Not sure if your iCloud Music Library songs are uploaded, matched, purchased, or DRM-laden? Here's how to check.
Thanks to Apple Music, your iCloud Music Library may contain songs you've purchased from iTunes, downloaded from the streaming catalog, uploaded from your Mac, or matched to the iTunes Store catalog. With all of these different types of music files, it's easy to get nervous over which songs in iCloud or on your Mac are truly yours. Here's a quick tip for seeing which is which.
A primer on uploaded, matched, purchased, and Apple Music
Before we go over how to find these statuses on your Mac, this is what each of them means.
Uploaded

You use iCloud Music Library via Apple Music or the stand-alone iTunes Match service. This status means that Apple has scanned and uploaded this track to its servers; when you re-download it, it'll show up in its original format—128kbps mp3, 256kbps AAC, however you uploaded it.
As long as you've downloaded this track to your library before ending your Match or Music subscriptions, it's yours forever.
Matched

You use iCloud Music Library via Apple Music or the stand-alone iTunes Match service. This status means that Apple has scanned and matched the track in your Mac's library with one in its iTunes Store catalog; when you re-download it on any other device (up to 10)—or delete and re-download on your Mac—it'll show up as a 256kbps Matched DRM-free AAC (m4a) file.
You can use Matched files to upgrade poor-quality MP3s you may have from CD rips on your original device, or to simply stream your music to all your other devices; when you cancel Apple Music or iTunes Match, any of these files you've downloaded are yours to keep.
Purchased

You use the iTunes Store, and possibly also Apple Music or iTunes Match. This status means that you've purchased these tracks from the iTunes Store catalog; when you re-download it on any other device (up to 10) it'll show up as a 256kbps Purchased DRM-free AAC (m4a) file.
You can stream purchased music on any Mac or iOS device you've authorized — up to 10 — and redownload it on any of those devices. As long as you've downloaded this track to your library, it's yours forever.
Apple Music DRM

You use Apple Music, and Apple Music alone. This status is assigned to songs downloaded from Apple's streaming catalog. Apple Music files are 256k AAC (m4p) files and have FairPlay copyright protection on them; if you ever cancel your Apple Music subscription, you'll lose access to playing these files.
Ineligible

You use Apple Music or the stand-alone iTunes Match service. You'll see this status on a few entries in your iTunes music library; usually, these are videos or iTunes Extras PDF booklets. These don't sync to iCloud Music Library, but if they're associated with your purchased songs, they'll show up on any device you signed in to.
How to check the iCloud Status of your Mac's songs
Here's how you can check to see how Apple has uploaded, matched, and categorized your tracks in iCloud Music Library. Unfortunately, there's no way to check the status of your iPhone or iPad's tracks beyond whether they've been locally downloaded to your device — but they'll be the same as what's listed on your Mac.
- Open the iTunes app and select My Music from the dropdown bar, then click on Songs in the sidebar.
- Select the View menu, then click on View Options.
- Check the iCloud Status and iCloud Download boxes to enable those columns.
After you do this, you should have two new columns in your Songs view: a cloud icon, and the iCloud Status menu.
The cloud icon shows you whether those songs are downloaded locally to your device or not; if not, you'll see a cloud with a downward arrow. You can download that track by clicking on the cloud icon, or by selecting multiple songs and control-clicking on them, then selecting Make Available Offline.
iCloud Status will list all those statuses mentioned above; you can click on the iCloud Status toolbar to organize them by each status.
On that note, just a general reminder that no matter what cloud service you use, you should have at least one computer with a canonical download of your library. Do not rely on the cloud alone: That way madness lies.
Other questions about iCloud Status?
Still confused? Ping us in the comments and we'll try our best to straighten things out for you.
Reader comments
How to check if your Mac's songs are uploaded, matched, purchased, or Apple Music DRM-laden
Should I log out of iCloud Music Library if I plan to keep both Apple Music and iTunes Match?
Nope, you should be able to use iCML just fine with Match; Match's iTunes catalog matching overwrites the Apple Music catalog matching.
Thank you.
Hey Serenity, great article thanks for this. I've just turned on iCloud Status and I'm scrolling through my tracks.
Some songs in my "matched" albums, (which is most of my music as I had Match before subscribing to Apple Music) are showing as Apple Music. As far as I can tell these are songs that belong to Apple Music curated playlist. Does this mean when adding those playlists that Apple has been over writing those particular songs with Apple Music DRM songs?
Because that what it looks like to me and that's kinda worrying.
Edit: so, even though it says these tracks are Apple Music, I'm still able to open them in other applications (QuickTime, VLC etc) because they have never left my computer. However tracks that I have only downloaded from AM (i.e. that I didn't have before) won't. So that's fine for now. However, if I delete the track, and re-download it, it it downloads as an Apple Music DRM track.
So here's what I noticed when I switched over from beats. I still have my music match account and everything was already loaded into it. However when I switched it's showing a lot of matched AAC files as Apple music files now. It is also showing purchased AAC files as Apple Music files. Is this just a glitch or did they convert the file on the server?
Should just be a glitch. Log out and log back in.
What makes them decide on iCloud uploads & matched tracks?
I've got plenty of tracks that are just uploads granted I still have iTunes Match and it is to be renewed later this year. I wish I can get my tracks to become matched and not uploads.
A big thing that I found is an issue is the track length. A lot of the tracks in itunes is a "remastered" version of the music so the time stamps are off by anywhere up to 5 seconds. I've had moderate success at trimming down the time to match the itunes and re-matching. But it can be hit or miss on that.
I turned off iTunes Match months ago because of how bad it was. 10-15% of my tracks were uploaded, even though the Same Release of the Same Album was in the iTunes store. For instance, I matched the Who album 'Who Are You.' All tracks were matched, except the title track. No matter what I did, it would upload it. Most of my music is pretty mainstream, but this phenomena of 1 or so tracks per album would not matching was frustrating.
After the Match debacle I joined Spotify, where most of my music was anyway.
After activating Apple Music... there are my 8000+ iTunes Match tracks staring at me. I'll be doing a Lot of deleting.
I have never used iTunes Match and started using the Apple Music free trial. I have noticed in my iTunes library on my mac with iCloud Music Library turned on, that most of the tracks I already had have the iCloud status of Apple Music. Of all the tracks I have checked none of them have become DRM protected.
Tracks that I have never owned or have never been in my library and I download using the Apple Music service are of course copy protected. They play fine in iTunes but when I navigate to the file in Finder and try to Preview it by pressing the spacebar, the Preview does not work because the computer is not authorized to play it.
When I signed out of my account in iTunes, I noticed all of the tracks that were downloaded using Apple Music were deleted. My iTunes library was then back to the way it was before using Apple Music. As if I had never turned it on.
Anyway... In short, Just because tracks show an iCloud Status of Apple Music doesn't necessarily mean they are DRM protected. At least not in my case.
Thanks for the article!
I hate DRM but given I really don't plan on keeping the music I'm now sampling (and usually may only want to hear once or twice), I will give an exception to the temporary downloads. Now that I'm totally into the ecosystem, do I care? No.
Sent from the iMore App
How about an article on "How to use Apple Music if you can't activate Cloud Music Library"? On a Mac this happens if your collections is bigger then 25,000 songs. But you can activate Apple Music. And you can activate "Cloud Music Library" on the iPhone. If you do this, you can access everything from Apple Music and download it for offline playing. But you can't access anything from your collection in iTunes on the Mac. There is no way to copy just a single song (ripped from CD, bought at Amazon) from you collection on the Mac to the iPhone. So the choice is either offline usage of Apple Music on the iPhone or being able to play all the CDs you bought on the iPhone. Tough decision. Why don't you write about this?
My 76,000 track iTunes music library is 100% DRM-free, and I plan to keep it that way.
Since all the music that's in my iTunes Music Library it doesn't really bother me that Music uses DRM, since I've got Unlimited data and WiFi at home I only need to have local copies when I know I'll be going through areas of patch Cell reception. Streaming is extremely handy for keeping plenty of free space on my phone for other things and at 9.99 a month for more features than Spotify having music with DRM is only a minor inconvenience.
Sent from the iMore App
Brilliant- thanks so much for explaining this. It's fairly logical but this stuff is getting ever more complex.
