How to replace existing songs (that are Apple Music songs) with CD files?

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Level 1

88 points

How to replace existing songs (that are Apple Music songs) with CD files?

Okay. So I have thousands of existing songs that I have ripped from CDs and added to my Music library. I also have thousands of songs downloaded (or just linked) from Apple Music.

I am working on two workflows:

In some cases, the files are damaged/corrupted and I want to re-rip the CDs. When Music asks me if I want to replace the existing songs, do I want to accept or decline? I want to wind up with the same songs, with the same play count and the same ratings, etc., and just new song files on my computer.
I have some Apple Music songs and now have obtained a CD with those same songs. I want to import the files, but associate them with the existing Apple Music songs already in my library. Because Music didn't create a folder for the songs, how can I associate the new ripped files with the existing songs from Apple Music?

Before anyone asks: I prefer to have the "hard" copies of the files from CDs rather than Apple Music files or downloads, because I have a sneaky suspicion that at some point, I won't have Apple Music and I'll still want my own song files.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 15, 2025 06:54 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

277,753 points

Sep 16, 2025 04:28 AM in response to Mike Cuenca

I think that for 1. things work the way you might expect, but the only way to know for sure is to test it by making a note of play counts and playlist membership before re-ripping one of the CDs in questions.

I'd like to think Apple Music might work things out if you rip an album that you currently have from the subscription service, but that might be too optimistic. Again try with a single album, making notes before you start. Once you have an Apple Music subscription in the mix editing play counts can be particularly tricky. The cloud tends to remember things and scripted edits don't always hold.

All of your downloaded Apple Music content will be in an Apple Music subfolder in the ../Music/Media folder. File extensions are different. It isn't just a case of putting your new rip in the old location.

tt2

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