How to download music from iTunes to your computer. Playlists should not be downloaded offline

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Exactly a week ago it became available to users Apple service Music, which debuted simultaneously with iOS 8.4 and iTunes 12.2. All this time the editor gg tested Apple Music by the sweat of my brow (although, frankly, it was not the most unpleasant pastime) to write for you detailed review the newest music streaming service.

To avoid unnecessary “holy war”, I will say right away that the expected revolution did not happen. Apple Music is not fundamentally very different from other music services, but it has its own special features that somewhat elevate it above its competitors (according to at least, in my eyes). However, there are also plenty of shortcomings, which will also be mentioned in this material.

Connecting to Apple Music

To use Apple Music on mobile device, you will need an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS system 8.4. On your computer (Mac/PC) Apple client Music performs iTunes app version 12.2, which can be downloaded from the Apple website.

Attention! Before activating your Apple Music subscription on desktop computer I urgently I recommend doing it backup copy iTunes Library.itl file, which is stored in the root of the library folder. The path to the folder with the media library can be found in the iTunes settings.

Currently for all new Apple users Music is valid special offer- 3 months free subscription. You can activate your subscription in the Music app on your iOS device or in iTunes (menu “Account” → Apple Music). Of course, if you don't have an account Apple records ID, then you will have to create it and link it to it payment card, but this step is beyond the scope of this material.

The next screen warns you that after the free period expires you will be charged monthly subscription fee. In Ukraine, an individual subscription costs $5 per month, a family subscription (up to 6 users) costs $8 per month. Interestingly, in Russia the cost of a subscription is noticeably lower and amounts to 169 rubles for an individual subscription and 259 rubles for a family subscription.

After activating your Apple subscription Music app will prompt you to select your favorite genres (minimum three).

Apple Music will then show you a list of artists and again ask you to choose your favorites. If you don't like the selection offered, you can click on the "More Artists" button to get another list.

All, initial setup completed. You'll now be taken to the For You screen, which displays playlists and albums based on your music preferences.

iCloud Music Library

iCloud Music Library (or, in Russian translation, “iCloud music library”) is new service For cloud synchronization music library between all your devices. It works like this:

iTunes first analyzes your existing music library to see if it matches the music in its catalog iTunes Store;
music that is in the iTunes Store is not uploaded to the cloud; instead, the version from the iTunes Store is downloaded to your devices (in AAC format with a bitrate of 256 kbps);
music that is not in the iTunes Store is downloaded from your computer to cloud storage iCloud and downloaded from there to other devices.

In my case, the process of turning on the iCloud music library and uploading music to the cloud took about an hour and a half.

I hasten to inform you right away that Apple does not replace existing versions your music files to new ones, even if this music is present in the iTunes Store. So those who were afraid that iCloud Music Library would automatically replace ALAC files with AAC or DRM-free files with FairPlay protected files can rest easy - nothing like that will happen.

If you activate your Apple Music subscription on your desktop computer, iCloud Music Library is automatically enabled. On iOS devices, iCloud Music Library is enabled in the Music app settings. Wherein operating system will prompt you to either delete your local music library and completely replace it with a cloud one, or merge them.

What to do if enabling iCloud Music Library ruins your iTunes music library

For some users, enabling iCloud Music Library leads to damage to the database iTunes data. This usually manifests itself as follows:

mixed up album covers;
messy metadata (album and track titles are incorrect);
when trying to play iTunes music complains about an incorrect file path.

Solving this problem is very simple - you just need to replace the damaged one iTunes file Library.itl to the backup you made before enabling iTunes Music Library. You did it, didn't you?

After this, you will need to log out of your Apple ID account (menu item “Account” → “Sign Out”), log in again and turn on iCloud Music Library again. Most likely, this time the process will go smoothly.

Recommendations in Apple Music are what appear in the For You tab in iTunes or in the Music app on your mobile device. This includes both manually compiled thematic playlists and simply albums that, according to the system, match your musical preferences.

Immediately after activation, you will see literally one or two playlists and four or five albums there. To get more recommendations, you need to actively listen to music and mark with a heart what you like. It must be said that the system intensively adapts to your taste. For example, after the news of the death of Yes bassist Chris Squire, I actively listened to Yes for several days, after which I discovered the following playlist in the “For You” tab:

In my opinion, the playlists on Apple Music are great. They are clearly made up of people with very good taste and a sense of genre. In my case, almost all recommendations hit the bull’s eye.

How to search for music on Apple Music

Searching for music in Apple Music is very simple: just write a query in the search bar in iTunes (or in the Music app on iOS) and select the “Apple Music” tab. Search results show a list of tracks, albums, artists, and playlists that match your search string.