Sent from the iMore App
Can iOS distinguish between iCloud Music Library and iTunes Match? Here's what I mean:
I have (and have not had trouble with) iTunes Match. 16K songs, a mix of matches, purchases and uploads. Over the years my (now gone) kids have purchased a lot of hip hop/rap. On my mac, I delete those from my iTunes library so they don't show up in my list, shuffles, etc. They stay in iTunes match, though. We bought them, they're ours. Now, in Apple Music on my phone, they all show up, and I believe influence the For You recommendations (may page is filled with Kanye, Beyonce, Eminem, TI...*not* part of my 'what I like' set up exercise!).
How can I get rid of them there without losing them from my overall cloud storage?
Simply delete them. When you delete purchased content, it doesn't permanently delete it, it just hides it. To restore it later, on a Mac/PC, go into Account Info > Hidden Purchases.
What about tracks that are grayed out (and worse, unplayable) that now have the "Waiting" label in the "iCloud Status" column? They weren't gray yesterday, and today ~100 tracks with this odd denotation. I have logged out and back in, waited hours, quit and relaunched, waited more hours, and these gray tracks remain. These tracks are in Apple Music as well as the iTunes Store. Do I need to manually re-add these and delete the problematic ones? Oy.
I didn't have that many in the waiting state so I deleted them from the library in iTunes and added them back and they have come in properly now.
Also, plenty has been guessed at, and written about, the somewhat-confusing "partnership" between the "independent but complementary" services that are Apple Music and iTunes Match. I'm still a subscriber of iTunes Match but I don't see any of the previous UI in iTunes or iOS for toggling it off or on. It practically looks to me like iCloud Music Library has replaced/superceded it. All I now is an "iTunes Match" shortcut in the iTunes Store right sidebar to "Add this Computer," but clicking it doesn't appear to actually do anything. I've read tweets from Eddy Cue that say Apple Music includes the same functionality of iTunes Match, which would make sense. I mean, would Apple expect customers to understand paying $24/year on top of $10/month? And I've just added local tracks of my own that are not in Apple Music, that did get "Matched." So I'm wondering if that's because I'm (still?) an iTunes Match subscriber? Or is this now part of Apple Music? And what would happen in that case if I didn't renew my iTunes Match subscription in November? Does Apple Music actually include 100% of iTunes Match functionality? Even for tracks not in the Apple Music catalog? Would it let me re-download DRM-less 256 kbps AAC files in the event I deleted or lost my original local file?
Some blogs/tweets/posts are saying there's no reason whatsoever to keep iTunes Match if you have Apple Music (and iCloud Music Library) enabled, and others, such as iMore, are saying there is reason to keep both. So which is it?
Thanks for any light you can shed on this unusually strange situation.
I have the exact same question. Any help here please???
I also see a Status of Waiting, for a Voice Memo on my iPhone (I was playing with new phone a few months ago). The cloud column shows a dim, empty cloud. There was no change in the display on my Mac after I played the memo (except that play count is now 1).
Also, the dreaded Duplicate status (I produced that by ripping a CD that had previously been Matched)--not iTunes' or iCloud's fault, although why wasn't I warned?
Hello,
Maybe you know why some of the music in iCloud status column is marked as "excluded" (it has a crossed cloud symbol)? For example, The Beatles album that I bought in a shop in Poland, as well as many CDs with Polish music.
Also I don't know why music from iCloud Music Library which is on my Mac, does not show up on my iPhone?
Thanks once again for the info. I never used Match or iCloud or anything else so most of my 25,000 songs are looking normal. Just about 20 of them though say "Protected AAC audio files" and "Fair Play version 2" in the get info. I guess those are DRM from long ago when I bought them in 2008.
I noticed a lot of these and other files of mine under get info and volume, they have a wide range of volume offsets of +/- 10db or more. Maybe from when I used to use sound check but wish I could find a way to get all the music to one neutral volume setting. : (
I also show these "KInds", what do they mean?
Protected AAC audio file
iTunes LP (one song - from an album I ripped)
The protected files are the DRM'd files that the iTunes store used to sell. If they're still in your purchase history, you should be able to download clean copies.
Thank you!
I have a few dozen tracks that are Protected AAC files, and are still in my purchase history. When I delete and re-download the tracks, I get new copies of the protected AAC files. When I search the store for those tracks, they are not shown as already-purchased. Instead, it offers to let me buy them again. I suspect that Apple has two versions of the tracks available, the really-old versions that I bought, which were never updated, and the currently-available versions, which I have never purchased. So, I do not have a way to remove the protection.
i don't see the one i'm seeing here and there....."Error" :)
I think an easier way to do this would be to make a Smart Playlist for each type. That way, you can keep tabs on your library as changes are made to it, it also allows you to work with files of a specific type.
To make a Smart Playlist go to File>New>Smart Playlist
In the first field choose "iCloud Status"
2nd field "is"
3rd field whatever type you're interested in.
Smart Playlists: underused, under appreciated, really powerful.
I had accidentally cancelled uploading to iCloud after I subscribed to Apple Music, and now some songs are in "waiting", and I don't know how to resume that. Any idea how to do it?
Did you find a way to fix this?? I did the same and am unable to get a fix!
The status column is not a reliable indicator. I have several Matched and Uploaded tracks that have Apple Music DRM. The file type does show Apple Music AAC.
Did those tracks ever get updated to iTunes Plus? Maybe they've had DRM ever since you bought them in the iTunes Store, long ago.
Newly added tracks which I just imported are getting matched / uploaded with DRM. It doesn't always say "Apple Music" like Apple Music tracks, but it briefly flashes the text before changing to "Matched" / "Uploaded".
I'm also freaking out with the "Waiting" (dotted cloud) status on my songs. I've hundreds of them. Yeaterday, at least I had a spinning wheel on top right corner which made my think iTunes was doing something about it. Not anymore. My iTunes is now open, but is it doing something about it? Of course those tracks are grayed in my Apple Music devices.
How come there's no a kind of queue where we can follow this process or the actual status of this?
I'm loving Apple Music in general, but there're some things to polish yet.
In the Matched section, you said, "or delete and re-download on your Mac."
This is absolutely wrong. Delete removes the song from your Match library in iCloud, which could mean you lost the song forever. What you want to use here is "Remove Download." When you use this, the song stays in your library and you are then able to download a new 256kb non-DRM version.
Well, frankxiv, when I typed "delete" in my comment, I was meant was, "delete the underlying file by choosing the 'remove download'" option. I did exactly that, and when I went to download the new version, I was given the DRM'ed .m4p file instead. This is because iTunes is ERRONEOUSLY re-labelling these tracks as "Apple Music" when I happen to subscribe to an Apple Music playlist that includes songs that are already in my (local, Matched) library. This is 100% reproducible. I have deleted an "Alabama Shakes" album, re-imported it, let it Match, then subscribed to the "A List: Alternative" playlist, and watched the songs they have in common, get changed to "Apple Music" under iCloud Status. Then I "removed download" and re-downloaded, and the MP3 is replaced with an M4P.
Since a picture says a 1000 words, please check this one out: http://i.imgur.com/VbxMn3g.png
And then explain to me how it's possible that I have 22 "Apple Music" tracks in my library, all added on dates before the Apple Music service even debuted.
Did you choose Delete or Remove Download?
For the record, my post was referring to what Serenity wrote, not you.
I realized that after I'd posted. Sorry about that. But my point still stands.
I chose "Remove Download."
I am now able to reproduce this issue on demand, 100% consistently. When I add an Apple Music album, or playlist to my iTunes (Matched) library, if the songs included have any overlap with songs already in my iTunes (Matched) library, the record in iTunes is updated, linking it to Apple Music instead of iTunes Match (i.e. iTunes Store.) This also happens if I've previously added an Apple Music album to my library, and later tried to replace it with a purchased, ripped audio CD of the same content.
In both cases, once I re-download ("Make Available Offline" after "Removing Download" to initially to save space) -- or merely sync my library elsewhere -- I'm left only with DRMed files on that drive.
This crucial iTunes Match feature, then, has changed with the introduction and addition of Apple Music. Previously, our originals (and their DRM-free state) were always preserved, in subsequent downloads, and across syncs.
Apple Music's "scan" is having Apple Music's label trump iTunes Match's label, which introduces DRM. There is no question whether or not this is happening. I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is.
The big question that remains is... is this a bug? Or intentional by design?
Then I would try logging out of the store and back in as Serenity suggested.
