” checkbox is selected.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To use one song for the whole slideshow, choose an option from the Source pop-up menu, and then select a song.

     To listen to a song, double-click it, or select it and click the Play button. To stop playing the song, click the Play button again.

   • To create a playlist of several songs, select “Custom Playlist for Slideshow,” and drag songs from the top list to the area below the checkbox. To reorder songs, drag them up or down in the list.

4. To adjust the slideshow length to the music (or vice versa), see Change slideshow settings.

To prevent slideshow music from playing, deselect “Play music during slideshow” in the Music Settings window.

I've got to jump in here because I too can see the artist but the songs are grayed out, so I can't add music to the slideshow. In the early 2000's I was able to easily add music to a slide show. In fact as recently as November 2015 I easily added music to a slide show. I don't remember when the Apple Music Subscription service went live but I have been a subscriber from day one. Once we subscribed, we did not need to "own" individual songs anymore -- we had access to the complete library and we could download them when we needed to. So, in our case, we elected not to store our 1000's of purchased songs in the cloud or on our resident computers. Now 1 1/2 years later, in 2017, and we can't use those songs for a slideshow we plan to play on our own computers? Seriously? According to the replies on this thread there's been some kind of change in the copyright requirements. Is the answer that we need to pay $1.29 extra for the songs we want to use with a slideshow? While irritating, is that the solution to the problem?

Thanks

That worked! It was there. There is still some issues, as sometimes when I preview the video, the song is playing. Sometimes when I preview, it plays. I don't like the new slideshow as much as the old one. It's not nearly as user friendly. But at least I can use the song. Once I finalize it I think it will be okay. Thanks again!

I just purchased a song, and it is still grayed out. Am I missing something?

You tell me that there's an obvious legal or licensing difference between these two pathways from the hard drive to my ears and my response remains the same - whatever.

That is not the reason, Mike. The problem is, that using a song as a soundtrack for a slideshow will allow you to create a video with this song as a sound track. And this video will no longer have the digital rights attached to the embedded audio file. You cannot use Apple Music in any application that would convert the sound file to a different format and remove the digital rights. You cannot use Apple Music in Photos, Aperture, GarageBand , iMovie either.

Anyway, there's no point me arguing about what I think Apple should allow me to do with the music I'm paying to play on their devices.

You will just have to pay more to get the rights you want. Then you need to purchase individual songs from the iTunes Store instead of using apple Music. Songs you purchase individually are not in a protected format and you can use them in slideshows or in a movie sound track, and convert the format freely.

there's no point me arguing about what I think Apple should allow me to do with the music I'm paying to play

You're missing the point. It's not Apple who make the restriction, it's the copyright owners who do.