Found music can be immediately listened to, and the “+” button allows you to add it to iCloud Music Library. After that, you can download it to devices linked to your Apple ID account.

By the way, Apple Music playlists can also be saved; they appear in the “Apple Music Playlists” section.

By default, the Music app on iOS only displays music from your local music library. To see cloud music, you need to turn off this option in the context menu.

How to see what's new in the Apple Music catalog

New items Apple catalog Music (including the latest albums, singles, and playlists) appears in the New tab in iTunes. There you can also find the most popular this moment hits.

How to listen to radio on Apple Music

Apple Music differs from other services in that it includes a full-fledged Internet radio station, Beats 1, with professional DJs and interesting guests, broadcasting around the clock around the world. It is available on the “Radio” tab.

Beats 1 is available for free to all iTunes users, but genre stations, which can be found in the same tab, can only be listened to by Apple Music subscribers. Personally, my favorite ones were the jazz and classical radio stations. By the way, when listening to the radio, do not forget to mark the songs you like with a heart, this greatly affects personal recommendations on the “For You” tab.

You can also immediately add the music you like to your iCloud music library.

Sad fact: Apple Music currently doesn't have the ability to launch "radio stations" based on the artist or song you like. Or rather, there is such an item in the menu, but on iPhone app gives an error, but in desktop iTunes just nothing happens. It’s not entirely clear whether this is some kind of glitch or regional restrictions for Ukraine. I ask those readers who use Apple Music with a Russian or American account to unsubscribe about this in the comments.

Connect

The most, dare I say it, stupid and incomprehensible part of Apple Music is the Connect section. Purely theoretically it's something like social network, where musicians can post different content(blog posts, photos, music), and users can discuss this content. In practice, I followed several musicians in this section (Björk, Norah Jones, James Blackshaw), but none of them, apparently, have posted anything yet, because I see a blank page in this section without the ability to go back to the list of artists and subscribe to someone else.

Bottom line

Regular readers g ag adget They know that I used to actively use the Spotify service and was one of its main popularizers in Ukraine. I'm currently seriously considering canceling my Spotify subscription and sticking with Apple Music.

In my opinion, Apple Music has the following advantages over Spotify:

the ability to legally pay for the service and use it in Ukraine or Russia;
lower subscription cost;
great recommendations and amazing playlists hand-curated by experienced music editors;
integration of the service into iTunes and iOS;
iCloud Music Library is a convenient cloud storage for an existing music library.

The advantages of Spotify are a little more wide choose music (at least this applies to the music that I usually listen to) and the ability to create “radio stations” based on specific artists or compositions (Apple Music has this functionality, but for some reason does not work).

Cheer up at work. Relax in the comfort of your home chair. Put together a party playlist.
In iTunes you will definitely find something that suits your mood. Or something that will improve it.

Symphony of order.

iTunes stores all your music, so you always have every song at your fingertips. No need to rummage through stacks of discs or open endless folders of audio files every time. Import them into iTunes - and you have your entire music library in front of you. Arrange it the way you want. Create playlists and listen to them at any time. Sync them to listen to on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or stream them to Apple TV.

On iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Open the Music app and select Music Library.
On Mac and PC.

Open iTunes, go to your library, and select artists, playlists, or songs.
On Apple TV.

Select Music from the Home screen.

Radio

With an Apple Music subscription, you can listen to a variety of on-demand music stations curated by our experts. You can also create your own stations, customizing their musical content to your taste.

iTunes Store.

You heard this somewhere.
You can buy it here.

The iTunes Store is a store where you can find absolutely any music. Including the one you are yet to fall in love with. 1 iTunes has more than 50 million songs 2 in high quality without DRM protection. One touch and you have the song. Before purchasing a song, you can listen to a 90-second fragment so as not to be mistaken. The album replenishment function allows you to first purchase several songs, listen to them, and then buy the entire album - and the cost of previously purchased songs will be deducted from the cost of the album. Purchases can be made from any device - all songs will be immediately available in your iTunes library.

How to search for music

There are many ways to find soul music on iTunes. Top charts. Music recommendations based on your previous purchases. Popular Searches feature to see which artists, albums or genres are trending right now. 3 And Siri can use the capabilities of the Shazam application, which allows you to determine what song is currently playing. 4 When you hear a song you like, ask Siri “What song is this?” and you'll see artist information, song and album titles, and more. And you can immediately buy this song in the iTunes Store. Or ask Siri to add it to your wishlist so you can purchase it later.