Again? I've done that 20+ times. It makes no change. This is a service-level issue, confirmed to be affecting many people.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2943703/how-itunes-match-and-apple-music...
Since I'm not there with you I had no way of knowing you have tried this already. Sorry you're having this issue. Reminder: I don't work for Apple :-)
Yeah, I understand. But it's rather unlikely anyone would type up the extensive details as I have, without trying the one and only troubleshooting step mentioned by the article. ;)
And to be clear, at this point it's not just me that's having this issue. Most people who had a big Matched library and are now adding tracks/playlists/albums from Apple Music are having it too -- even if they haven't noticed it yet. In time....
What do you mean by "adding tracks/playlists/albums from Apple Music"? Because that would absolutely result in DRM'ed songs in your library whether you have iTunes Match or not.
I have been able to remove download and redownload from iTunes and get Matched versions. I have also added items from Apple Music and I get the Apple Music version, which is as expected.
Illustrative example: I like alternative music. I have lots of it in my iTunes library (already Purchased, or Matched.) And then I go looking through the Apple Music library, for MORE alternative music. Playlists. Albums. I don't go looking first to see what music I already have, I just add the things that look good to "My Library." It would be impossible to compare each and every track from an Apple Music mix/playlist, anyway.
And that's the problem. If any of the NEW (from Apple Music) tracks that I add, were already in my EXISTING ("Matched" to iTunes Store, or "Purchased") library, the track's "iCloud Status" changes to "Apple Music." Which then follows that subsequent downloads (on this, or other machines) is replaced by a DRM'ed copy from Apple Music, instead of the DRM-free one I had from iTunes Match.
In other words, the "scan" that iTunes is doing on track addition , isn't allowing DRM-free iTunes Match tracks to always supersede those same tracks from Apple Music. Which means this workflow that worked fine in iTunes Match, is no longer working fine with the addition of Apple Music. My own DRM-free tracks are being replaced by DRM-ed Apple Music tracks.
Does that now make sense?
Yes, but I am not seeing that at all. Are you 100% sure that the track you own was installed on the machine where you added the Apple Music selection and it got written over and replaced by the Apple Music version?
My understanding is that the Apple Music version will install on machines where the version you own is not currently installed but that only makes sense.
Are you using iTunes Match as an online storage for all of your machines/devices? In other words, do you not have one machine where all of your owned music lives?
Yes, I am 100% sure. Many, many other people are posting the same findings. I'm not sure how to explain this more clearly for you.
Of course I have all the tracks, saved and backed up locally. The fact of the matter is though, I didn't HAVE TO KEEP THE FILES before, with iTunes Match only. If I was running low on space on my MacBook Air, I could remove downloads of Matched tracks, with no fear that I was losing anything. I could stream them, or re-download them later.
Now, I can't do that, because Apple Music will inevitably replace many local copies with DRMed versions.
For what it's worth, I'm seeing the exact same thing. Whenever I add an Apple Music playlist to my library that contains songs I already own, the status of those tracks changes from "matched" to "Apple Music". It is, as Fofer says, 100% reproducible. Removing the Apple Music playlists and ten logging out and back in solves the issue for me, the tracks are once again showing a status of "matched" - but as soon as I add another playlist containing stuff I'd purchased or ripped before, the whole thing starts over... another thing I noticed: none of my iTunes Store purchases show their correct status, which should be "purchased" - they all show up as "matched". Very worrying.
Yep. I am also seeing the same thing. I've never used iTunes Match before, but I just recently activated the Apple Music Trial and signed up for iTunes Match as well. I have about 100GB of original ripped DRM-free MP3s on my main machine (iMac). Some files were given a status of Uploaded, some Matched, and some Apple Music, even within the same album.
When I go to another machine (MacBook Air), which has NOTHING in its music library, and then enable iCloud Music Library, I can see all my music become available for download with the same iCloud status as the iMac. I should be able to download my entire iCloud Music Library at this point on the MacBook Air, and have ALL the files be either DRM-free AAC (for Matched files) or my original DRM-free MP3s (for Uploaded files). There shouldn't be ANY Apple Music files with DRM in my iCloud Music Library at all at this point.
I have "Fleetwood Mac - Rumours" in my iCloud Music Library. My own original DRM-free MP3s are on my iMac, and the album is available for download in the MacBook Air. The "Songbird" track has an iCloud status of Apple Music and the rest are Matched. If I then add an Apple Music playlist, e.g. "Fleetwood Mac: Best of Stevie Nicks" from the "For You" section, which contains three songs from the "Fleetwood Mac - Rumours" album ("Dreams", "Songbird", and "Gold Dust Chain"), the iCloud status for those songs changes to Apple Music.
iTunes Match and Apple Music are supposed to be complimentary. Any music that I own in a DRM-free format should always be added to the iCloud Music Library as Matched or Uploaded, and that should always remain the case even if the same tracks are also added via Apple Music playlists.
I don't understand why Apple has tried to retain both iTunes Match and Apple Music as complimentary services. If you have Apple Music, you shouldn't also need iTunes Match. Any files you own in a DRM-free format should be synced DRM-free to all your devices. iTunes Match should only exist as a paired down service for users who ONLY want to sync their own music, and do not want to stream anything that they don't already own.
Anything else is a recipe for disaster, as users can add original DRM-free tracks to their iCloud Music Library from any of their computers, and it will be very easy for them to accidentally "Remove Download" on a machine not realising it was the only original they have, and not be able to get it back.
Hear, hear. Well said. I just hope this mis-matching is an introductory BUG that'll be fixed quickly (and not some lame, intentional, copyright-fueled "feature.")
Otherwise, Apple's dropped the ball on this one, big time.
When you add a playlist, they should show up as Apple Music. Are you saying that they are showing in your MyMusic library as only Apple Music copies?
@frankxiv I ripped the "Fleetwood Mac - Rumours" album as original DRM-free MP3 files. These should NEVER have an iCloud status of Apple Music. The should only ever be Matched or Uploaded. If I add an Apple Music playlist which contains songs from that album which are ALREADY in my iCloud Music Library as Matched or Uploaded, they should NOT be changed to Apple Music. They are my tracks, ripped from a CD I own, and added to my iCloud Music Library as Matched or Uploaded because I have an iTunes Match subscription. There's no reason why I should not be able to sync the DRM-free version (Uploaded or Matched) to my other devices just because Apple decided to include those tracks in a playlist that I wanted to listen to.
Even if I didn't have an iTunes Match subscription, I can't see how it makes any kind of sense for Apple to set an iCloud status of Apple Music for any DRM-free tracks that are ALREADY in the user's account (either matched or uploaded). This is just a recipe for disaster as users could very easily accidentally "remove download" from the wrong machine and lose their DRM-free tracks.
Are you saying that you had them ripped to your Mac and on that same machine you then went to Apple Music and asked it to add that same album to your music and it overwrote the existing tracks?
It doesn't necessarily "overwrite the existing track" so much as it changes the way iTunes classifies it, from "Matched" to "Apple Music." Which means it is no longer linked to the DRM-free version in the iTunes Store as it was before, via iTunes Match. It's now linked to the DRM-locked version in Apple Music. Which means subsequent re-downloads (and syncs on other computers) are DRM-locked instead of DRM-free.
And you don't even need to "add that same album" from Apple Music for this to happen. In my case, that'd be unlikely anyway, because by and large I'd know what albums I already have inside iTunes... so why would I add it again?
No, instead, the more likely scenario is that I add a curated PLAYLIST from Apple Music, that happens to include a track (or a handful of tracks) that I already had in my iTunes library.
THAT'S when it's happened to me, repeatedly, over the last 9 days. It's infuriating and a complete deal-breaker. If Apple Music doesn't fix this within the 3 month trial, I'd label it a resounding failure for anyone who cares about the DRM-free files they already own and sync via iTunes Match.
When scanning/comparing, Apple Music tracks should NEVER be superseding the same tracks that have synced via iTunes Match. Never, ever, ever. And if Apple doesn't think this is a bug, I'm outta here.
Can we explain this any more clearly? I don't think so.
Well, Apple Music's behavior is so absurd, so baffling, that I can understand why people are having a hard time believing it.... this HAS to be a bug. No sane company would pull a stunt like that on purpose. And while Apple does make mistakes (and not just a few here and there), their business model depends on happy users - I would be shocked, seriously shocked, if this DRM issue ends up not being fixed.
