What are /r/AppleMusic's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

If you believe, as I do, that music streaming services in some form or another will always be around then you really don't need to sweat it. There are a myriad of services already that will take your "library" and port it to and from AM, Spotify, etc. https://freeyourmusic.com for example... Your music is just a list of songs, anyways - if you have downloads they'll all stop working eventually if you unsubscribe or AM disappears suddenly, so there's nothing worthwhile to back up.

​

That said, I personally buy vinyl of any album I consider good enough to want to own in a permanent fashion.

“Apple Digital Masters” was the new name for the “Mastered for iTunes” program. Anything that is an Apple Digital Master was encoded from the 24-bit PCM master to a 256kbps AAC by Apple. So if Apple still has the 24-bit masters, it should be fairly easy for them to encode to ALAC as well. Source: https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf

It’s called Spotify Connect and has been around forever. Works fantastic and is a huge feature of Spotify. Why Apple has not done this yet is beyond me. There was even a time where this alone was a reason for me to use Spotify more than Apple Music. However I weighed that against proper music library management and AM keeps bringing me back.

https://www.spotify.com/us/connect/

Yes. Apple calls them iTunes+ and Apple Music delivers this whenever possible.

https://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

​

>By starting with the best possible masters we are able to offer our Apple Music and iTunes customers the highest possible quality audio. Our latest encoder can take advantage of every bit of the high-resolution masters that engineers are creating especially for us. The results, both for streaming and download, are virtually indistinguishable from the original 24 bit studio masters.

This should be no problem with IFTTT and Workflow for iOS. I'm doing something similar right now, but not with reddit. For example I'm using this IFTTT Applet to get all new tracks for the playlist into a text file in my dropbox - you could do the same with a "New post in subreddit"-trigger. Then I use workflow to read the text file, search for the music on apple music and add the found tracks to a playlist. My setup in Workflow is more modular (Workflow 1: Translate input to JSON, 2: Search and add music from JSON while adding "found/not found" to JSON, 3: Write results to Bear, so I can see what failed and correct search mistakes) ... I guess you can do that a lot more efficient for your use case.

https://freeyourmusic.com/move-from-apple-music-to-spotify.html

Also, it doesn’t move any of the music you have added manually to your library. So you would lose anything that you added from outside sources like mixtapes, etc.

I thought they’d want to beat Amazon also.

Side note: I remember when they rebranded to “Apple Digital Masters” I went through then documentation and saw they preferred the audio to be provided in 24-bit PCM and got super excited because it means they have Hi-Res versions of the ADM. (Source : https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf).

I doubt they will be in a hurry to do it, Apple already has an extremely developed process for bringing music to 256kbps AAC and it sounds transparent to most of us.

https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf

Just finished the import into Airtable! First CSV imported without seperating fields but, all finished now and open for contribution. Airtable Contribution Invite

This site has a comprehensive list of commands: http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/07/learn-and-listen-top-siri-commands-for-apple-music

And one more: "Play my music" will shuffle all of your songs in your library.

Oh I realise that. And I totally agree, their matching algorithm needs a lot of work. I mean, I have stuff like black sabbath, where the a track with the same name can have someone else singing it depending what decade it's in.

Just trying to clarify that the music you've ripped to itunes hasn't been replaced - you're just not getting what you asked for when you try to get a copy back off them. Which still isn't "as advertised", and yeah - kinda broken. But not quite as bad as if it'd reached into the copy you ripped and replaced that.

(What's actually broken here, is that iTunes Match sends the contents of any song you didn't purchase from itms, and tries to match against the content. This is pretty good at telling a PA version from a clean version, a studio performance from a live performance, or even telling two live performances apart. I dig it. Apple Music isn't doing this, it's just sending metadata. So wherever the data is vague, it may guess wrong.)

On OSX, there's an app called Subler that'll allow you to add the Explicit tag to tracks, which will help itunes identify it better. Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions for Windows, hopefully someone else can chime in.

(If you do fix it this way, annoyingly, you have to remove the tracks from your library, wait for it to sync, and then re-add them and sync again for music/match to notice. argh.)

Just a suggestion -- why not just copy over your music library over to be on the safe side, plus it will make the transition a lot better as spotify will already start learning what you like to listen to.