Popular queries

Want to know which albums and artists are rising to the top of the charts? Simply select one of the options in " Popular queries» on your computer or iOS device. This list is constantly updated throughout the day. Therefore, it will be easy for you to stay on the wave in the sea of music.

Shazam features in Siri

Imagine that you find yourself in a store where they play great music, and you immediately want to know the name of the song or the name of the artist. To do this, press and hold the Home button on your iOS device. Now tell Siri "Shazam" and voice assistant will show you the song title and artist name.

Family Sharing.

Let's listen together.

Family Sharing lets you share content purchased from iTunes with up to six family members. When one of them buys new song or an album, everyone else can download them too. The same applies to films. And for children under 13 (and any other family members), you can turn on the request to purchase feature, which will require your permission before downloading content. 5

Set up Family Sharing for your family - up to six people.

They will be able to download whatever they want with just one tap.

Children will need your permission to download content.

One purchase. Universal access.

iCloud automatically delivers the songs and albums you purchase from the iTunes Store to all your devices. Music purchased from any device instantly appears in your iTunes library on Mac or PC. 6 Simply tap play or download music to listen to it even when there's no Wi-Fi. And with Family Sharing, you can download and listen to music purchased by any member of your family.

Gift cards

Give a card App Store& iTunes to friends or family - with its help you can buy any content in the iTunes Store and App Store, as well as a subscription to Apple Music and iCloud storage. 4

Do you already have a gift card? Map App Store & iTunes or Apple Store?

What is Apple Music?

This is an online music service from Apple, which allows you to enjoy your favorite music without restrictions. The service creates playlists for the user, allows you to listen to thematic radio, allows you to listen to new and old music, follow your favorite artists, etc... The service operates on a subscription basis.

Apple Music also provides the ability to download music to your device and listen to it offline during the subscription period.

Apple Music is available on computers at launch, with installed iTunes 12.2 and mobile devices With installed iOS 8.4, and also in Apple Watch. The service will appear in iOS 9 starting with iOS 9 beta 3. Android Apple Music will be in the fall.

Apple Music on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Apple Music is located in the Music app. When you first launch, you will be asked to subscribe to Apple Music (subscription is discussed in more detail below). The program will also ask about your preferences.

Subsequently, preferences can be reset or adjusted. Click on the button on the left top corner programs.

In a new window, click on “Selection of Artists”. The principle here is simple - your preferences will influence the selection of music for you.

4 new tabs have appeared in Music:

"For you"- selections of music based on user preferences. There may be thematic collections or best songs specific artist. The page is updated every day. Mark the songs you like (heart icon) to make recommendations more accurate.

"New"- here you can listen to all new albums and collections on iTunes. Convenient way get acquainted with new products. New releases are cataloged by genre.

"Radio"- radio stations by genre. Stream seamless playback best music certain genres and types.

Attention! Apple Music allows you to create themed radio stations based on a specific artist or even a specific song.

After such manipulations, new stations will appear in the Radio section. For example, a radio station based on a song will play music in the same style as the song.

"Connect"- allows you to follow the news of specific artists, new albums, and comment on their news. The worst implemented tab so far. To add an artist to the news, you need to find him and click on the Follow button.

If you wish, you can unsubscribe from the news. Click on the red icon in the upper left corner. In the window that appears, click on “Track news”. We cancel subscriptions. There are also recommendations (from other artists and curators), but unfortunately, they are poor there: only a few artists.

The artists, in turn, received (or will receive) special accounts that allow them to share their news with users through the Connect system.

Apple Music on iTunes

Apple Music is available in iTunes on PC and OS X. To do this, you need to update the application to version 12.2. The program has changed its icon:

We go to the Music section and see 4 new tabs: For you, New, Radio and Connect. The functionality is completely similar to the iOS version.

That is, theoretically, you don’t even need to have an iDevice to connect to Apple Music. Create an App Store account and go ahead.

Download music to iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

An Apple Music subscription allows you to download songs to your device and listen to them offline. First, you need to enable the use of iCloud Music Library in the settings.

Moreover, you can download both individual albums and individual songs and playlists.

The only caveat is that if you download playlists, then in the library these songs will not appear as an album (chaos will arise), you will need to listen to the playlist. It’s not very convenient, but this moment has been pissing me off for a long time...

Apple Music prices. Subscription

First three months Apple usage Music- for free. This is a trial period that allows the user to decide whether he needs the service or not.

But to get these three months, you need to subscribe. For Russia, the price, starting from the fourth month, 169 rubles per month. Or 269 rubles for a family of 6 people who have family access enabled. Do not confuse this with the number of devices connected to one Apple ID. If your entire family’s devices are linked to one Apple ID, then you can listen to Apple Music for 169 rubles on all these devices.

