A web log Wiley Post has been make the round since Thursday , saying thatApple Stole My Music . James Pinkstone , writing on his company ’s web log , assure a tale of losing 122 GB of euphony files because of Apple Music . Plenty of websites are trumpeting this story , saying that Apple Music is the swelled spoilt masher . But I ’m afraid that is n’t the case .
The generator of this web log berth begins by advert a moment of a conversation he had with one Amber , an Apple technical school backing individual :
“ The software is functioning as stand for , ” say Amber .
“ Wait , ” I asked , “ so it ’s say to cancel my personal file from my internal hard thrust without asking my permit ? ”
“ Yes , ” she replied .
Amber is improper . Neither Apple Music nor iCloud Music Library delete music file . This simply does n’t pass .
I ’m not contesting what take place to Mr. Pinkstone . iTunes is nothing if not problematic , as you may see on a regular basis in my Ask the iTunes Guy column . But if Apple Music — or more right , in this case , iCloud Music Library — were rapturing euphony data file of every user around the creation , there would have already been a -gate disceptation ( musicgate ? filegate ? ) and a social class - action lawsuit . Heck , even Taylor Swift would have been dysphoric , and compose an open letter to Apple .
I do n’t acknowledge on the dot what happened to this user . I reach him by electronic mail adjudicate to get more selective information , and he tell me that he no longer use Apple Music , so he really ca n’t help elucidate the issue . There are a few hypotheses circulating about what may have pass , and none of them make total horse sense . Something deleted his medicine files — let in medicine he composed — and it ’s hard to figure out what was creditworthy . But it was n’t Apple Music , and Apple certainly did not “ slip ” his music .
Apple’s music services: The differences
First , some nomenclature . Apple Music is the party ’s streaming service ; it does nothing to any of your filing cabinet . iCloud Music Library , however , is the feature that allow you match your library , store files in the cloud , and save files you care from Apple Music . The goal of this is to allow you to play any medicine from your iTunes library on any twist you own . ( This can be confusing ; I wrote abouthow Apple Music , iCloud Music Library , and iTunes Match work together . )
Here ’s what bump when you apply iCloud Music Library or iTunes Match :
What fall out next depends on how you use iTunes and your iOS machine .
If you retain all the original files on your computing equipment , iCloud Music Library may change tags and artwork . I abide that in the early days , but it neither exchange nor deletes any filing cabinet in your iTunes library .
If you delete music on an iOS equipment , you see this duologue . It can be perplexing .
If you delete the local copies of those files , you could re - download them from the swarm , and they will be the 256 kbps AAC versions of your file ( if the original were not in that data format ) , and , if you do n’t have an iTunes Match subscription , they will have DRM . However , if you delete your euphony on an iOS machine , this may remove the single file from your iCloud Music Library ; the iOS dialogue is n’t very light .
If you cancel your Apple Music subscription , any files from that service that you save up will disappear ; but your original file will still remain on your computer .
There have been issues where , follow an iTunes rise , a library is empty , but the file cabinet are still present , andthe pickle is comparatively simple .
I do n’t know what happened to Mr. Pinkstone ’s medicine files . Somehow they got deleted ; whether through user error or by another app . But I bonk that this is not how iCloud Music Library works .
Whatever the causa of this incident , it highlight the pauperism for championship ; fortunately , Mr. Pinkstone had a reliever of his music files . I maintain three backup of my media library , because I have a very turgid program library , and I ’ve spent a great deal of time tag my files and adding album nontextual matter . But I have three backup of all my files , so I ’m pretty safe . When I do misplace files because of some ham actor - fisted maneuver — and this bump — I can pull copies from one of my relief .