You can accomplish this with a number of applications, below are some to get you started:

• Songshift - http://songshiftapp.com/
• STAMP - https://freeyourmusic.com/

Soundiiz is the perfect tool for this. Select YT Music as source, Apple Music as destination, select playlists to be transferred and done.

Its a premium one but costs only 3 euro per month. Good one time purchase. Once all playlists are transferred, stop payment.

https://soundiiz.com/pricing#pricingDetail

I’ve figured out how to save it all on iPhone but idk if the app is available on Android, but if it is you can save ALL that music onto another app where you can download to listen to offline.

1. Download the app AudioMack and create an account.
2. Go to Soundiiz website
3. Log into Apple ID on the Soundiiz website
4. You can now access the iTunes library; select the playlists you want to move to AudioMack • (You have to pay to transfer your entire library of songs but you can easily add your songs to playlists (by 50 songs) and number them so it’s easier to transfer)
5. Select your playlists and press AudioMack when the option for apps come up
6. Press “Convert” - when it’s done, press “Show” and you’ll see your songs have moved onto AudioMack
7. Open the AudioMack app to see your music
8. Repeat until you’ve moved all your music over

Don't listen to those comments. I'm really trying to help here because I understand your struggle!! As I pointed in another comment try restoring your account as it was before, with help of an Apple Assistant, with your old payment method to restore your old libraries.

Then access iTunes from a computer and back up your sister's library from her iTunes, hit download everything and if she has local files those can be backed up downloding them from iCloud.

I don't know if I'm being clear. If not feel free to ask !!

Also if you gain access to your old library check Songshift Pro or Soundiiz to transfer your content from Apple Music to a free account of Spotify to have the "list" you maybe are trying to get.

Yes if the song in the iTunes Store has the digital masters badge then the song in Apple Music will be the digital mastered version via their codec (if you have higher quality streaming turned on).

Source: https://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

You can tag this with a tagger like mp3tag or any other that can edit MP4 metadata fields. Not from within iTunes/Music itself, unfortunately.

Technical background: this info can only be tagged in MP4 files (AAC, Apple Lossless), not mp3 files. The MP4 metadata atoms are ownr and purd, more info here.

If anyone does this regularly like I do converting AM songs to my own copies, I use Radio Silence for Step 2. You can essentially cut off iTunes network connection, but continue browsing the web if need be.

Bonus is that you can still browse Apple Music catalog through iTunes, with no fear of premature uploads.

I've worked a lot with Apple Music and Spotify too. Both have their pros and cons, but overall I really have to side with Spotify. (If you look at their APIs, Spotify completely outdoes AM in everything) I've actually developed a Zapier integration to automatically sync music between the two so you can use both, if you are in a position like me, where you really can't let go of Spotify, yet require AM for homepods/apple watch/siri integration or whatever reason. You can use it for free: https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/71895/e52d38b266883ef3d7fb504dab52ac5a/ Hope it helps someone.

Just wondering if I need a dedicated DAC to output 24-bit/192kHz audio from my M1 iPad Pro 12.9. Or can I simply just use this Samsung USBC to 3.5mm adapter which claims 24-bit/192kHz output and instead spend my precious money elsewhere?

Thanks.

Samsung USB-C Headset Jack Adapter - Official Samsung Headphones Adaptor/ Type C/ USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Adaptor - White , EE-UC10JUWEGWW

Three PCS Silicone Rubber Band For iPhone Sony MP3 Player Headphones Amplifier Binding S Size https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FFVB3HG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_NVNZ5BHTACEHB95SJ67M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

No. they don’t

>Not sure why apple has made it so hard to listen to HI Res.

This is fairly misleading. Apple is not at fault for the hardware requirements to play Hi-Res Lossless. Without going into the rabbit hole that is HiFi and audio hardware, the highest average audio resolution you can play wirelessly is 24-bit/96kHz. Anything higher requires a dedicated DAC (digital to analog converter) to support higher resolutions. There are plenty of mini-DACs that are essentially a better made dongle, but they can be between $20 all the way up to $250.

One thing that people don't know is it is actually far better to use lower sample rates for Bluetooth due to the way compression artifacts are formed. Essentially, the more data to be compressed, the more likely artifacts will occur. The more artifacts, the lower the audio quality.