Agreed. This is crazy.
And it goes even deeper than that. I am trying to add single tracks from Apple Music to "My Music" in iTunes.
1) Freedom - Pharrell Williams. Appears to work fine.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/freedom-single/id1010891982?i=10108920...
2) Beck - Dreams. "Add to My Music" doesn't appear, anywhere. "Add to a Playlist" seems to work, but it's odd having a track in a playlist but not in "My Music." What's different about this track and why can't I simply add it to "My Music?" Is this some new copyright restriction wrinkle? Add to playlists only?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dreams-single/id1003405694?i=100340569...
3) 'Cause I'm a Man - Tame Impala. "Add to My Music" appears, but doesn't work at all. In fact, when I try, [I]all of the Apple Music tracks in "My Music" turn gray [/I]and become unplayable. Fixed only by quitting and restarting iTunes.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cause-im-a-man-single/id982326740?i=98...
WTF?
I just did a test of this. These are the steps I took and what happened.
1) Found a song that I owned and that the file was on my Mac.
2) Went to Apple Music and searched for that same song.
3) Added the song to a playlist
4) Went to the playlist and did a Get Info on the song
5) Saw that the song correctly listed its type as Apple Music
6) Went to MyMusic and searched for the song
7) Saw two versions of the song in the MyMusic search results, one of which is the original I own and one of which is the Apple Music DRM version.
In the iCloud Status column one says Apple Music and the other says Matched.
In the iCloud download column the one I own has nothing in it and the Apple Music one has a cloud with a down arrow to let me know I can download it if I want.
I'm not sure if this is the behavior that you are seeing. However, if it is and if instead you expected to be able to add something from Apple Music (not the iTunes Store) to your computer and just because you own a copy for it to download the non-Apple Music version of that item, then you were expecting the wrong results.
Even if I select Remove Download for the track I own it adds the download icon so that I can redownload the non-DRM version.
All of this is the behavior that I expect and as long as I keep the two columns (iCloud Download and iCloud Status) visible I should not have any problems.
Could Apple have made this clearer? Yes.
Are they replacing the music I own with DRM versions? No.
Unfortunately, your testing variables aren't matching ours and therefore, you're coming to misguided conclusions. You added one example track from Apple Music, that happened to be the same track you knew to already have in your iTunes Music Library. Not only is this a scenario that is unlikely to happen in the "real world" (I'm unlikely to add a track I already had,) its outcome isn't desirable (why would you want duplicate tracks?) AND it's not matching experiment.
Try this instead. From Apple Music, add a FULL ALBUM, or more appropriately a PLAYLIST, that contains a track you already own, that is already marked as Matched (or heck, PURCHASED!) in your iTunes Music Library. The curated playlists are best, because those are the ones customers are unlikely to scan through first to determine if they already have any of the included tracks. What's SUPPOSED to happen is, it should know the track is a duplicate, and not add another. At the very least, it should always allow the Matched or Purchased track to maintain precedence over the Apple Music track.
And that's not what's happening.
It's replacing the Matched and/or Purchased track with the Apple Music one. Every time. Maybe your tracks weren't identical? The duplicate scan on import failed, after all. Maybe this bug only occurs with albums and playlists and not single tracks? I don't know. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, for multiple people, on multiple accounts and multiple computers, that this issue is replacing people's owned music with DRM versions. Given the severity of this bug, yeah, I'd actually RATHER get duplicates! But that's not what I am getting. Nor is anyone else, who followed this experiment, with the same, specific variables we have spelled out for you, numerous times.
Try this: find an Apple Music Playlist you like. Find a song inside of it that you like. Then switch to the iTunes Music Store and BUY that song. Then go back to that Apple Music Playlist, and click on the "+" sign, or "Add to My Music." See what happens to the iCloud Status of that song. More importantly, the "Kind." Is it "Apple Music AAC" (i.e. DRM protected?) Or is it "Matched AAC" or "Purchased AAC?" Of course, as you know, it should be the latter. Except it's not, it's the former. And all subsequent downloads, re-downloads and syncs, will be DRM-protected M4P files. You won't be able to navigate to them via the contextual menu item for "Show in Finder," either. You will have to navigate to them manually at ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Apple Music.
Alternatively, do it in reverse. Add the Apple Music Playlist first. And THEN, afterwards, go to the iTunes Music Store and purchase one of the songs included. See what happens. Try it for yourself. Are you left with a Purchased AAC that you can "Show in Finder?" Or are you left with an Apple Music track that you cannot?
If I'm wrong. I'll reimburse you for the tracks.
The same exact thing happens with ripped/Matched tracks, by the way. Which IMO is a bigger deal, because at least with Purchased tracks, you can re-download from the "Purchased" section of the iTunes Music Store (after first removing the Apple Music entry, of course -- otherwise it's a waste of time.)
This is happening, it's a bad bug, and folks are just now discovering it for themselves, as their previously owned/matched/purchased tracks in their favorite genres are slowly, one-by-one, on an Apple Music playlist-by-playlist basis, getting replaced with DRM versions.
Whether you believe us or not.
@Fofer, now this is weird: I'm experiencing the bug but I see a slightly different behavior than you. For the record, I have been an iTunes Match subscriber since the beginning and started the trial when Apple Music was released. The transition from iTunes Match to Apple Music went pretty smoothly, the only issue I saw right away was that the iCloud status of my formerly "purchased" tracks had changed to "matched". The purchases are still credited to my Apple ID and they still show in the Purchased-section of the iTunes store - they are simply mislabeled in iTunes on my Mac.
I didn't worry about that too much at first, only after I saw that more and more of my formerly matched or purchased tracks changed their iCloud status to Apple Music. It didn't take long until I realized that the curated Apple Music playlists were the cause of this - whenever I add a new playlist that contains tracks I already own, those formerly "matched" or "purchased" tracks get labeled as "Apple Music" immediately. This is, again, 100% reproducible for me and matches your experience. BUT here comes the difference: the "kind" column does not change for me. When I get info on one of the Apple Music tracks it still shows e.g. "Matched AAC audio file" and I can reveal it in Finder. Only when I remove the download and re-download the track will I get a DRM version of said song.
Also: when I remove each and every Apple Music playlist from iTunes and then log out and back in again, the status of those wrongly labeled tracks changes back to "matched". But as soon as I add a new playlist, it all starts over.
It seems that there are different variations of this bug... Apple really dropped the ball here.
@frankxiv: maybe there's something different about your library that doesn't trigger the bug, who knows, that's entirely possible. But for those of us experiencing the issue it is a fact that Apple Music replaces the files we OWN with DRM versions of those files (which, granted, is not an immediate loss as long as the user doesn't remove the download and holds on to his or her original copy). I just purchased a track on the iTunes Store, here's the screenshot: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/XTC_purchased.png
Then I went ahead and added an Apple Music playlist with 80s music to my library, that contains that exact song. See what happens: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/XTC_AppleMusic...
There's absolutely no doubt about it - this is a real and serious problem that, if not fixed, renders Apple Music 100% unusable.
Please include a screenshot that also shows the iCloud Download column both before and after.
@frankiv, I am not sure if you're asking me or @spitonastranger, but I have already provided "before" and "after" screenshots in the comments of this, and the other, iMore article. And many others (here, on Reddit, MacRumors' forums, and Apple's own Support Community) are reporting the exact same thing is happening to them.
That you're getting duplicates of tracks (as @mrmachine commented here yesterday) is also a different bug. iTunes isn't supposed to do that. Why would you want duplicates? I suppose in light of the DRM-introducing bug that the rest of us are encountering, getting a duplicate is actually preferable. But again, ideally, iTunes wouldn't add a duplicate by default like that. Perhaps it could present a confirmation dialog, just like it does when you try to add a track twice to the same playlist... and then ask you what you wanted it to do? Regardless, once added, if it merges into one track listing into iTunes, it shouldn't change the iCloud Status from "Purchased" to "Apple Music." NEVER, EVER!. Nor should it change the iCloud Status from "Matched" to "Apple Music," as I'm sure you agree. (Well, maybe if the user isn't subscribed to iTunes Match, I could see that being the result. But I, and everyone who is reporting this issue so far, remains subscribed to iTunes Match.)
