I need get some way of getting music on my iPhone and MacBook. Any advice?
Actually on the devices or in cloud and accessible from both?
I need get some way of getting music on my iPhone and MacBook. Any advice?
the built in Music app works well.
you can subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service. Your playlists and stuff will sync between the devices through iCloud. This is easy.
you can add your music files to the Music app on your Mac and subscribe to either Apple Music or Match and the files will be available on both devices through iCloud.
or you can connect your iPhone to your Mac and sync or copy music from Music on the Mac to the iPhone.
On my old pc and phone I had all the music I had ripped from the original cds, I also used to use the free version of Spotify until they made it more clunky without a subscription.
i would like to have my own music on my devices and be able to stream music.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
YouTube premium includes a music app.
i would like to have my own music on my devices and be able to stream music.
So if I understand correctly, you have ripped music and just want to access it? In which case there are two main ways.
First is to have a NAS set up at home; then install VLC or similar on both PC and phone, point VLC to said NAS (while you're at home) and play.
The other, more mobile option is to copy the music across to both devices, and use your preferred music player on each.
But this feels a bit obvious, so I may have misunderstood your question
I've never actually done this but it seems Apple Music does do what you want it to do. You can import your files into Apple Music and it will store it. If it finds a match though it won't upload your file, just match it to an existing stream. I guess it won't always match perfectly. You may get a different version of the song, or a different format so definitely try it out first.
How much of your own music do you have, where is it stored, what format?
Thanks Singletrack
I will now copy all the ripped CDs onto both devices so the existing music is there even when off line.
I will subscribe to Apple Music for online listening etc.
It was a bit obvious but I wanted some confirmation that what I was thinking of was not completely bonkers.
Thank you all for spending time to provide helpful replies. 😎
The great thing with Apple Music, is that if you use Shazam for finding out what a piece of music is, it gives you a link straight into Apple Music, (Apple bought Shazam years ago). If you download music out of curiosity, it’s dead easy to delete it if you don’t like it, or you can add it to your Library and stream it, but that’s dependent on what your particular phone network is like.
Actually downloading it means you have it in Lossless, which if you use wired headphones, you get the best quality, which streaming can’t do via Bluetooth.
The gig I was at last night had an interesting support act, called Night Swimming, so after their set, I did a search on Music, they have an EP and a number of singles, so I added them to my Library ready for checking out later on.
Shazam quite often works well with music used for film and tv productions as well, that you can add to your Library.
I will now copy all the ripped CDs onto both devices so the existing music is there even when off line.
Why bother copying the ripped CDs when they will already be on Apple Music and it’s easy on one device to add to the library / download / create a playlist etc on just one device, then it’s there on both devices
Also I very rarely like all tracks on every album so you don’t have to have them all
Thanks Singletrack
I will now copy all the ripped CDs onto both devices so the existing music is there even when off line.
I will subscribe to Apple Music for online listening etc.
It was a bit obvious but I wanted some confirmation that what I was thinking of was not completely bonkers.
Thank you all for spending time to provide helpful replies. 😎
if you subscribe to Apple Music it will do that ‘copying’ for you via the cloud. Things that you drag into Music on the Mac are added to your library. As folks described, these are then matched to stuff in Apple’s Music collection or, if there is no match, yours is uploaded and is then available on any device you have authorised for your Apple Music account. You can make them locally available on the device just by downloading them whenever you want.
Or, as I think you have described, you can transfer things you have added from ripped files from your library by connecting your iPhone to your Mac and syncing selected files/playlists. No need for an Apple Music subscription for this option.
have fun.
Thanks Singletrack
I will now copy all the ripped CDs onto both devices so the existing music is there even when off line.
I will subscribe to Apple Music for online listening etc.
It was a bit obvious but I wanted some confirmation that what I was thinking of was not completely bonkers.
Thank you all for spending time to provide helpful replies. 😎
I've had the reverse journey, had one of the earlier iPod models so ripped all CD's and added some downloads via napster,limewire, etc and managed this all via iTunes app, over the years now the iTunes app has become Apple Music but it still works, I would watch out for if stuff is downloaded for offline play or not, this caught me out in a low signal area ages ago where even my ripped music was synced to the cloud which I couldnt access, if downloaded playlists,songs, etc have a tick next to them.
The one bug bear I have is that some of my playlists from iTunes have comes across to Apple Music but no longer update properly, I have a playlist for most played music on song count which stopped updating and another playlist is backwards, ie on my laptop it runs in an order I prescribe, but when synced it flips it which is very annoying.
i would like to have my own music on my devices and be able to stream music.