As far as wireless options go, your phone is the hard limitation for this as well. The built-in DAC that your phone has must support the codec your wireless headphones will support. While there are some wireless codecs (LDAC, aptX, etc) that can handle up to 24-bit/96kHz, I don't think there is yet a wireless standard that can do 24-bit/192khz. Even then, if one existed, this isn't something that can be added via software, since it's a hardware limitation. The last thing that has to be factored in is whether or not your wireless headhones support that codec.

TLDR; It is currently impossible to have the Hi-Res Lossless supported over any wireless audio device, regardless of phone, headset, or streaming service.

Why can't you just plug your android phone in directly and copy the AIFF files over ?

USBAPP plays them:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudioplayerpro&hl=en_GB&gl=US

No doubt there are others.

I think the WiiM Mini AirPlay2 Wireless Audio Streamer does all you need and more at the lowest cost for these devices.

But most smart TVs have Apple Music now. This could be an option you already have. AM on LG looks great on screen too. I think the others are similarly good.

You can do the same I think with ifttt but it’s not as seamless and requires a subscription for non basic stuff I think. But ye I’m still not sure if the automations are locked to Apple Music, or if it’s just Spotify being lazy as usual not developing features that people want

I had that issue for a while. Turns out FiiO sells a cable that works without being tied to a squid and wall outlet.

I have no idea what it does differently from other lightning to USB-C cables, but I can confirm that it works where the other don’t.

https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Lightning-Supports-Lossless-Headphone/dp/B09Q8FJ1FT

If it helps, Pro is for sale today and tomorrow for $169. Highly recommend them:

​

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MLWK3AM-A-AirPods-Pro/dp/B09JQMJHXY/ref=sr\_1\_16?crid=EPHB5XAZA6XR&keywords=apple+homepod&qid=1657678596&sprefix=apple+homepo%2Caps%2C259&sr=8-16

thanks for the tip but im ok. I dont even use bluetooth. most people cant tell the difference. as you state and you now what -it doesn't matter, most of my music producer friends dont really care. bur my pint was better in = better out

​

I use these

​

https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-microPro-Precision-Earphones/dp/B004CXBJ6A

bye

Here ya go ——> Car and Driver INTELLIDASH with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, 7'' IPS Touchscreen Multimedia Player with Bluetooth, Mirror Link, SiriusXM, Google, Siri Assistant Dash or Windshield Mounted (Wired) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVZRYFL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0Z9EXMKSE0REHXCZF1TH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Skip the adapter with this one for less

USB DAC OTG Cable for iPhone/iPad/iPod with 8-pin Port, iOS 14 to Type C OTG Cord for USB C Amplifier, BTR 5 Q3S, Xduoo xd-05 Plus IP 12 Pro Max, Mini, 11, Xs, Xr, SE, Digital Camera, 4feet/1.2m https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VH58HS9/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_TRCN9XF7TNYSQYM4PEYF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Okay. So this gift card (link attached) should give me a code and that code I can redeem to pay my apple music bills monthly? Limited-time deal: Apple - App Store Code - For India - Delivered via Email https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09JNZQDKT/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_dl_CY24M931PRKWEEPG0H9N

I have searching for a similar MagSafe accessory to hold the Fiio q3. Ordered these yesterday, let’s see if it works.

Fiio should come up with their own such cases or holders with MagSafe option.

No. There is a DAC in the Lightning connector on wired EarPods. You will get much better sound, however, with the Apple Dongle and a better pair of wired headphones or IEMs.

Apple Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXJFMGF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_0Z3Y9GYKH2S1YZGRMQRN

I occasionally use a personal commercial VPN (ProtonVPN) but largely it’s a vanilla 4G or 5G connection (I have unlimited data, thankfully)

At home I often don’t even switch to my Wi-Fi unless I need interact (say airplay to HomePod)

I’m not on any particular network that I can attribute this to other than quite often occurs when I’m using cellular signal - so my ISP? I get a litany of other similar issues across other apps over time - even ProtonVPN drops saying it’s certificates are bodge - it’s a real hassle. Probably occurs in one form or another twice a day. Any steps I could take to test or remedy ?

