Problem with Apple Music/Catalina

[candylandriots]

I just got a new computer to replace our dinosaur iMac. That computer was running iTunes and High Sierra. I'm hating the new experience so far.

The new computer uses Apple Music (replacing iTunes) and the Catalina OS.

My wife and I, let's just say, don't have the same taste in music. I want to keep our libraries separate.

Apple says there is a way to do this by holding the option key while opening the Music app. And it worked fine (after some difficulty) for importing our music libraries, which I copied onto a external hard drive and moved to the new computer.

The problem is when switching between our two libraries. Apple says it's easy. Just hold down the option button and press the "Choose Library" button. Except that button doesn't work. I can't click on either one of our music folders.

I must be missing something really simple here, but I can't do it for the life of me. And this has resulted in her peanut butter getting in my chocolate, except much less delicious. And I've had to re-import my library now more than once, which is getting old.

One other piece of relevant information -- I want my music on my phone, not in the cloud.

Can anyone show me what I'm doing wrong? Here's a picture showing that I can't choose the Jeff folder.

 

[swiftaw]

Why aren’t you using seperate user accounts for you and your wife?

when you hold the option key you need to select the library file not the folder where you music is.

 

[candylandriots]

Why aren’t you using seperate user accounts for you and your wife?

when you hold the option key you need to select the library file not the folder where you music is.

And there it is...the simple thing I was overlooking. Thank you!!!

We had separate accounts on the old computer, and frankly it was a drag. My wife would never switch to her "side" which ended up creating its own set of music problems, as well as the hassle of consolidating photos, etc.

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

Apple knows what's best for us...

 

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Love Chris Brokaw.

 

[ColdSoxPack]

I've heard of David Bowie, the others can't say I have. Enjoy. No one asked but I don't like the change from iTunes to Apple Music. Don't like the cloud. Don't like the way they messed with my library when I bought the paid version. Don't like MP3s. Bleah.

 

[benhogan]

Just make the move to Spotify

 

[Five Cent Head]

How much work would it be to use all of the music, but to create two separate playlists, one for each of you? Then you can create a smart playlist which takes songs which are both from your list and also are rated 4 or 5 stars, that sort of thing. (It might be a lot of work, but you would only have to do it once. Then you wouldn't have to restart the Music app and choose a different library whenever you switch users.)

 

[nighthob]

I've heard of David Bowie, the others can't say I have. Enjoy. No one asked but I don't like the change from iTunes to Apple Music. Don't like the cloud. Don't like the way they messed with my library when I bought the paid version. Don't like MP3s. Bleah.

I actually like the cloud, I've uploaded all the thousands and thousands of live tracks that I have that are unlikely to ever make it to any streaming service (mostly a bunch of Angel Air collections) and now can listen to them no matter what device I'm using without having to buy 128gb/256gb devices.

 

[ifmanis5]

+1 Cut Copy, Cat Power & Deerhunter

Navigating iTunes to Apple Music is painful but anything with Catalina is painful.

 

[gtmtnbiker]

We had separate accounts on the old computer, and frankly it was a drag. My wife would never switch to her "side" which ended up creating its own set of music problems, as well as the hassle of consolidating photos, etc.

i don’t understand how it’s a drag. Do you leave yourself logged inand she starts using it? When done with the computer, I would lock or logout. Don’t give her your password.

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

I actually like the cloud, I've uploaded all the thousands and thousands of live tracks that I have that are unlikely to ever make it to any streaming service (mostly a bunch of Angel Air collections) and now can listen to them no matter what device I'm using without having to buy 128gb/256gb devices.

What method do you recommend for doing this?

 

[SumnerH]

Don't like the cloud.

100%. We just had the power go down for several hours Friday evening, and it was awesome having all my music and podcasts on my phone and tablet to listen to without needing external connectivity.

 

[ColdSoxPack]

100%. We just had the power go down for several hours Friday evening, and it was awesome having all my music and podcasts on my phone and tablet to listen to without needing external connectivity.

Apple makes lots of money taking all your stuff and putting it in "the cloud" and charging you to store it and to stream it back.

 

[nighthob]

What method do you recommend for doing this?

If you have an iCloud account Apple Music backs up your music library by default and any playlist you have can mix tracks from your personal library and Apple Music.

 

[caminante11]

How much work would it be to use all of the music, but to create two separate playlists, one for each of you? Then you can create a smart playlist which takes songs which are both from your list and also are rated 4 or 5 stars, that sort of thing. (It might be a lot of work, but you would only have to do it once. Then you wouldn't have to restart the Music app and choose a different library whenever you switch users.)

You should do this if you want to use the same library. Use the Grouping attribute. You start. tag all your songs with Jeff. Then any of your songs Danielle wants will be coded "Both" Then all of her songs will be coded "Danielle". Then you make a smart playlist of all songs with grouping Jeff or grouping Both. That playlist is synced to your devices.

 

[candylandriots]

Love Chris Brokaw.

Yeah really nice to listen to his solo stuff -- amazing guitarist. I saw him once with Come opening for Sugar and once solo opening for Bob Mould.

I've heard of David Bowie, the others can't say I have. Enjoy. No one asked but I don't like the change from iTunes to Apple Music. Don't like the cloud. Don't like the way they messed with my library when I bought the paid version. Don't like MP3s. Bleah.

Yeah...this is one of the problems my wife has with my music, and I with hers . I'm also not a big fan of the cloud thing. I had to redo my music because it was showing up twice because of that which was also irritating. I buy my music and I want to have access to it without the middleman.

I spent a small fortune on the SSD drive with this computer. I'm damn well going to use it!

Just make the move to Spotify

- I care about music (and musicians) way too much to do that. I'm the sort that actually often pays more than the band asks for when buying something from Bandcamp. I still buy actual records too. Anyway, a lot of the stuff I like isn't even on Spotify.

+1 Cut Copy, Cat Power & Deerhunter

Navigating iTunes to Apple Music is painful but anything with Catalina is painful.

All good stuff too! I had a super hard time getting everything with Catalina to work. I'm glad it's not just me. I thought it was because I was like 4 or 5 operating systems behind on my old computer and the change was too much!

i don’t understand how it’s a drag. Do you leave yourself logged inand she starts using it? When done with the computer, I would lock or logout. Don’t give her your password.

It's really that my wife is a technical luddite. So when I end up moving all her pictures or whatever, that just adds an extra step when I want to consolidate them. Or if we are sharing files or something. Any time that I had to fix something for her before, I'd have to log out, log back in as her and take care of it. It's for my sanity as much as anything else.

You should do this if you want to use the same library. Use the Grouping attribute. You start. tag all your songs with Jeff. Then any of your songs Danielle wants will be coded "Both" Then all of her songs will be coded "Danielle". Then you make a smart playlist of all songs with grouping Jeff or grouping Both. That playlist is synced to your devices.

I'm not sure which of us wants the other's music available to them less. But I'm already running out of storage space on my 256GB phone anyway. The lossless encoding takes up a ton of space.