All this said, your followup question and @spitonastranger's recent post make me realize that I haven't clarified enough on one element of this. Yes, the .M4A's of my Purchased or Matched tracks (affected by this Apple Music bug) only change to .M4P's (with DRM) when I (a) delete the download and re-download or (b) sync my iCloud Music Library on my second Mac. Just as @pitonastranger explained. The key point here is, *this didn't used to happen* when I only had iTunes Match. Now that we're expected to pay more for Apple Music, in addition to iTunes Match, we no longer have that convenience/utility. We're put in a position that using iTunes just as before, but with Apple Music integrated, is converting our previously-owned tracks into Apple Music ones.
Can we even rest assured, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if we were to (one day) cancel Apple Music entirely (and I mean CANCEL, not simply "disable auto-renew") that these tracks will magically convert back from Apple Music to "Matched" or "Purchased?"
You might say, "well then, don't delete your original downloads!" Or "don't expect your 2nd syncing Mac to get identical DRM-less tracks!" But this misses the point. Here's why this is important. My primary Mac is a laptop with a relatively limited amount of local storage. My music library is huge, if I maintained all the local files on my drive it'd take up more than 75% of it. So, once Matched, I would routinely delete the local copies. iTunes would then let me stream those songs via Match, or re-download on demand. It's an amazing, killer feature. It allows me access to my music library in the cloud, without it all taking up so much local space on my drive. And this is a feature I'm paying for that I currently can't count on anymore... certainly not if I use other music software (like Traktor, Serrato, Ableton, etc.) that relies on music tracks having no DRM.
All that said, I wouldn't say this "renders Apple Music 100% unusable," (as @spitonastranger put it) but it's introduced a serious damper. I am using Apple Music to discover new artists and add new albums to my library of which I've previously had NO tracks. I am listening to Beats 1. And I am streaming curated playlists -- but specifically AVOIDING adding them to my library in any way, unless I take the time to 100% confirm that none of the tracks included overlap in any way with tracks I might already have. It's annoying that I'd have to do this, but not as annoying as seeing later on that my unlocked tracks that have worked fine for years, and now tied into Apple Music and FairlPlay DRM, just because I stumbled across a playlist that looked good.
From where I am sitting, Apple has 2.5 months to fix this huge, showstopper of a bug.
When you did what you have outlined above, did you try turning Apple Music off to see what happens? I'm just curious if the iTunes Match behavior would go back to what you are used to if you shut off Apple Music.
I see no way to actually TURN OFF Apple Music, do you? I can uncheck the box next to "Show Apple Music" in iTunes' preferences, but all that does is get rid of the "For You" and "New" headers. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the track listings in iTunes, or in my playlists.
That is what I meant. I had not tried it so I wasn't sure if it would give you the effect you were looking for. However, I just noticed something very interesting. As I noted to you earlier, the playlist had an extra copy of that U2 song showing in my library. However, I just looked at the playlist again and noticed that even though I own most, if not all of the songs in the list, some show as downloaded and others do not. The ones that do not show as downloaded are like the U2 song, I see the extra copy in MyMusic. However, the ones that show downloaded only show one copy in MyMusic and as you can see in this screenshot they display the exact behavior that you are looking for. Apple Music saw that I owned the song and is displaying in this playlist my owned copy.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fkqgo428k8xw49g/Apple%20Music%20playlist.png?dl=0
So? What does that illustrate?
Try the experiment with songs that are only available from one album. Try it with songs you haven't saved the download for. Realize that tens of thousands of people are currently experiencing this bug, exactly as many people here have described for you.
I was trying to be helpful but I'm backing out of this conversation. It demonstrates exactly the opposite of what you said would happen. You are the one that told me to add an entire playlist from Apple Music, which I did. You said that if there were songs in there that matched ones I owned that the ones I owned would be replaced by Apple Music versions. That did not happen. They are either represented as the versions I own, as demonstrated by the last screenshot, or they are the Apple Music version but as an additional track with the one I own also present.
You are being purposefully dismissive of everything I write here because it does not suit your narrative.
<sigh>
Your experiment variables aren't matching ours (again) and your conclusion is flawed. Even still, if it's working like that for you, and not the same way consistently for thousands of others, your personal experience is irrelevant.
Try it with a purchased track, whose download you've removed. Then get back to us.
I'm not understanding why you're insisting your experience with different variables has a different outcome. That is not how controlled experiments work.
Really? With the sigh? Let me quote you:
"Try this instead. From Apple Music, add a FULL ALBUM, or more appropriately a PLAYLIST, that contains a track you already own, that is already marked as Matched (or heck, PURCHASED!) in your iTunes Music Library. The curated playlists are best, because those are the ones customers are unlikely to scan through first to determine if they already have any of the included tracks. What's SUPPOSED to happen is, it should know the track is a duplicate, and not add another. At the very least, it should always allow the Matched or Purchased track to maintain precedence over the Apple Music track."
I did EXACTLY what you laid out there and guess what, it did EXACTLY what you said it was SUPPOSED to do. But since you didn't like that my result was different you have once again added a variable or step to the process that was not there before and are asking me to try again.
But you know what? I'm going to humor you. So, I deleted all of that Apple Music and started over.
1) I did a "Remove Download" on Need You Tonight by INXS from MyMusic.
2) I added all of the music from the Pop Hits: 1987 playlist from Apple Music to MyMusic.
Check out the two screenshots. First, let's look at the music from Apple Music in one place and you will see that the INXS song is now showing as not being downloaded but you will see in the Get Info box that it is still Matched.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ot7crohds2q9fdi/Screenshot%202015-07-10%2023.5...
And this is from the MyMusic list. Still Matched
https://www.dropbox.com/s/abkdxrwgiexxvha/Screenshot%202015-07-10%2023.5...
And let's do it one more time. This time
1) I did a "Remove Download" on a song that I purchased from iTunes. Shut Up and Dance.
2) I added the music from the Pop Dance Party playlist from Apple Music to MyMusic
Check out the screenshot and tell me why it still shows as Purchased?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cw6887zeopqetpb/Screenshot%202015-07-10%2023.5...
What is the next caveat that you are going to throw into the mix now?
@frankxiv, I think it's clear that we're seeing different behavior with Apple Music. I never ever get a duplicate when adding an Apple Music playlist, I always get MY tracks changed to Apple Music tracks. Either way, this can't be right - I don't want duplicates (who would?) and I certainly don't want DRM on my music. Your last example, THAT's what I'd expect. But as it stands now, I'm not seeing that and the wrong labeling is consistent.
As for the screenshots: I purchased a bunch of tracks yesterday, so I can show you another example.
This is before... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/Thunders_purch...
...and after adding a "70s Rock Gems" playlist that contains the track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/Thunders_Apple...
Now, as long as I keep the file and have a solid backup strategy, I'll be fine. The file is still the original, after all, meaning it's still a "purchased AAC audio file": https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/Thunders_AAC.png
BUT when I remove the download and re-download the track, or if I - like Fofer - have a second Mac I want to sync with, I get this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6206586/Apple%20Music/Thunders_Apple...
The file now has DRM and that's a no-go - I purchased that song, it's mine, it should NEVER have DRM.
@Fofer, I think it's likely that not everybody got hit by this bug. There would be more noise about it on the internet if every single Apple Music user would have encountered it. But that's irrelevant, even if just a couple of 1000 people are experiencing the issue - it's still a major problem.
As for the usability of Apple Music: granted, it's an enjoyable service nonetheless and it has tons of great features. Most typical consumers might not even bother that their purchased or matched tracks have been wrongly labeled as Apple Music tracks. But I am picky about my library, I have invested more than a decade into perfecting it. I have manually embedded artwork and added genre, year, lyrics, band members, additional musicians, producers and even trivia into the tags of my files - the thought of someone messing with my beloved library is unacceptable to me (yes, I'm extremely fastidious... I have no problem admitting that ;D). I'm not going to pay for something that I can't fully use and trust - avoiding this bug is not only annoying as hell, it's also limiting the functionality of the service and makes it look unstable. Also, it's a matter of principle - a music player should never change the files I own against my will (see the mega-thread about f***ed up metadata over at the Apple Discussions forum... a nightmare for the perfectionist in me ;D).
Apple Music is extremely promising and I love a lot of things about it, but for me personally this bug is a complete deal breaker.
