Question about Family Sharing, Playlists if subscription expires

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Level 2

434 points

Question about Family Sharing, Playlists if subscription expires

Hello all,

I've had a family membership for Apple Music since its inception. Family is pushing back a little about trying a different service. My mother lives with us and she has her own Apple ID and all of that for buying apps, etc. etc. I'm currently sharing the family subscription with my wife and son. Can I add my mother to our account, but only for Apple Music? IE... if I add her, and she wants to make an app purchase, we want her Apple ID to be billed. Not mine.

Finally, if the convince me to switch to another service, what will happen to my music that was already in iTunes? And all of the songs I own and the playlists I've created with them?

I understand I'll lose any Apple Music playlist with songs that are from the Apple Music catalogue.

I'd like to know if the songs I've owned for 20 years in iTunes (from CD's I copied into the library) and the playlists I've created with them will remain in Music so I can still enjoy them?

Any clarification on those two points would be appreciated!!

If I can share our subscription with my mom, but I won't be billed if she goes and buys a ton of other gaming apps or whatever... then I'll have the ammo I need to stay with Apple Music:)

Thank you in advance!

Posted on Jun 26, 2020 7:38 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LACAllen

Level 8

43,500 points

Jun 27, 2020 3:28 AM in response to Matt13

Can I add my mother to our account, but only for Apple Music?

You can disable purchase sharing to avoid paying for her, but it's for the entire family. You can't cherry pick. If she wishes to pay her own way, one option is for her to redeem iTunes Gift Cards to her account. They will be charged before you do.

Finally, if the convince me to switch to another service, what will happen to my music that was already in iTunes? And all of the songs I own and the playlists I've created with them?

They should remain behind when you leave Apple Music.

I'd like to know if the songs I've owned for 20 years in iTunes (from CD's I copied into the library) and the playlists I've created with them will remain in Music so I can still enjoy them?

Yes... but you are expected to have a backup of those MP3 files in case something does go wrong. Apple will not accept any responsibility for those. iTunes purchased music can be downloaded again.

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Answer 2

Matt13 Author

Level 2

434 points

Jun 27, 2020 8:04 PM in response to LACAllen

Thank you for taking the time to respond! I'm bummed about the sharing option... seems Apple is the only one that links everyone you can share the subscription with to the same account. Ugh. Oh well. The rest of the information was helpful too! Thank you!

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Answer 3

LACAllen

Level 8

43,500 points

Jun 27, 2020 8:20 PM in response to Matt13

Matt13 wrote:

Thank you for taking the time to respond! I'm bummed about the sharing option... seems Apple is the only one that links everyone you can share the subscription with to the same account. Ugh. Oh well. The rest of the information was helpful too! Thank you!

You're welcome.

Let's be fair here... Apple provides a fairly significant discount via Family Sharing. To mitigate the risks of that, pegging one member as the payer is, in my opinion, a smart and reasonable way to manage that risk. To manage 1 method of payment in a family vs. 6 is less overhead. That's where your discount came from. Multiply that by the number of families

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 4

Matt13 Author

Level 2

434 points

Jun 27, 2020 8:33 PM in response to LACAllen

I hear ya... and I totally get it. But my mom is very much still young and working and would like to buy a lot of apps, movies, shows, etc. etc. etc. It would be so hard to keep track of all of that. Her and my wife have been turned onto Amazon Prime and Unlimited music. Alexa haunts me all of a sudden in our home... one in every room! Lol. Amazon's Unlimited Music is very similar to Apple Music with virtually the same library... but one Unlimited family account allows for it to be shared with six other people (whoever you want), but your prime accounts remain separate. If that makes sense. And, if you pay for the whole year up front, it's $12 a month... not the $15 Apple charges. It's small beans to me... but my mom and wife might win this fight. Lol. I rely heavily on iTunes for my video business. I have almost two decades of music I've uploaded to iTunes to use in my projects in Final Cut. Fortunately they're all unique files I own. So I'll just make sure to download them all so when our Apple Music account lapses, I'll be able to add them back in if they go away for whatever reason.

Thank you again for your help! I really wish Apple would do a better job with competing with Amazon. It seems like Alexa is running away with home automation... I hate to say. I'm a mac guy through and through though.

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Question about Family Sharing, Playlists if subscription expires

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