If you're not going to be connected to the internet, or if you're worried about your cellular data, you can choose to download songs, albums, and even entire playlists to your iPhone or iPad for offline listening.
Why download music instead of streaming it?
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Streaming is awesome: You can listen to anything you want—Beats 1 included—at any time, and it doesn't take up valuable space on your device. But it comes at a cellular cost, especially if you have a smaller data plan. And even if you have a massive cellular plan, there are places where streaming music just doesn't make sense: airplanes, for instance, or camping trips.
Lucky for you, if you have an Apple Music subscription and iCloud Music Library enabled, you have the option to download any song, album, or playlist from its catalog for offline listening; if you use iTunes Match, you can download anything from your Mac's library on your iPhone or iPad.
Apple Music Subscription
Apple Music is Apple's massive music service, comprising a subscription music catalog, iCloud Music Library syncing across your devices, Beats 1 live and algorithmic radio, customized playlists, and more artist exclusives than you can shake a stick at.
How to automatically download content
You can decide whether to have content automatically downloaded when it's selected for your library.
- Tap on the Settings app on your mobile device.
- Choose Music.
Toggle Automatic Downloads under Downloads.
When this toggle is on, music selected going forwarded is automatically downloaded to that device. This setting has no bearing on your other devices.
Apple makes it easy to optimize music storage on your mobile device. To set up a minimum storage threshold:
- Tap on the Settings app on your mobile device.
- Choose Music.
- Tap Optimize Storage under Downloads.
Set the minimum storage. Available levels are dependent on the amount of storage space on your device.
How to select/download content
The process to download content is slightly different whether downloads are performed automatically.
With automatic downloads:
- Open the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Select the song or album you want to download.
- Tap the + or +Add button next to the song or album.
The music will automatically download to your device. After it's downloaded, you'll see albums marked as Downloaded.
With manual downloads:
- Open the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the + or + Add next to the song or album you'll like to add to your library.
Tap the cloud icon to download the song or album.
How to view only downloaded music
To see only the content downloaded:
- Open the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the Library tab in the Music app on your mobile device.
Select Download Music at the top of the screen.
Downloaded content is organized playlists, artists, albums, and songs.
How to delete downloaded music
To remove certain content from your mobile device:
- Open the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Touch and hold the song or album that you've downloaded.
- Tap Remove.
Choose Remove Downloads or Delete from Library depending on your preference.
To remove all music from your mobile device:
- Tap on the Settings app on your mobile device.
- Choose Music.
Tap Downloaded Music.
- Tap Edit at the top right.
- Choose the red icon to the left of All Songs or individual songs.
Tap Delete.
Content selected is now downloaded from your device. Note: The content is still part of your library, however.
What about the Mac?
To see songs downloaded on your Mac:
- Open the Music app on your macOS device.
On the left side of the screen, click Songs.
- Click View on the Apple Toolbar.
Under View, click Only Downloaded Music.
Now, only the songs downloaded in the Music app are shown.
Note: Beginning with macOS Catalina, the iTunes app on Mac has been replaced by the Music app.
Questions?
If you have additional questions about music on your devices be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Updated August 2019: Includes content for the iOS 13 beta.
Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.
Sweet Music
Apple Music
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iCloud Music Library is Apple's service for storing your personal music library online by 'matching' your tracks to songs listed on the iTunes Store (or uploading tracks directly, if there's no match available). You can then stream and download them — DRM-free — to up to ten other registered devices in your possession.
If you subscribe to Apple Music, you'll get iCloud Music Library included as part of your $9.99 monthly subscription; otherwise, you can subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match service and pay $24.99 a year to store your iTunes library (up to 100,000 songs) in iCloud.
Here's how iCloud Music Library works, how you can subscribe, and how you can get the most out of it!
How iCloud Music Library works
Both Apple Music and the stand-alone iTunes Match service include a feature called iCloud Music Library. Here's what you need to know.
What is iCloud Music Library?