@spitonastranger, I really appreciate your write-up and corroboration. You're explaining it all very well and patiently, and I can relate as I am pretty fastidious with my data and iTunes too. Sure, I keep backups too, via Time Capsule, CrashPlan as well as a bootable clone -- but the point is, in many cases folks wouldn't notice that a purchased/matched track of theirs was replaced by a DRM-laden Apple Music track, at least not for a while. And by then their backups might no longer have the older, original, DRM-free version. At this point I'll end up having to keep an entirely separate backup of just my music, that I manage manually, as I purchase/rip/import/match them on my own. What a pain.
I do agree with you, this issue makes the union of iTunes and Apple Music feel a bit like a dangerous mess. Have you reported this in detail to Apple? I'll try to do the same, with anxious hope they address it as a serious bug, as quickly as possible.
Very crazy. One quick question: have you double-checked to ensure that iTunes Match is still turned on in your account settings?
@frankxiv:
If you're asking me, yes, of course, I've confirmed iTunes Match remains on. I've not seen any UI element to turn it, specifically, off... even if I wanted to.
http://www.fofer.com/sharedimages/iTunes_2015-07-11_11-58-33.png
No "new" caveat, @frankxiv, but rather than waste more time coming up with your specific workflow examples that don't have the same results as the rest of us (as if that discredits the initial bug report in any way?) let's standardize the experiment instead.
Please follow these steps, exactly:
1) Assuming you don't already have it, buy this track: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-we-are/id712129153?i=712131069&at=...
I'm more than happy to reimburse you for this track, via iTunes gift or PayPal.
If you do already have this track, let me know and I'll adjust the experiment.
2) Once downloaded in iTunes, go to the track in "My Music" and play it. Look at the metadata, specifically, "iCloud Status" and "Kind." Get Info on it, click the File tab, look at its location. It's an DRM-free .m4a, as it should be. Pretty good song, no?
3) While this track is selected in "My Music," Hit the delete key. Choose "Remove Download."
4) Play the song, see that it works via streaming. Enjoy the song.
5) Go to this Apple Music curated playlist: https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/sunday-morning-rain-is-falling/idpl...
Subscribe to it by clicking the "+" sign on the upper right.
6) Now, go back to "My Music." Look at the metadata for your newest song, "All We Are" by Matt Nathanson. Specifically, "iCloud Status" and "Kind." What happened?
7) Control-click on the song and choose "Make Available Offline" (or click the cloud icon under the "iCloud Download" column header if you have it enabled.)
8) Take a look at the metadata for this song again. Specifically, "iCloud Status" and "Kind." Get Info (Command-I) on it, click on the File tab, and look at its "location."
9) Control-click on the song. Are you able to "Show in Finder?" What's going on?
10) Navigate manually to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Apple Music. Is there a "Matt Nathanson" folder in there, with a "Some Mad Hope" subfolder, with the track you purchased in step 1 inside? How is it a DRM-laden .m4p? You just purchased it!
10a) Optional step: Delete the "Sunday Morning Rain is Falling" playlist from your iTunes, under the "Apple Music Playlists" header. Does this revert the track magically back to a DRM-free .m4a? Tap delete, remove the download. Make it available offline again. Any change?
11) Sigh along with rest of us...
Note that in my (and many other customers') experiences, this same thing is happening with iTunes Matched tracks and not merely purchased ones. Note that it also happens if you add all of the tracks from a Apple Music playlist to your library as opposed to just "subscribing to it" via the plus sign. (Which is another odd distinction, with inconsistent and unintuitive UI, but that's a rant for a different thread.)
I am going to pass on this one only because I have not yet clicked on the + in the UI because I am not going to click on something that is not labeled in any way with a symbol that does not have any context. There is not even a tooltip if you hover your cursor over it. That is really crappy UI design and an example that the app is not ready for primetime yet.
I hope that the bugs are fixed and your library starts behaving properly soon.
Well, if that's your only concern, @frankxiv, instead just click on the "..." ellipsis to the right of the playlist name ("Sunday Morning Rain is Falling,") to the right of the play button, to the right of the shuffle button.
From the contextual menu that appears, choose "Add to My Music."
https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/sunday-morning-rain-is-falling/idpl...
Of course you can remove it from "Add to My Music" after the experiment is complete, and you've seen the behavior we have been trying to convince you is 100% reproducible.
And as I mentioned earlier, I'd be happy to reimburse you for this track. I'd even be happy to "gift" it to you preemptively, for your trouble. Just say the word.
Your links are opening iTunes but they do not go to any specific location or song.
Great - another bug, then.
Does this one work?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-we-are/id712129153?i=712131069&at=...
If not, search the iTunes Store for "all we are matt nathanson"
(The song you'll want to buy for this experiment is "All We Are" by Matt Nathanson. And NOT the live version.)
Are you saying this link doesn't bring you to the "Sunday Morning Rain is Falling" Apple Music Playlist, either?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/sunday-morning-rain-is-falling/idpl...
I've just tested on three different Macs and this link works for me.
Correct. All that both do is open iTunes to the Apple Music New section.
Oy.
How about just following my instructions then. -- but with any other track from any Apple Music Playlist you like?
Pick one and use the contextual menu on a song to "Show in iTunes Store" and buy it there.
Then follow the rest of my described steps.
I will check it tomorrow. Working on some other things that are due this evening right now.
@franxiv- never heard back, but there's really no need for your corroboration.
iTunes 12.2.1 is out now, and the first listed note is that it "fixes an issue for iTunes Match users where iTunes incorrectly changes some songs from Matched to Apple Music."
THAT was the bug, and fingers crossed, it is now fixed.
I'm really glad to hear that. My fingers are crossed for you as well!
Yay, awesome news!!! Thanks for sharing, I'm so glad to hear that. I'll go check for that update as soon as I come home ;)
Gotta hand it to Apple, that was really, really fast - impressive! I guess they clearly saw that this is a serious issue and so they acted accordingly.
@Fofer, I hope both of us - and everybody else experiencing the bug - gets the correct status back on those wrongly labeled tracks... if this is actually fixed, I'll definitely subscribe to Apple Music once the trial is over, no questions asked :)
Yep, @spitonastranger, right there with you. This was one *uncomfortable* bug and it shed a serious pall over all of my Apple Music activity. I was afraid that any track/album/playlist I would add from Apple Music would somehow screw up my files, their cloud backup, and my the syncability of iTunes Match. I was also afraid that this is what Apple *intended.*
It appears this is now fixed.
I also note that the handful of previously Matches tracks that were appearing as Apple Music tracks have now reverted back. Thank goodness. I'm curious to hear if yours is updated/fixed as well. Good luck to ya!
@Fofer, glad to hear that everything worked out for you! I installed the update and am happy to report that all of my affected tracks are now labeled correctly as well, hallelujah! Whatever Apple did, it fixed my issue completely - I just added a bunch of playlists and there's no more iCloud-status-confusion going on :)
My excitement for Apple Music was definitely dampened by this bug - but now I'm adding playlists like a crazy-woman and it looks like I'll have a lot of music-listening to do in the next couple of weeks ;D
Enjoy your (hopefully) bug-free Apple Music trial!
I just did what you asked. I added a playlist out of the Pop music section. The playlist I added is Pop Hits: 1987. This song contains multiple songs that I own. It simply added an Apple Music version alongside my existing version. In fact, one of the songs, I still haven't found what I'm looking for by U2, I had two copies of. I had one copy from the Joshua Tree that I ripped from a CD and another copy from U218 Singles that I purchased from iTunes. Check the screenshot below. Apple Music did not overwrite anything.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a8intzzh913x5oq/Screenshot%202015-07-10%2016.2...
I'm not saying that you haven't run into some bug. Since I have been unable to recreate the bug I have simply been asking additional questions to make sure that there wasn't something done that led to this happening instead of you finding a terrible bug.
If what you say is happening I agree that it is horrible. However, I have followed your instructions and have been unable to recreate your results on my end.
@frankxiv it sounds like you have found another (different) bug. If you added the SAME song from Apple Music that was already in "My Music" (as Matched), why would it add the a duplicate second copy of the song? That would be silly, and would result in the song being played twice if you just tried to play the album from "My Music".
Perhaps the version of the song you found and added was actually not exactly the SAME song, therefore Apple thought you don't already have it in My Music and that is why it was added again? It should not even be possible to "add" a song to My Music that is ALREADY in My Music...