I have an iPad Pro with USB-C connection so I bought this splitter to run USB-C cable into my Auris bluMe Pro DAC and be able to charge the iPad. Then realized today I can run an HDMI cable straight into my Denon receiver and use the AVR’s DAC. Sounds great. If I’d thought of that sooner I probably would have gone with the Apple HDMI splitter, but this one is a lot more versatile.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087BTVJX6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_63BX75GJKV06SKCPT9QV?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Maybe try installing an older version of the apk from a website like this

https://www.apkmirror.com/?post_type=app_release&searchtype=apk&s=Apple+music

Not too familiar with android so I hope this helps a bit!

If you use Apple Music on PC, then use it via BlueStacks 5 (Android Simulator) and download the Apple Music APP, and hear music this way!

You will have even Lossless Support! :D

https://www.bluestacks.com

If you use Apple Music on PC, then use it via BlueStacks 5 (Android Simulator) and download the Apple Music APP, and hear music this way!

You will have even Lossless Support! :D

https://www.bluestacks.com

If you use Apple Music on PC, then use it via BlueStacks 5 (Android Simulator) and download the Apple Music APP, and hear music this way!

You will have even Lossless Support! :D

https://www.bluestacks.com

Thanks! It's part of a set that Apple used in marketing, theres also a more red variants. You can find it in this set of iOS wallpapers and for macOS here.

You can get around the matched tracks being lower quality.

Before doing anything obvious disclaimer, backup your ripped files to something like an external drive.

1) connect your apple music account to something like https://soundiiz.com/

2) create a smartplaylist in Apple Music that only contains matched files.

3) import that playlist into the soundizz library

4) delete all those matched tracks from your library using the playlist (select all, right click, delete from library)

5) using soundizz, transfer the soundizz playlist back into apple music

6) select all the tracks in Apple Music, right click add to library

That will have got the highest quality version and they will no longer be matched.

Just did this as well a couple of months ago. I used soundiiz.com to copy over all of my playlists (like 200 of them.) It's around $5 a month but you only have to pay for a month and cancel the sub. While I was in there I pulled all my old Google Music playlists too. It worked pretty well, of course not all songs matched up but I'm happy with the results.

For what it's worth, I'm really happy with the switch.

If I were you I'd get a free trial of Roon: https://roonlabs.com/

Use the export function to dump all your music that you own to a spreadsheet then import it with Soundizz: https://soundiiz.com/

That'll match anything that exists in Apple music and give you a list of things that don't, then you can drag the music that doesn't exist into apple music and there you have a clean library :)

I prefer SongShift and TuneMyMusic although i dintnuse the latter much because it seems to pull lots of album art from compilations and sometimes pulls things like “vocal covers” and not the original song.

Songshift i find to be accurate around 95% of the time.

I use a web site service Tune My Music. The free level will let you copy up to 500 tracks across multiple playlists at once. Just grab a handful at a time and watch how many tracks are in each playlist.

Even Spotify has an "semi-official" Linux client lmao

https://www.spotify.com/es/download/linux/

> Spotify for Linux is a labor of love from our engineers that wanted to listen to Spotify on their Linux development machines. They work on it in their spare time and it is currently not a platform that we actively support. The experience may differ from our other Spotify Desktop clients, such as Windows and Mac.

That's awesome, thank you!

I managed to find an answer to my other question about importing local 5.1 files, if anyone is interested. Most of what I have are .ac3 files I managed to create from various disc formats, and a few flac. I had tried converting to other apple compatible formats with some software I have, but it wasn't working. Then I found an online service called cloudconvert.com where I could convert the ac3 files into m4a, added the new files to my library, and sure enough it works! The local tools I have are a little old, so maybe they just didn't support the multi-channel option. The online service is a little slow and manual, but not too bad.

I do have an odd issue where the first track of Sgt Pepper I imported is matching to a dolby atmos version and the rest are staying original, but still working on sorting that out (it's pretty annoying since the atmos version is quieter, and I believe a different mix in general).

https://www.nightbirdsevolve.com/meta/

This is the best music tagging software on the market, hands down. Beautiful UI, consistently updated, and just a pleasure to use.

Lots of ways it seems. I’ve heard good things about this but haven’t needed to change services yet. That said, if others here have a negative experience and better suggestions then ignore this. I’ll be checking here for better options myself.