Ok, so I'm assuming you're a new Apple user?
1) Your MP3 collection. I'm assuming you have that on a hard drive or your old PC? Not everything is on streaming services - I've got lots of obscure remixes, compilation albums, DJ mixes and downloaded radio shows. Theres still a good reason to have MP3s locally. (and theres weird stuff missing - wanted to listen to the Paris Texas soundtrack album the other day. that's not on Spotify
- put that on a hard drive/memory stick and connect to your Mac.
- Open the Music app. Go to File/Import and point it at the drive thats got your MP3s on. It will copy them to the Mac's music directory and sort it all into a file/folder structure and index it in Music using the tags.
2) Sync the MP3s you want on your phone
- connect your phone to your Mac with a cable and approve all the "trust the device" stuff
- open the Finder (Windows file explorer equivalent)
- Click on your phone under 'locations' in the left hand bar
- Click on Music from the horizontal menu that should appear on the right
- tick 'sync music onto MYPHONE' and then select either 'entire library' or pick the stuff you actually want on your phone
For streaming you can use either Apple Music or Spotify. Theres no free tier with advertising on Apple as there is on Spotify. My MP3s are in Apple Music but I much prefer the interface on Spotify so use that for streaming.
Shazam will open music it finds in apple or Spotify if you install the app (rather than using the built in shortcut)
Interesting stuff. So, can I upload my own music then add them to playlists within Apple music? Don't think you can on Spotify?
I've been considering canning Spotify as it's daft expensive now and I've repeatedly been unable to find certain mixes to songs I've wanted (nothing too obscure, all available on mix albums in the past).
Oh, and is there a way to copy Spotify playlists to Apple Music easily?
I use Youtube Premium for music. It has everything I wasnt to stream and gets rid of adverts on Youtube which is a massive plus
@ b33k34
Thanks thats really useful. After years of prevaricating I finally ditched Windows. I had used Microsoft at work and and home since DOS commands and batch files and have found Apple has caused me to scratch my head a bit. What I loved about Apple is it boots up quickly and works instead of doing background updates etc.
Interesting stuff. So, can I upload my own music then add them to playlists within Apple music? Don't think you can on Spotify?
Yes
Oh, and is there a way to copy Spotify playlists to Apple Music easily?
I used an iOS app called SongShift to do this. Not that I've ever used Spotify, but once or twice I have come across people publishing public Spotify playlists that I really wanted to access, so used this app to get get them into Apple Music.
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music. Apple also pay artists more.
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music.
I haven't ripped any music for well over a decade but I'd like to switch from Spotify to Apple Music because I think the founder is a pretty deplorable human being, but I'm kept on board by the Daily Mix and similar playlists, which I listen to more than any music I've specifically downloaded. Also at this point I've got masses of playlists which would be a real pain in the gentleman's region to copy, via SongShift or whatever.
Interesting stuff. So, can I upload my own music then add them to playlists within Apple music? Don't think you can on Spotify?
I've been considering canning Spotify as it's daft expensive now and I've repeatedly been unable to find certain mixes to songs I've wanted (nothing too obscure, all available on mix albums in the past).
I don't remember (it's a few years since I was using Apple Music) but you can do that in Spotify. On Desktop, settings, your library 'show local files'
Spotify is NOT expensive. £12.99 a month for one user? A CD album was £10-15 right through the 80's and 90's. I seem to remember spending about £50 a month on CDs for years which should by rights be a multiple of that by now.
Spotify is NOT expensive. £12.99 a month for one user?
And I think you can get it cheaper than that if you don't use the audio books feature
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music.
...because Spotify is cross-platform, and the first (big) platform to do what it does. Apple's insistence on everything being an ecosystem means Apple users love it; and everyone else is left pretty cold.
Amazon did for a while offer the "upload your own music and we'll make it available to you to stream" thing, IIRC, but quietly let it die. As a moderately tech-savvy person I never saw the appeal, but I guess I understand the iTunes solution of "rip/ download the music you want, track it all in iTunes, and we'll let you stream it wherever you are" for less tech-savvy folks.
Interesting stuff. So, can I upload my own music then add them to playlists within Apple music? Don't think you can on Spotify?
Yes
Oh, and is there a way to copy Spotify playlists to Apple Music easily?
I used an iOS app called SongShift to do this. Not that I've ever used Spotify, but once or twice I have come across people publishing public Spotify playlists that I really wanted to access, so used this app to get get them into Apple Music.
