The iCloud Music Library may be a brilliant option to some when it comes to syncing music libraries between the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or any other Apple device. However, if you have limited storage space on any of your devices, you will get a message that all your storage is filled up. Luckily you don’t need to delete anything to get it back. Simply turn off iCloud Music Library.
In this post, I will show you how to enable and disable the iCloud Music Library. Whether you are doing it to save some space on your iOS devices or you just don’t want to have your music pop up everywhere on your Apple devices, this post is intended for you.
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What is the iCloud Music Library?
The iCloud Music Library is a service by Apple that allows you to store your own music library online. This library is created by syncing your iTunes playlists to iCloud, where they are matched to any device you sign in to. It costs $9.99 to subscribe to the iCloud Music Library while the Apple iTunes Match service will cost you $24.99 to store upto 100,000 songs on iCloud.
Why disable iCloud Music Library
There have been complaints that the iCloud Music Library has become buggy of late. When enabled, your iPhone storage may fill up almost immediately. It also keeps popping problems such as wrong album meta data, issues with live tracks, and missing album artwork. This is why it is commendable to backup your iTunes music library before you start using iCloud Music Library.
Before you disable the iCloud Music Library, here are some of the things you will lose:
- Your songs that are saved from Apple Music
- All songs stored on the cloud
- Any mismatched songs that had been downloaded to your iCloud
You won’t lose your iTunes music playlists. They will still be available for access on any platform, whether on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Also, if your memory was full after enabling it, it will automatically free up some space. Now that we’ve got any confusion out of the way, lets go straight to turning off iCloud Music Library.
The iCloud Music Library is often included as part of your package when you sign up for Apple Music. If you would like to turn it off on your Mac, PC, iOS 10, iOS 11 or other versions, then follow the steps below:
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How to enable or disable the iTunes Music Library on your iPhone
- On your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, open the Settings app
- Tap Music
- Scroll to iCloud Music Library
- Tap the toggle to enable or disable
How to turn off iCloud Music Library on Mac
- Open iTunes on your computer
- On the menu, go to iTunes > Preferences > General
- Check or uncheck to enable or disable the iCloud Music Library option
- Click OK to save your settings
How to turn off iCloud Music Library on PC
- Open iTunes on your Windows PC and go to Edit > Preferences
- Select the General tab
- Check or uncheck to enable or disable your iCloud Music Library
- Click OK to save your settings.
Common iCloud Music Library issues
Here are some of the common problems you might run into when using, enabling, or disabling your iCloud Music Library and their solutions.
iCloud Music Library checkbox missing
If your iTunes doesn’t have the iCloud Music Library checkbox, you must be running an older version of iTunes. If this is the case, simply update it using any of the steps highlighted here.
If you had just installed a new version of your Mac or PCs OS or a new version of iTunes when this error occurred, you should log out of iTunes in all your devices and log in with your current Apple ID. This is because you might be using an old Apple ID on some devices. If your iCloud Music Library option is still missing, do a fresh install of iTunes on all the devices that share your library. The checkbox should now appear.
How to access your iCloud Music Library
You can access your iCloud Music Library right on your iTunes. You can also access it on other devices that you have logged into using your Apple ID. Make sure to enable iCloud Music Library on iTunes or the device that you are using in order to access it. Since the library is similar to what you have on iTunes, then you can locate it on your computer when you go to the iTunes folder.
Problem syncing iCloud Music Library with iPod Nano and iPod Touch
Since the iPod Nano doesn’t have an internet connection, you wouldn’t be able to sync your Apple Music tracks. You will only be able to sync items you have purchased on iTunes. On the other hand, the iPod Touch will access your Apple Music songs but you need to download them. Syncing won’t work either.
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You’ve mastered it!
Whether your iCloud Music Library wouldn’t turn on or wasn’t working previously, I hope you’ve managed to solve the issue. You should have also mastered enabling and disabling the iCloud Music Library as well as fixing the missing checkbox issue. If you get any problems with how to back up your iTunes library to iCloud or fixing any iCloud issues, let us know!
Alex is an IT technician who shares his experiences with Apple devices occasionally. He has a collection of Apple devices (from iPhone 4) and has recently started trying out Android.
IG: @I M_Alex