iCloud Music Library: Everything You Need to Know

iCloud Music Library is an Apple service that lets you sync your personal music library on up to 10 registered devices. It offers a seamless way to sync up your tunes for easy access across your devices as long as you’re connected to the internet. This service is available as a part of your Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription. So, you need not pay anything extra to sync your favorite tracks and playlists. This article explains how this syncing feature works along with its pros & cons, and how you can turn on/off iCloud Music Library on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Without any ado, let’s begin!

What Is iCloud Music Library

iCloud Music Library or Sync Library is an Apple service that allows you to access and sync your music library across your Apple devices where you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID. This sync service is only available to users who have subscribed to Apple Music or iTunes Match. You can stream and download music on up to 10 Apple devices. It synchronizes your purchases and also takes care of the music you’ve imported from CDs or other sources across your devices.

Prerequisites to Use iCloud Music Library

• iCloud Music Library requires an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription. When you cancel your Apple Music subscription or iTunes Match subscription, your music library will be removed from all of your devices, except for the device your music library is stored on. Any playlists or even your downloaded tracks will also be removed.
• It’s worth knowing that iCloud Music Library is not a backup service. So, before you turn it on, you must take a complete backup of all of your music on your device or external hard drive.

Pros of Using iCloud Music Library

Before we learn how to enable and disable iCloud Music Library, let’s take a moment to have a quick look at what you can and can’t do with this service.

With Apple’s Sync Library, you can take advantage of the following:

• Stream and download your song library on up to 10 devices.
• Access your music on any device as long as you’re connected to the internet.
• Store up to 100,000 songs (shouldn’t be over 200MB) with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.
•  You can delete the matched tracks and then redownload them from the iTunes Store to obtain high-quality 256kbps DRM-free AAC versions.

Cons of Using iCloud Music Library

• You can’t manually sync music from iTunes to your iPhone or iPad.
• Each Apple ID has its own iCloud Music Library. So, you can’t set up Family Sharing for iCloud Music Library.
• Apple’s Sync Library upgrades the songs and albums on your device by matching and replacing them with higher-quality versions from the Apple Music streaming library, if available. This process can result in missing or incorrect song metadata, messed up album art, and incorrect song matching.
•  Apple Music files are DRM encrypted, which means they are linked to your Apple ID. So, even if you build a varied music library, you don’t own any of those tracks. All your music will become inaccessible once you cancel your subscription.
• Apple Music isn’t available in every country. Here’s a list of supported countries and regions.

How to Turn On iCloud Music Library on iPhone or iPad

Once you have the Apple Music subscription, you can sync your music library across your devices.

• Open the Apple Music app and tap on the profile icon from the top-right corner.
• Tap on Account Settings and verify that you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID you use with your Apple Music subscription.
• Now, open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and tap on Music.
• Here, turn on the Sync Library option. If you don’t see this option, it means you don’t have an active Apple Music subscription.

How to Turn On iCloud Music Library on Mac

• Open the Apple Music app and click on Account from the top Menu bar to make sure you’ve signed in with the correct Apple ID.
• Now, from the Menu Bar, choose Music -> Settings.

• In the new pop-up window, click on the General Tab and check the box next to Sync Library.
• Finally, click on Ok to save the changes.

• Once you’ve done this, wait for your music library to sync. You can check the upload status by clicking on Updating Cloud Library.

How to Turn On iCloud Music Library on PC

If you’re using the Apple Music app for Windows, follow the below steps to turn on Sync Library on your PC.

• Open the Apple Music app on your PC.
• From the bottom of the sidebar, click on your name and verify that you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID you’re using with your Apple Music subscription.
• Now, from the top of the sidebar, click on Sidebar Actions.
• Next up, click on Settings -> General and turn on the Sync Library toggle.

If you’re using the iTunes app, the Sync Library option is called iCloud Music Library. Follow the below steps to enable this feature on your Windows PC.

• Open the iTunes app.
• From the top Menu bar, click on Edit and select Preferences from the dropdown menu.
• Here, check the iCloud Music Library option.
• Click on OK to save your changes.

What to Do If Songs Are Missing from Your Music Library

If songs are missing from your music library after you’ve turned on the Sync Library feature, you must check the following:

• Verify that you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID with which you’ve subscribed to Apple Music.
• Check the cloud status of songs on Mac or PC.
• Make sure your device is connected to a stable internet connection.
• Double-check that you’ve got an active Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.

You can also check out this Apple Support page for more details.

How to Turn Off iCloud Music Library

If this music syncing service doesn’t suit your needs, you can turn off Sync Library. When you do this, it will stop syncing your Apple Music library and playlists across your devices. Also, it will remove any music that was previously synced, including your Apple Music downloads. You can only access songs that are locally stored on your device.

For step-by-step instructions, you can visit our guide on how to turn off iCloud Music Library.