You’ll have to make a custom playlist of all those songs on Spotify first. Next use an app or website. The first time I did it I used https://www.tunemymusic.com and since then I’ve sued SongShift (app) with success.

From any Spotify player you can remote control another Spotify player.

Example, if listening on iPhone, you can use Mac client to select songs, control volume etc and it takes that action on the iPhone.

https://www.spotify.com/uk/connect/

this is the one I got

Hi. I check the status of SDK, my android phone, and statistics... install or reinstall https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.meows.meows and then login with Apple Music, maybe reinstall AM, maybe play music in AM. Sorry, it is a difficult problem I request one event in SDK and wait a response.

What you want to do -- take music OFF of an iDevice and put it ONTO a computer, from where you could then pass it along even further -- is something Apple has very deliberately NOT designed a way to accomplish ever since the first iPod. The idea is that if people were all going around with tons of music on their iPods, and could just offload it anywhere they wanted, it would be too easy for piracy and people would figure out that that was a good way to do it and it would encourage them. I think the record labels even may have forced them to do it that way.

Anyway, there are third-party apps that can pull most of the data on an iPhone onto a computer so you can do something with it again. Many have come and gone over the years and I can't think of the names of any. The one I am familiar with that is currently available and up-to-date is called iMazing. It isn't free, but it isn't expensive, either.

It is pretty sophisticated, and probably overkill if all you want to do is extract music, but it will do the trick.

CAVEAT: I don't think it can really do anything with any tracks that have DRM, so that means nothing ever purchased from the iTunes Music Store, and nothing that is technically an Apple Music track they can only play while their Apple Play subscription is active. Those tracks, I think, will just be ignored. It's conceivable they could get pulled out with the rest of them, but you wont be able to play them unless you authenticate with whatever Apple ID is associated with either the iTunes Music Store purchases or Apple Music subscription that you had at the time you got the tracks. This obviously assumes that you will still be using either iTunes or Apple Music; no other software can do anything with those files at all.

https://imazing.com

-Pete

For iPhone, you mean this DAC?

Or something like it that connects directly to lightning port?

Update : def a bug in the latest windows itunes version

I rolled back to 12.11.3.17 and the problem is fixed :)

Found 12.11.3.17 64 bit for windows here : https://www.filehorse.com/download-itunes-64/60990/download/

Anyone know the best way to get Apple to fix this for the next Itunes update?

Update to Catalina, but only works on certain newer iPads. For older iPads, spend $10 and use Duet Display. I'm about to do the latter now in fact.. :)

edit: err, and pay $20/year if you want it wirelessly..

To move the icons you can wait 1 more second for the icons to jiggle or you can select Rearrange Icons from the menu. In my usage, this is the most annoying change.

Pressing the space bar to invoke the cursor is completely unchanged. You can also use two fingers on the keyboard for the same function.

I didn't know you could press harder to select - pretty cool. With Haptic you can use two fingers to select.

You can read about the text selection changes on the iPadOS page here https://www.apple.com/ipados/ under Text Editing. For iOS changes, Text Editing is the third from the bottom here https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-13/features/

If it doesn't work out, remember that Spotify still works great on IOS. You can even uninstall the Apple Music app if you want. I want to like Apple Music but there's just a couple of things that Apple does that make it hard to switch completely to Apple Music.

As a Linux user, here's a few things.

• There is a Linux app! It actually works pretty well, I prefer it over the web app. https://snapcraft.io/apple-music-for-linux

• Firefox works great for the Web App if you don't want to install anything. The beta has a lot of features that match up with IOS 14.

Here are some things in general that I appreciate from Apple Music.

• Shuffle is SO much better. My daily playlists on Spotify have the same songs. Over and over and over. I have +12,000 songs in my library and if I listen to Losing My Religion once, its in my daily mix for months.

• IOS 14 makes it easier to find user created playlists. When you search you can easily specify what you want to find. I love this.

• The radio. I hated it at first since it was just Beats1 and I don't really listen to hip hop. Once they released the weekly artist hosted radio shows, I gave it a shot and I love them. They span pretty much everyone's taste now and its great.