As others have said, try the same procedure that all of us are reporting, but either way, what you have described is not expected or desirable behaviour.
My Music is supposed to be a subset of Apple Music, plus "Uploaded" tracks. And regardless of whether or not you have iTunes Match, anything that you add to your My Music as a DRM-free file should cause that track to forever more be treated as DRM-free and owned by you.
@mrmachine, Thankfully, iTunes 12.2.1 is out now, and the first listed note is that it "fixes an issue for iTunes Match users where iTunes incorrectly changes some songs from Matched to Apple Music."
In my brief testing and checking out my library, I do see that affected tracks have now reverted back to their previously "Matched" state. Hurrah! I can use Apple Music now without crippling fear that my owned/Matches tracks getting replaced with Apple Music DRM!
That is great news. I've noticed something odd. I see a few tracks that are now duplicated where one has an iCloud Status of Purchased and the other has a status of Error. Very odd. I'll post back if I see anything else when I get home, which is where my full library is stored.
It doesn't seem to make any difference for me. I removed all tracks from iCloud Music Library and re-added them. It's re-matching the same tracks as "Apple Music" as it did before.
How odd. I've tested a bit over the past few days, importing ripped albums I know are in both the iTunes Store as well as Apple Music library. I can say that It's working better for me. It's certainly no longer switching tracks from Matched to Apple Music DRM when I add new playlists. And iTunes Match appears to be working as it did before. As usual, some tracks/albums match, and some still "upload" when they shouldn't (the tracks are in the iTunes Store, sometimes even within the same album as other matches.)
But overall it's working as expected. At least for me.
I did notice that when I deliberately added an Apple Music playlist that had overlapping tracks with some Matched tracks I already had in my library, that the metadata changed on some of them. For example, a track that I'd already had from a "Greatest Hits" compilation had its album name changed to the original album it was released on. That's annoying, and will eventually be fixed (or handled differently) but not nearly as bad as introducing DRM. On the one hand I appreciate that the integration of Apple Music with my existing iTunes library doesn't always introduce duplicate tracks, but on the other hand, I'd prefer for it to always respect MY metadata and only change/overwrite such things with my explicit permission.
I have to imagine integrating these systems elegantly, in a way that makes sense for most customers, and yet still plays nice with the music labels' requirements and contracts in place, is a very, very difficult job.
Plenty is messed up. There is no 'iCloud Status' or 'iCloud Downloads' in Show Columns. In fact, after logging out and then back in, the iCloud column has completed disappeared. Now what? Not impressed at all with this. If it wasn't ready, they should have never released it. Apple is slowly rotting (ie., Photos)
This is really messed up. There is no 'iCloud Status' or 'iClouds Downloads' in show columns. I've logged in and logged out but to no avail. Plus nothing seems to be uploading. Before Log In/Log Out I had dozens of dotted clouds. Really, Apple? Even though this was basically in alpha stage, you decided to release Music? Boo.
@ phrankyw: Sounds like you've turned off iCloud Music Library, inadvertently or otherwise. Go to iTunes menu -> Preferences and toggle it back on. Your "iCloud Status" and "iCloud Downloads" columns will reappear as options to display.
And I rather like iCloud Photo Library. Finally I have a safe and synced photo library, organizable and accessible everywhere. What's your beef with it? (Perhaps save them for comments on a different article.)
@Fofer For whatever reason, iCloud Music library was turned off. However, after turning it back on, still no 'iClouds Status' or 'iClouds Downloads' in Show Columns. It makes no sense ... (EDIT: About five minutes after switching the Library back on, "Status' and "Downloads' finally appeared.)
Photos didn't upload a dozen or so of my iPhotos. And I haven't been able to get Photos to import them yet.
Thx for your help.
I have had less problems than some here. I've been an iCloud Match user since near the beginning, and for now will keep it (my subscription runs out in February anyway). I have signed up for Apple Music and iCloud Music Library, and have been adding some music from Apple Music to my playlists. I have created a smart folder to see what I have there, only to discover two CD's I ripped and added to iTunes listed among my Apple Music Files. I tried logging out and back in and yet they still appear in the wrong category (Apple Music not Matched). Aside from ripping them again any other suggestions from the experts here?
Thanks much.
This is the same bug (?) that is affecting many people (including me.) Hopefully Apple fixes it.
FYI: iTunes 12.2.1 is out now, and the first listed note is that it "fixes an issue for iTunes Match users where iTunes incorrectly changes some songs from Matched to Apple Music." In my brief testing and checking out my library, I do see that affected tracks have now reverted back to their previously "Matched" state. Hurrah!
I'm trying to see my playlists from my computer on my Apple Music app and they only show me my purchased music. I also get the following error (screenshot: http://d.pr/i/sW7e) when I try to sync my library. I have about 60K songs but I either ripped them from CD's in iTunes or purchased them on iTunes. What could be the problem?
The current limit is 25K tracks. There's word that iOS 9 will hopefully raise that to 100K.
I thought I'd give iCloud Music Library a skip while they work out the bugs but I made a backup of my library and and proceeded to turn it on as it is integral to the Apple Music experience. However, I am not impressed... After having the matching and uploading happen overnight I discovered that the bulk of my library has been labelled "Apple Music" and that some tracks are "ineligible".
I log out and sign in as some have suggested here and what subsequently happens is that iCloud Music Library is magically now turned off and I have to go through the whole process again.
iCloud Music Library is just not ready for prime time. What a waste.
This is what happened to me. I am a iTunes Match subscriber before I am an Apple Music subscriber. I added a Apple Music Playlist which contains some songs I previously ripped from CD and some purchased from iTunes. So prior to Apple Music, their iCloud Status is either Matched, Uploaded or Purchased. But after I added the Apple Music Playlist. Some of them turned into "Apple Music". Noted: these songs are already existed in my Library. I didn't download any songs from Apple Music catalog. I just add the Playlist. So why the status changed? This is alarming because if I delete the file from the Library and redownload it again, the new file will be DRM'ed. This is a serious bug in my opinion.
Yes, @weigo. I hear (and can) relate to your pain. This is absolutely happening, to me and many others. iMore should release an updated, corrected version of this article:
"No, Apple is not adding DRM to songs on your Mac you already own"
http://www.imore.com/no-apple-not-adding-drm-songs-your-mac-you-already-own
...because the headline is misleading. In certain circumstances, Apple Music certainly *is* adding DRM to songs I already own. To songs I already purchased (via CD, ripped and Matched) or even from the iTunes Music Store. At least with the latter, I can re-download.
What sucks is, even if I revert to a backup of these affected files (a backup I didn't necessarily need as badly before, with iTunes Match,) it's not an easy swap. I have to remove the DRM file from the playlist(s) it's in, re-add the original AAC file, add it back to the same playlists, wait for it to Match again, with fingers crossed it won't screw something else up...
Yeesh. This is a mess. iTunes Match wasn't perfect, but as far as matching (and protecting our own tracks from DRM) it was universes better than this.
The files haven't been DRM'ed per se because they weren't touched. I can still played them outside of iTunes (if they are DRM'ed, they can only played in iTunes.) They are just labelled as "Apple Music". My worry is at the end of the trial will iTunes do some "house cleaning", is it going to delete all the files labelled as "Apple Music"?
I create a Smart Playlist in iTunes with the following condition:
iCloud Status = "Apple Music"
Location = "on this computer"
Kind does not contain "Apple"
This will list out all the songs are supposed to be yours but were mislabeled as "Apple Music" (if you haven't delete and redownload anything yet, if you do, that is a messy situation.)
I only have 21 of them so far, So I am copy those out into a different folder in case iTunes decide to do a clean house after the three month trial, so I can always copy them back in.
I also file a bug report to Apple. But there's no way to know if that is a black hole or not.
Another Smart Playlist idea:
Media Kind is "Music"
iCloud Status is "Apple Music"
Date Added is "before" 6/30/2015
That''ll show you tracks that couldn't *possibly* be Apple Music, because they were added to the library before Apple Music . Seems like a glaring clue to me...
Nice smart playlist idea. Of 16,153 tracks in my library, 2183 are mislabeled as Apple Music. I've barely even used Apple Music, only adding a handful of playlists in testing this bug after noticing that these 2000-ish tracks were already marked as Apple Music as soon as iTunes finished scanning my library.