It's Apple's term for all the music you've stored in iCloud.
Wait, stored? Does it count toward my iCloud storage cost?
Nope. You can store up to 100,000 songs with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription; it doesn't count toward your iCloud storage costs.
Both? It works with Apple Music and iTunes Match?
Yup, both the Apple Music subscription service and the stand-alone iTunes Match option. iCloud Music Library lets you upload or 'match' your personal music library with the DRM-free iTunes Store catalog.
If you have an Apple Music account, you can take advantage of iCloud Music Library and subscription music; if you have a stand-alone iTunes Match subscription, you only have access to your iCloud Music Library.
What's the deal with matching, storing, and the like?
Music Downloads For Mac Computers
When you subscribe to Apple Music or the standalone iTunes Match service, Apple scans your iTunes music library to check and see which tracks you own are also listed in the iTunes Store.
To save space and upload time, any track in your library that's also available in the iTunes Music Store catalog will 'match' to the catalog version; this means that when you play that track on your iPhone or another Mac, you'll get the iTunes Music Store version (a DRM-free, 256kbps-quality AAC file, for those wondering), rather than your original file. Apple uses metadata matching and audio fingerprinting to match your songs to iTunes Store versions. It's not perfect, and you may run into issues with live or rare tracks matching to studio versions; for most users, however, you should be able to use the service without any problems.
Any songs that don't match to the iTunes catalog will be uploaded to iCloud in their original form, save for tracks that are too low-quality (under 92kbps), too long (over two hours), too big (over 200MB), or you aren't authorized to play (say, a song from another user's iTunes account that you don't have the username and password to unlock).
If you have a song in your library encoded in ALAC, WAV, or AIFF, those may be transcoded into an AAC 256 Kbps file when uploaded to iCloud; the original file in your iTunes library won't change.
After your songs are uploaded, they get stored or matched to your iCloud Music Library; any device you own (up to 10) can stream or download songs back from it.
Note: Currently, you'll need an iTunes library with 100,000 songs or less in it for iCloud Music Library to work correctly; if you have too many songs, here's how to create a secondary iTunes library.
What does iCloud Music Library get me?
A bunch of things! Access to your Mac's library on any of your other devices (up to 10), for one.
If you're an Apple Music subscriber, it also allows you to add songs and playlists from the subscription catalog to your library; you can then save those tracks for offline play.
Do I need a backup before enabling iCloud Music Library?
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. iCloud Music Library may give you copies of your songs in the cloud, but it is in no way a backup service. So please, heed our warning: Make sure you have a complete, local copy of all of your music on your primary computer (or external hard drive) before turning on iCloud Music Library.
If you've already enabled it and you don't have all your music locally on one computer, don't panic: Make sure your music shows up as Matched or Uploaded and not Apple Music, then download all the tracks you're missing to your main Mac.
Why shouldn't I use iCloud Music Library?
If you don't have a backup of your Mac's library, have lots of tracks with crazy metadata that you're worried iCloud will mess up, or don't want to save songs offline from Apple Music, you probably should leave iCloud Music Library turned off.
Can I still use Apple Music without iCloud Music Library?
You bet. You can even use iCloud Music Library with some devices and not others. More info here:
I turned on iCloud Music Library and it ate my library/destroyed everything/aghhhh! Help?!
Deep breaths. Do you have a backup? If so, turn off iCloud Music Library on your Mac and restore your library from that file.
If you don't have a backup, there are a lot of other things you can try, from chatting with Apple Support to resetting your iCloud Music Library. We suggest checking out our troubleshooting guide linked below if you've run into trouble and are backupless:
What you can and can't do with iCloud Music Library
Now that we've explained what iCloud Music Library is, here's a quick rundown of what it can and can't do.
With iCloud Music Library, you can...
- Stream your Mac's library to up to ten different devices you own (including up to 5 Mac or Window PCs).
- Delete matched tracks you own on your Mac and redownload them to get high-quality 256kbps DRM-free versions from the iTunes Store (useful if you have low-quality ripped tracks).