Hopefully that helps. Its a great time to switch to linux. Up until a few months ago, Apple Music just wasn't a viable option on the platform. Now its an option for sure, and a good one.

youtube-dl (https://youtube-dl.org) to get the file from soundcloud (despite the name it does way more than just youtube) and optionally convert to mp3 if needed then you just drop the file into iTunes (Mojave)/Music (Catalina) and you're done.

I had this same issue and just got it to work: convert the mp3 file to m4a then open it with iTunes.

https://cloudconvert.com/mp3-to-m4a

This is what worked for me

Airfoil works fine. https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

There's a free trial to test it out. I use it for Spotify as well. And you can select the audio from specific apps, not just all the audio. And send it to multiple AirPlay devices, not just one at a time. I think there's also an app to send it to an iDevice.

This worked exactly what I was looking for

​

1. Restore ~/Music/iTunes from the pre-delete to your desktop.
2. Disconnect from the internet.
3. Open iTunes holding down option, and open the library in the folder restored to the desktop.
4. Select your entire library in the Songs view and hit copy. (Command-C)
5. Paste the copy into Excel or Numbers.
6. Save as CSV.
7. Reconnect to the internet and download Stamp (you have to pay for a license if you want to do more than ten songs). Use the CSV option, and the Apple Music import option. Voila!

Yea, I moved from Spotify to Apple Music, when transferring music, I used a tool called STAMP (https://freeyourmusic.com/). It transferred most of my tracks. However i did have to pay

STAMP is highly recommended. I have used it multiple times, works flawlessly for any way. Works with Spotify, Google Music, Apple Music...etc.

URL: https://freeyourmusic.com/

Just a heads up - it is not free. But worth the license if you are moving music around and testing different services.

The loss of Column Browser in Music is the #1 reason for me holding out on Catalina. Why destroy an essential power user feature that has been around since iTunes version 1, to be replaced by an uglier version of the iOS app???!!!

In the meantime, there is the Swinsian app: https://swinsian.com

Not an app but a website. You put in up to 3 bands you like and it gives artist that you might liked based on them. Once a band comes up I haven’t heard of I’ll create a station based on them or listen to a few of their top tracks.

http://www.gnoosic.com

Go to the category, 'Gaming' then in 'MMORPG Music' you will find few OSTs and Essential Playlists. And, for every album, you will get 'More by "artist"' and 'You Might Also Like' reccomendations, so start from there. If you happened to like an artist's work, go to their page and check out works of similar artists and so on. But, if you are looking for a playlist that is exclusive to game music, unfortunately, you won't find any in Apple Music, I have tried before. Spotify's 'Video Games Soundtracks' playlist is your best bet. Sync that playlist to Apple Music using soundiiz, the service is free if you're syncing just one playlist.

Moving from GPM to Apple Music is possible with Soundiiz. But be aware that will not be able to move to "iTunes" your own uploaded audio files. For that you will need to do it manually.

Soundiiz is only doing a matching process, taking your source metadatas and trying to found something similar in Apple Music catalog to recreate your collection like playlists and favorite tracks.

No, Soundiiz Syncs are running on server side. So no need to keep any app opened during the sync and no need to approve anything before too :)

But, be aware that is not possible to delete Apple Music playlist tracks with the Apple Music API, so only "add" method can be used when syncing to Apple Music as destination.

I used Soundiiz . First, I signed up for Apple Music and let it upload/match the songs I owned in my hard drive. Then I used Soundiiz to do the rest and transfer playlists. The service laid out a little weirdly (it transfers only playlists, but turns your entire library into a library playlist so that non-playlist songs get transferred too). But it gets the job done. For every transfer, it shows the success percentage and what didn't make it so you can make fixes.

You can use Soundiiz, supporting transfer of your playlists and also favorites Tracks, Artists and Albums !

There's also many other features available to manage your music library.

Good News :If you have your old itunes xml file then you are in good luck.

Just go to this site https://www.tunemymusic.com/#step1 and select itunes as the source then transfer to apple music. You will recover everything back.

isnt musi basically a youtube player?

for me all the playlists were on my youtube account. just use https://www.tunemymusic.com/YouTube-to-Apple-Music.php

Someone else mentioned a service for transferring music, and others said it didn't work... I used TuneMyMusic to transfer from Spotify to Apple Music and it worked perfectly. The only issue, if you can even call it that, is it replaced the descriptions of my playlists with an ad for its service. Basically said it was transferred by them. Fair play I suppose, I just changed it back, no big deal. I'd rather rant about how awesome they are on social media than have my playlists be an ad for them, in any case!