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music. Apple also pay artists more.
Cheers dude, I'll give it a go.
Interesting stuff. So, can I upload my own music then add them to playlists within Apple music? Don't think you can on Spotify?
I've been considering canning Spotify as it's daft expensive now and I've repeatedly been unable to find certain mixes to songs I've wanted (nothing too obscure, all available on mix albums in the past).
I don't remember (it's a few years since I was using Apple Music) but you can do that in Spotify. On Desktop, settings, your library 'show local files'
Spotify is NOT expensive. £12.99 a month for one user? A CD album was £10-15 right through the 80's and 90's. I seem to remember spending about £50 a month on CDs for years which should by rights be a multiple of that by now.
With a family using it we're up near £20 and only get a couple of accounts. From what I remember you get plenty more content from Apple for similar?
It may not be that expensive stand alone but when I tot up all the various subscriptions things are getting silly. New Year plan is to consolidate and look for better value.
Apple Music is iirc £17 for a family of (up to) 5.
I'm an Apple user both in phone and laptop now but I had the Apple Music app on an Android phone previously.
No complaints here.
Spotify does seem to be the "most evil" of the streaming services (based on how much social media content I get served about it not paying artists and generally enshittifying their experience).
Tidal has always been cross platform and a bit less content, but better quality - I tried it but too much inertia to change from Apple Music (as an apple user it's a bit of a no-brainer).
Apple Music is also cross platform now as there's an android app.
Spotify Premium is £21.99 for 6 accounts which I think is decent value especially for how much we use it as a family.
I've been with Spotify since it was invite-only when it first launched and despite being a Mac household I can't be arsed to shift the 4 accounts were using over to Apple Music.
My biggest bug-bear with Spotify is it's a bit of a pain to switch between accounts when using the laptop. This means my wife listens to her music on my account and messes with my feed!! 😱
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music.
Works the same on YouTube Music.
I really don't understand why Spotify is so ubiquitous. The ability to access your own ripped music anywhere on any device (including a web based player) is a killer feature for Apple Music. Apple also pay artists more.
Most people haven't even got a CD drive in their computers - ripping music is very niche now and ripping from tape or vinyl is even more niche.
It's just not a thing they need to cater for anymore.
EDIT - just checked - you can still add local files to the Spotify app.
EDIT - just checked - you can still add local files to the Spotify app.
I think on the Spotify app you have to add them per device, where as in apple music you add them to your "account" and they are synced between devices. I don't think it is so much about "ripping" your music collection anymore so much as just having a way to access some songs that are not available on streaming.
I find that Spotify works well if you have any sonos kit in a way that apple music doesn't. And just the basic UI of Spotify is better, the algorithm fir recommending music used to be better on spotify (but that seems to have suffered shitification over the years so isn't as good as it was IMO).
Apple music is good for making video playlists, which given the price hikes with zwift etc can be good as an alternative to keep occupied with a some audio/visual stimulation for a turbo session.
EDIT - just checked - you can still add local files to the Spotify app.
I think on the Spotify app you have to add them per device, where as in apple music you add them to your "account" and they are synced between devices. I don't think it is so much about "ripping" your music collection anymore so much as just having a way to access some songs that are not available on streaming.
I find that Spotify works well if you have any sonos kit in a way that apple music doesn't. And just the basic UI of Spotify is better, the algorithm fir recommending music used to be better on spotify (but that seems to have suffered shitification over the years so isn't as good as it was IMO).
Apple music is good for making video playlists, which given the price hikes with zwift etc can be good as an alternative to keep occupied with a some audio/visual stimulation for a turbo session.
Correct, the Spotify local player is also fairly crap, not properly honouring tagging, replaygain, artwork etc.
Correct, the Spotify local player is also fairly crap, not properly honouring tagging, replaygain, artwork etc.
This might solve those problems, provided you’ve got a big enough drive or storage space…
It's times like this I hug my music drive... all this steaming for a monthly subscription gives me the Heebie-jeebies.
It's times like this I hug my music drive... all this steaming for a monthly subscription gives me the Heebie-jeebies.
A few years ago when I bought my current Active Monitors/Dac etc I decided to box up my cd’s (3kish) as they took up space, so I copied all my CD’s into ALAC using a Mac SuperDrive and EAC to a 2TB ssd drive about 5 odd years, any new music I buy gets copied to the SSD, it’s probably totally unnecessary as I stream using Tidal/Roon for all my listening but it’s nice to have that foolproof backup.