@weigo: FYI, iTunes 12.2.1 is was released today, and the first listed note is that it "fixes an issue for iTunes Match users where iTunes incorrectly changes some songs from Matched to Apple Music." Fingers crossed this is the fix we've been waiting for. In my brief testing and checking out my library just now, I do see that affected tracks have now reverted back to their previously "Matched" state.
great news! let's keep our fingers crossed.
Hoping someone knows the answer to this:
Using iTunes (latest version) on an iMac computer
iCloud Status says Apple Music
Kind says Purchased AAC Audio file or AAC Audio file
If I do not continue my Apple Music subscription will I lose these songs?
There are a little over 4,000 songs and they are ones that I bought and loaded to iTunes.
Just to add i have add issues where i have uploaded my own songs/albums from personal cd's using Apple music only, when i re-download these there were DRM.
I can confirm this because i have ripped songs as a backup, and playing in other media players (VLC ..for example woks just fine)
Not all songs uploaded are "Apple music".... some of them are "Uploaded"
Why is this ? Since i uploaded this tracks so shouldn't these the status be "uploaded" and not "Apple music" ? As Apple music implies DRM-applied, unless Apple still has issues.
These are DRM because when i re-download my uploaded songs, they are now .m4p.
These have been very informative articles. I still seem to think of iCloud Music Library as something I should be able to find at iCloud.com and I can't. I also do not see any info regarding music and iTunes Match in my iPhone 6 Plus. How do I know it's turned on in my iPhone? How would I get this music back if I cannot see it in iCloud?.
Everytime i stop the iCloud music match/upload, it has to start from the beginning in order to resume. Arrrgh! Apple?!? And please, how can i access my iCloud "match' library, which i paid for, from another itunes library in a second computer?
Pleeeease.
I was just wondering what to do - I have songs that I have downloaded years ago from cd's that I own onto a previous now non working PC all together. When I get the info on these songs it states that they are either Apple Music or AAC music files ( i dont understand much of what I am talking about so bear with me ) - but itunes wont let me put them onto a new ipod shuffle that I have. Why wont they ? I own that from the CD. I have Apple Music but not Music Match- I get that the songs I have streamed from Apple Music cant go on my shuffle since there is no wifi ( which sucks but whatever) but why not the songs I own? Thanks in advance. Lauren H
Late reply but noticed your question and thought I would chime in if you haven't solved your problem already.
These CD files you want to add, are these straight from the CD? You mention your original PC is broken. Did you rip the tracks from the CD onto your current PC? If you downloaded those tracks from Apple Music, you won't be able to add it to your shuffle. You would need the original, straight from the cd, files. You can rerip the files, I don't mean it has the be the exact same files you ripped years ago
I use Serato to DJ with and that won't play DRM music. I make playlists in Appple Music but then want to buy all of the tracks so I can use them in Serato. Is there a way of batch purchasing Apple Music songs? One would think Apple would have a 'purchase all' option on a playlist
OK ... I am probably missing something stupid and obvious ...
I am using current iTunes (12.3) on an iMac with current OSX (El Capitan 10.11). I subscribe to Match. I do NOT use Apple Music.
Prime objective: be sure the most complete and highest quality version of the 4,000+ tracks in the iTunes library I have built up over many years resides on the mother-ship: the hard drive of my desktop iMac.
Approximately 2,000 tracks have been successfully matched by iTunes Match, but the versions on my desktop are older, 128kbps versions. I keep reading about how I can download superior quality (228kbps) versions of any track that is still in iTunes catalog and that it has successfully matched: delete them, then redownload your matched tracks.
If i simply delete these Matched tracks they disappear ... they are no longer listed or displayed anywhere in iTunes. Where do I go find (or how do I get my desktop iTunes to display) the tracks that now exist only in the cloud, so I can download them to my hard drive? Where is the "Available for Download" icon?
(I have mastered the art of getting the higher-end version of older items I bought through the iTunes store: When I delete these I can go into iTunes Store, click on "Purchased" and re-download in the new and improved AAC 228kbps format.)
My issue is with older, DRM-free versions I burned from CDs (most of which I no longer own). They are tracks available for sale from the iTunes store. Match HAS successfully matched them, I can play them from my iOS devices. I just can't figure out how to get them to my hard drive.
I have a question regarding play counts: I'm a little OCD about checking my play counts on tracks in my playlist. When they reach a certain number of plays, I will cycle them out of active rotation for a while. It appears that since I signed up for iMusic, the play counts don't register when I'm listening on my phone. Is there any way to rectify this?
It is a pretty sad state of affairs that what we Mac/Apple fans used to ridicule Windows for is now even more the case with Apple software.... even more than RTFM we have to online searches to read articles to figure out what and how Apple's software or services work. This article is very useful. But I cannot see any mention of one weird thing signing up for Music Match ONLY did to my library. I see the headings you explain above but several songs are now marked REMOVED, even songs in an album of which other songs are showing MATCHED! Any idea what is going on? Thank you.
Imran
http://blog.imran.com
Brilliant article. Thanks for this.
I have just bought a new macbook pro and I am on iTunes 12.3.1. When I go to my music, view, view options, and then go to the show columns dropdown menu, iCloud status is not there. iCloud download is there, but the status column is not. I've logged out of the store numerous times and restarted iTunes, and still this column doesn't appear. Can anyone help me on this please?
Old article but would love some help with a problem I'm having.
I download a lot of electronic mixtapes and compilations. A lot of the time different artists use the same song in their sets and mix it into the next song. My problem is, whenever I add a set to my library, iTunes will try and match the files and then put that on my phone. I don't want this! It completely ruins the point of the mixtape.
Is there anyway to use the benefits of Apple Music and the iCloud music library, while at the same time maintaining my own custom library without syncing with the cloud?
After the latest El Capitan update suddenly Apple music showed all of my all my previously downloaded music files ( both purchased from iTunes store and downloads from Apple Music) as " not downloaded ", a little cloud behind each track or album. Checking the Apple Music and ITunes Music folders on my MAC I saw however that all music is still there. The iTunes files I can play by clicking on the files in the iTunes folders, the Apple Music files I cannot play clicking since they are encrypted. But the snag is that when I click a song in iTunes, be it an Apple music song or an iTunes song, I can only do it by going on line and playing them streaming or downloading them (again and again etc.). I am now stuck with some 25 GB Apple Music tracks on my system without being able to play them and another 25 GB of iTunes music that I can only play by searching the music in Finder. Is there a possibility of restoring the link between my MAC files and Apple Music/ iTunes?
So what happens in this scenario.....
I subscribe to Apple Music (not to iTunes Match) but I turn OFF iCloud Music Library?
What does that do? How does that change things?
I heard that was a way to prevent me from losing all my synced music from iTunes on my iOS device (and verified that that works). But what am I losing when I turn of iCloud Music Library, yet have an Apple Music subscription?
The reason I ask is because when I first signed up for Apple Music I lost all the synced music I had on my iPhone - which sucked. I had to stream/download them all and over cellular (which is where I most play the stuff on my phone), that was gonna be a killer for my limited cellular data plan. I ended up turning off iCloud Music Library and resenting all my music from iTunes, bit was unsure where that left me in terms of functionality.
EDIT: So I just found this - another one of your articles:
What changes when you disable iCloud Music Library?
If you disable iCloud Music Library on all your devices, here's what changes for you vis a vis Apple Music:
• You can't stream songs from your Mac's library on your iPhone, iPad, or other Macs.
• You can't download songs or playlists from Apple Music to your other devices—which also means no offline access.
• You can manually sync music from your iTunes library on your Mac to your iPhone via Wi-Fi or USB.
So if I want to maintain the ability to sync to my iOS devices from iTunes I *must* turn off iCloud Music Library to do so? This then renders the two major features of iCloud Music Library unusable to me then? Is that right?
I have tried to convert my music to get rid of the Apple Music ACC and only get 59 out of 600. If I logout and log back in the 59 are there but the rest do not come back. I have to go in and add them back to my library and they are not converted. ALL of these songs I put in my library from my own CDs but they are protected now. Should have set it to mp3s at first and been done with it. That was $25 wasted! Totally worthless!
Just wondering I have a playlist on my iOS devices called purchased music which was automatically created when I signed up to Apple Music and chose to merge my library in the settings rather then replace it. It's not showing up on my Mac just this one purchased music playlist is this happening for anyone else or is it normal behaviour