Also, they have an option to log in, but it isn't necessary. You don't even need an account with them.

Apple Digital Masters is a set of guidelines for delivering music files to Apple. Here is the document that goes through the guidelines: https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf

Note the last page of that document, the line in bold: “The deliverable for Apple Digital Masters is the original 24 bit PCM file.”

Apple has all of those digital master files as 24-bit uncompressed that they can re-encode as ALAC lossless files. When an album has a logo for both Apple Digital Master and Lossless, it means it’s used that original submission to make a lossless file.

Not a recording artist, but my understanding is that it's just the successor to "Mastered for iTunes." Now the master is converted into ALAC lossless files for distribution, in addition to AAC.

>Note: Apple Digital Masters replaces Mastered for iTunes as the name of the program to reflect the fact that these audio advantages are available to our entire music catalog across the Apple ecosystem, whether streamed or downloaded. All Mastered for iTunes releases are now badged as Apple Digital Masters and the Mastered for iTunes software tools are still usable for Apple Digital Masters creation.

and

>Addendum: Lossless Audio and Apple Digital Masters
Lossless Audio
Apple Music now offers subscribers lossless streaming and downloads using the Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC.) There is no need to send two masters—the same Apple Digital Master is used for the ALAC encodes as for the AAC encodes.

https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf

You have 2 seperate questions here, why is the download button grayed out and what are Apple Digital Masters. I don’t know the answer to the first but the answer to the second is that Apple has designed a series of workflows, protocols, tools and technologies for audio engineers to follow and use that will result in the highest possible sound quality through AAC, Apple’s lossy format. This is outlined in this document in which Apple says:

Following the guidelines and protocols outlined in this document to create and audition AAC encodes, you can achieve simply amazing results: dynamic range that’s superior to red book CD audio, and a final product that’s virtually indistinguishable from the original studio recording.

just the normal ~256kbps AAC, just Apple claims their encoder takes better advantage of 'high resolution masters' specially created for iTunes.

seems 'Apple Digital Master' is just what they call 'Mastered for iTunes' these days. i have a handful of such albums and didn't find it to be much better.

This is the follow-up to 'Mastered for iTunes'.
Here's Apple's own info: https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf

It's not about believing audio quality is better, it's a provable fact. Apple knows what they are doing with audio quality big time! https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf It's literally more dynamic the "CD/FLAC" quality, the only thing is the crispiness which obviously can't be achieved by compressing. But it makes songs sound more like one sound instead of separated sound (That part is down to preference).

What I wanted to say is that.. it's a provable fact, it's not about believing. My sister and my girlfriend had Spotify (One premium and one Spotify free) before and when they changed for Apple Music they were like wow! I also tested Spotify Premium myself and it sounds mehh.

Yeah, they use the same file for Apple Music as well. Though don’t be confused with master quality on other services as those are lossless format. Apple Digital Master is still 256 AAC lossy format. You can read about it here. It’s pretty much the same as Mastered for iTunes if you’re familiar with that.

Thanks. I’ve trialled all of the higher bitrate services but none has yet convinced me that they’re worth the extra outlay. More on the Apple mastering program here: https://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

This tech brief: https://www.apple.com/itunes/docs/apple-digital-masters.pdf describes what they are doing, if you’re interested in more details. Fun read if you enjoy this sort of thing.

AFAIK this is just a rebranding of the “Mastered for iTunes” tools and process, since iTunes branding is going away.

They apparently switched it around and added an e-mail address that you can send to.

I dunno. I expected more assistance from Apple Music Connect. I wish they were more transparent about what they are going to do to IMPROVE things rather than just silent.

I mean, look at this:

https://www.apple.com/itunes/working-itunes/connect/

Reach Your Audience - Tell Your Story - Spread The Word - Share Your Obsessions

So far you can't really, feasibly, do any of these things properly. WTF is the point Apple?

if you click this link, (https://www.shazam.com/promotions/upto5mo/555614468), it should redirect you to Shazam then click “Play Full Song” below the title, and then it’ll redirect you to Apple Music which a redeem code prompt will show up.