You can't...
- Manually sync music from iTunes to your iPhone: It's all done over the air now.
- Use your iCloud Music Library with Family Sharing: Each Apple ID (and their iCloud Music Library) is separate; you can download any purchases from iTunes, though.
- Match or upload more than 100,000 tracks from your library that weren't purchased from the iTunes Store: If you still want to use iCloud Music Library but have too many tracks, make a secondary iTunes library.
- Use it in every country: Here's Apple's list of supported countries for iCloud Music Library.
Note: If you're only using the $24.99/year standalone iTunes Match service, iCloud Music Library won't give you access to music from the Apple Music catalog: You need an Apple Music subscription for that.
How to enable iCloud Music Library on your computer
If you have an Apple Music account:
If you have iTunes Match:
- If you're signed in to your iTunes account, open iTunes and navigate to the Account menu
- Click Sign Out.
- Click on the Match tab that appears in iTunes, (or go to Account > iTunes Match).
- Select Subscribe for $24.99 per Year.
- Enter your Apple ID and password.
- After your subscription goes through, select Use iCloud Music Library.
- Click Add This Computer to upload and match your computer's music library to iCloud Music Library. (This step may happen automatically, so don't panic if you don't see it.)
Adding an additional Mac or Windows PC is similar to the initial signup process for iTunes Match users; it's also a great way to unify a music library if you've been accidentally building separate collections on your personal and work machines — once you enable iCloud Music Library on both machines, you can download all the songs from your secondary PC or Mac onto your primary computer.
- On your secondary Mac, open iTunes and navigate to the Account menu.
- Click Sign Out.
- Click on the Match tab that appears in iTunes, (or go to Account > iTunes Match).
- Select Subscribe for $24.99 per Year.
- Enter your Apple ID and password. (You may have to enter it twice.)
- Select Use iCloud Music Library to use it on this computer.
- iTunes will remind you that you've already subscribed to iTunes Match, and ask you whether you want to activate it on this computer. Click Add This Computer to connect your computer's music library to iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library.
How to enable iCloud Music Library downloads over cellular
If you want to stream songs from your iCloud Music Library over your cellular data connection as well as over Wi-Fi, you can do so by following these steps.
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
- Tap on iTunes & App Store.
- Switch Use Cellular Data to On.
Keep in mind that this option not only enables your iCloud Music Library over LTE or 4G, but it also turns on cellular data for automatic downloads and Apple Music. If you'd rather avoid that, you can disable automatic downloads on your devices, or only enable the Use Cellular Data switch when needed.
Music Software For Mac
How to see your local music on your Mac
There are two ways to see your locally-stored iCloud Music Library tracks on your Mac. The easiest way is as follows:
- Open iTunes.
- Select My Music from the drop down menu.
- Go to the View menu and select the Only Downloaded Music.
You can also view what songs are actually stored in iCloud Music Library by doing the following:
- Open iTunes.
- Select My Music from the drop down menu.
- Select Songs from the sidebar.
- Go to the View menu and select Show View Options.
- Check the iCloud Download checkbox.
The resulting column will show no icon if your track is stored locally; a cloud icon with a downward arrow if your track is stored only in iCloud; or a cloud icon with a line through it if the track is local, but ineligible for iCloud Music Library (usually a PDF).
How to see your local music on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Open the Music app.
- Tap on the Library tab.
- Tap on Downloads.
To return to viewing all your music, tap the Library tab again.
Free Music Software For Mac
Troubleshooting iCloud Music Library
If you're running into any iCloud Music Library problems, here are some solutions to the most common issues. Still have a question about it? Let us know in the comments.
Sweet Music
Apple Music
App To Download Music For Mac
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How To Download Music For Mac Free
The Fitbit Charge 3 and the Fitbit Versa Lite have a similar price point and similar feature set, so they are bound to attract similar customers. However, there are some important differences between them, and which one you choose will be determined which features mean the most to you.