Access to music via iCloud on all devices

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Access to music via iCloud on all devices

Why should I have to pay to listen to music I already own or pay to have access to it via cloud based storage that I already pay for?

I have seen several questions in this forum about the issue I have been having with accessing my music on my iPhone. All of the responses are to subscribe to another paid service from Apple.

I have already spent money purchasing thousands of songs, albums and audiobooks directly from the artists or their distributors, including cds at concerts, and they are digitally stored on an external hard drive. I am unable to upload them to iCloud. I can't save them all on my Mac due to storage limitations. Both of these combined mean I can't access them on my iPhone.

I pay for both iCloud and Google Drive cloud-based storage.

Recently another annoyance occurred after updating my computer and phone: the album artwork does not match many of the songs. This is ridiculous!

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Mar 12, 2023 03:01 PM

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Answer 1

Lindsay_B.

Community Specialist

Mar 14, 2023 02:24 PM in response to ShannonT678

Hello there ShannonT678,

Thank you so much for stopping by the Apple Support Communities with your concerns over accessing your music. We're happy to let you know that you are not required to subscribe to any additional services to have access to music you already own.

Content you have purchased via the iTunes Store can be downloaded onto any device you're using your Apple ID with. You can get specific instructions on doing that here: Redownload music - Apple Support.

For music you have obtained through other sources, such as importing them to your computer from a CD or purchased via other third-parties sources, you can sync them from your computer to your iPhone. The music does not need to be located directly on the computer to do this, as long as the drive it is on is plugged in when you sync, you should be good to go. Use the following Apple Support resources to learn how to do that:

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support This resource will help you show the Music app where your music is located on that external drive.
Import music from a computer to Music on Mac - Apple Support This resource will walk you through how to add the music to your library in the Music app. In order to ensure the files do not copy to the make, make sure the "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library" option is not selected.
Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using your computer - Apple Support Once you have your music in the Music app, you can use this resource to sync the content from a Mac to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

You can even tell your computer to sync wirelessly, without having to plug your iPhone into the Mac as long as they're on the same Wi-Fi network. More details on that can be found here: Sync content between your Mac and iPhone or iPad over Wi-Fi - Apple Support.

That said, in order to utilize iCloud to sync your music, an iTunes Match or Apple Music subscription is required. If you'd like to learn more about these services, you can use the following Apple Support articles:

Don't hesitate to respond back if you have any further questions.

Happy listening!

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Access to music via iCloud on all devices

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