I noticed your edit, I had to do this quite a bit when I was remaking my library. If anyone else has to do this a lot, I ended up getting a license for Radio Silence. I would add iTunes to the list, turn on the app, and it would disable network connections for iTunes. When I was happy with my edits just turned it off and updated iCloud library. Worked great. Just in case anyone sees this and they're doing it a lot, hope it helps!

Well that can be changed at your router which is usually pointed to your internet providers DNS servers automatically. However they aren’t usually the best or fastest. DNS is what what allows your internet devices on your network to actually find websites and connect to bring down content. It’s possible you are using slow ones or that your actual WiFi is slow or even your internet connection is slow. That would affect how fast things appear on your screens, apps, etc. it would definitely affect Apple Music from getting covers, get updated content,etc. I don’t have a Mac but you can change the DNS servers it is using and hard-code 8.8.8.8 or even 1.1.1.1 which are run by Google and Cloudflare respectively. Those are really fast. You may also want to check OpenDNS which is also free for personal use and even offers some basic filtering /protection from nasty stuff. They all have worldwide DNS systems so it’s fast. I have Comcast XFinity for internet and have been using the OpenDNS servers addresses for years instead of the Comcast ones.

Here are some useful links:

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-1.1.1.1/

https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

Hope it helps.

Check out if you can copy all your non purchased music to iTunes. You will need a third party app for this, as iTunes will only transfer purchases - TouchCopy is the one I used and it works great. There's a free demo download here https://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/

Once you've copied your songs to iTunes, you can safely re-sync or restore your iPhone if you need to.

Thanks for the reminder. After 2 months of use, my main issue with Apple Music is that tracks added to iTunes using it are completely indistinguishable from my iTunes purchases. It has made my iTunes library completely cluttered with songs I listened to but didn't necessarily want to buy.

For those with large libraries, this Tune Sweeper app may be useful to identify tracks added to iTunes by Apple Music https://www.wideanglesoftware.com/tunesweeper/features/features_applemusic.php

You can use any really. NordVPN is a pretty common one, but everyone has their preferences

OR you could compile the album yourself. All the songs ARE available on all streaming services worldwide, just not in the form of this compilation. You could go on iTunes, compile all the songs, add the artwork. iCloud Music Library would then sync it to your phone and you could have it always available that way!

If you're curious to try an older one that does work, use Split APK installer from the Play Store to install the .apk bundle from the 3.6.0-beta (1090) version on APK Mirror. Everything is butter smooth.

Yes. This is particularly baffling. I hope they change it in IOS 15.

It happens because there are two modes of Airplay 2: buffered mode and real time mode. Buffered mode is limited to AAC 256, real time mode is lossless. The music app uses real time mode for ripped content, thus preserving lossless, but changes to buffered mode when sending a DRM protected Apple Music file over Airplay 2.

Studio Headphones with 6.6ft XLR Cable, Prefessional DJ Headphones Mixing DJ Headset Protein Memory Foam Ear Pads, 50mm Neodymium Drivers Stereo Sound for Electric Drum Piano Guitar AMP (Gold) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BCCBK5D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_T9YPBWVB7NH29ZG16B0C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Yes you can with the adapter, in that case at least get something similar to this if you’re thinking about going lossless, imo anyway

I also have Helm Bolt and use this adapter on my iPhone. It has been working great thus far for the past few weeks.

https://www.amazon.com/MeloAudio-Adapter-Compatible-Headphone-Charging/dp/B08JYF34KH/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=usb-c+to+lightning+otg&qid=1625083514&s=electronics&sr=1-4

The support pages for the device mention using a USB-C to USB-A adaptor to get the Bolt working on iPhones. It doesn't give any specific data requirements, so I don't think you should have any issue. Looking at Amazon, yea, there are a ton. The First One that popped up for me seems like it should do the trick. And, if for some reason it doesn't, well it's only $10 so you aren't out too much.

Here you go.

iFi Hip-dac Portable Balanced DAC Headphone Amplifier for Android, iPhone with USB Input Only/Outputs: 3.5mm Unbalanced / 4.4mm Balanced (Unit only) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0842W67F1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_TWS8TA1A6WJFZ1R9TK9Q?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1