Attention! In such situations, keep in mind that at one time you can listen to Apple Music on only one device linked to one Apple ID. If the user turns on Apple Music on the second device, an alert will pop up on the first device and music streaming will stop.

169 rubles (3 dollars) in Russia is very low price! Let's look at prices in other countries for comparison:

Belarus and Ukraine - $5 ($8 per family)
USA - $9.99 ($14.99)
In Europe prices are 9.99 euros (14.99 euros), and in England 9.99 pounds (14.99 pounds)

I don’t know what caused this promotional price for Russia, but let’s say Thank you Apple for her!

You can subscribe to Apple Music the first time you open the app.

A letter will arrive in the mail containing the most important:

During action trial period There is no charge. Invoice in the amount of 169 rubles. will be billed upon auto-renewal of the subscription for the following period: 1 month.

Your subscription period will automatically renew until you cancel your subscription at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period.

How to cancel your Apple Music subscription

Your subscription will be automatically charged monthly, just like an iCloud subscription (if you have one). But if suddenly you need to cancel your Apple Music subscription, you can do this in two ways:

In iTunes (version 12.2 and higher).

Find the Auto Renewal switch and click on “Off”.

In the window that appears, you need to click the “Turn off” button.

But even after these steps, the trial three months of Apple Music will be available for use absolutely free. After three months, the subscription must be renewed manually.

You can also unsubscribe from Apple Music on iOS.

Step 1 and 2. In the Music program, click the following in order:

Step 3. Scroll to subscriptions and click “Manage”.

Step 4. Disable Auto Renewal.

Apple Music competitors in Russia

Many competing services are very similar in functionality to Apple Music. Let's take a look at the most popular ones in Russia.

Spotify- Swedish music service, loses in price. You can use accounts from some exotic countries, but the price there will also be no less than 150 rubles. Free period - 6 months.

Google Music- free period 1 month. Price - 189 rubles per month.

Yandex Music- free period 1 month. 169 rubles per month.

It is impossible not to mention In contact with, in which a huge number of people in Russia listen to music. The music is pirated, the functionality is not even close to normal streaming services, there are eternal problems with the application... Therefore, VKontakte is only for the most unassuming users.

As you can see, solutions from competitors do not beat in price and do not stand out much in functionality, so I don’t see what their advantage is over Apple Music. Apple Music, in turn, is built into the system, which means it should work like a clock.

Apple Music Experience

This is the service I'm willing to pay for. For me, streaming music is now more relevant than offline albums, since access to the Internet is not a problem nowadays. Moreover, before traveling, you can download music to your device in a couple of clicks.

169 rubles is the amount that you absolutely don’t mind for unlimited access to millions of songs.

169 rubles is about 4 subway trips
169 rubles is 6 shrimp at McDonald's or 1 Big Tasty
169 rubles is 4 liters of cola
169 rubles is the cost of an Americano at Starbucks in Moscow

About 10 years ago I had a separate 80 gigabyte hard drive, which was filled with carefully selected mp3 music. Now with all these streaming services and unlimited internet I personally don’t really need the music on the disc.

The much-hyped Beats1 radio with popular presenters in Russia (and a number of other countries) does not work, although it works in Ukraine or Belarus. In my opinion, there is no problem with this - whoever needs it will create an account from another country for this purpose. Most Russians are not interested in English-language dialogues between songs. Perhaps Apple will someday make a Russian-language music radio. Then we'll see.

More annoying is the lack of albums of some artists: The Beatles, Rammstein Russian Apple Music. Most likely, it is connected with some kind of rights. But the number of songs in the system is so huge that they more than cover this current shortcoming.

After two days of testing, I can conclude that streaming works as expected. There are no glitches with playback. The selections suit me, but the opportunity to listen to new albums of my favorite artists without bothering with third party services and programs - generally a great feature.

For people who live in the apple ecosystem, Apple Music is the best option enjoy the music.

Problems and solutions

In this section of the review, I will introduce the most popular problems with Apple Music and their solutions.

Problem #1: Some songs and albums cannot be downloaded/played.

Solution: Most likely the problem lies in the fact that the downloaded/played content contains songs with an Explicit rating (that is, they contain obscenities, obscene language, etc.)

Let's go to Settings->General->Restrictions. Enable Restrictions if disabled.

The system will prompt you to set a four-digit password. Enter any one twice (just remember it).

#1. Use the mini player in iOS

Application Music iOS includes a mini music playback tool at the bottom of the screen. The mini player remains at the bottom, allowing you to navigate the app and still control your music. You can switch between the mini player and full player. Just click on the mini-player to expand it, and then click on the triangle in the top left corner to go to the mini-player. You can also swipe from top to bottom, swiping the player to the bottom of the screen to go to the mini player.

#2. Ability to replace the “Connect” tab with “Playlists” in Apple Music

People can listen to music on Apple Music, but not everyone is interested in the new social network Connect. Luckily, Apple has provided an option to remove the Connect tab from Apple Music in iOS. Just open Settings > General > Restrictions and toggle the “Connect to Apple...” option. This will disable the “Connect” tab and replace it with the useful ‘Playlists’ tab, allowing you to listen to your playlists.

#3. How to Shuffle Songs

To shuffle tracks, you need to click on the mini-player above the tabs. Then, to shuffle the songs, click on the icon Mix at the bottom, to the left of the icon replay

Additionally, you can also use Siri to shuffle tracks. Press and hold Home button For launch Siri, and say “Siri shuffle songs.” Siri will shuffle your songs in your library in random order.

#4. Use Siri with Apple Music

As before, Siri still controls the new Music app well. Launch Siri and ask it to play any song. Siri will search Apple's library Music song which you tell her. You can also use Shazam's handy Siri integration to identify the song that's playing in background. Once Shazam recognizes the melody, you can ask Siri to add the track to your library.

#5. Disable auto-renewal of Apple Music subscription

Apple is giving three free months of Apple Music. But when the trial period ends, Apple will automatically start charging you for the first month paid service. You can turn off auto-renewal in the Music app and enjoy listening to free music for three months without worrying about being charged after the period expires. Just open music app on your iPhone or iPad and tap the My Account icon in the top left corner. Then select “View Apple ID” to sign in to your iTunes account Store. Click “Manage” under the heading subscriptions and find the “auto-resume” switch. It's on by default - just click on it and confirm the change to turn it off.

#6. Save songs from Beats 1 or radio to your music library

You can send any song playing on Beats 1 or any other streaming radio to your library. Just click the ellipsis button and then select “Add to My Music.”

#7. Add your favorite genres and artist after setting up Apple Music

When you first start using Apple Music, you have the option to select your favorite music genres and artists, if you want to add to this list, you can do so by going to the My Profile icon in the top left corner and then “Select Artists.” You will be taken to “Your Preferences” and will see the genres and artists you previously selected.

#8. Manage your list of musicians in Connect

By default, Apple Music automatically subscribes you to musicians, the moment you add their music to the Music library, these artists appear on the Connect social network, which is designed to track the work of your favorite artists. You can turn off automatic artist tracking in Connect. Open your profile by clicking on the profile icon in the top left corner. Then select “Follow News” to see a list of musicians you follow. If you want to stop following an artist's news, simply click the “Cancel” button next to the artist's name. You can also turn off automatic news access by toggling the switch at the top of the screen.

#9. Make songs and albums available offline

You can save songs for offline listening by clicking the ellipses button next to the song or album. Then select the “Make available offline” option.

#10. View the process of downloading a song for offline listening

When you save a song for offline listening, Apple Music will display the progress bar that is present at the top of most tabs in the Music app. Click on the indicator to view downloads that are in the process of being downloaded.

#11. Queue songs to play

When browsing the Apple Music catalog, you can queue songs by tapping the ellipses button next to the song. Then select “Next” to play immediately or “Add to Next” if you want to add the track to a playlist of songs.

#12. View DJ playlists from Beats 1 sessions

Select the radio tab in the Music app and tap the Beats 1 banner in the center of the screen. When the Beats 1 page opens, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and browse archived DJ playlists.

Note: This function not available for Russia

# 13. Changing your Apple Music name and nickname

In Apple Music, you can set up a username and nickname. Your nickname is displayed when you leave comments. To change your Apple Music name and nickname, click the profile icon in the upper left corner, click on your name account, and then click Change to change the values.

#14. Use your Apple Music tracks as an alarm clock

You can save any song from Apple Music and use it as an alarm ringtone. Just save the song to your library and then open the app Watch. In the application, select the Alarm clock tab, select the desired alarm clock, then click on the Change button, click on the desired alarm clock again, and select the “Sound” line. Then scroll up to the title SONGS and select your song.

#15. Find an album related to a song

Click the ellipsis button next to the song, and click on the album cover, which is at the top of the menu. This will open the album page where you can see all the songs on that album.

I hope these Apple Music tips and tricks help you get started using the new Apple Music service.