Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously.

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This is one of those stories where, at least to PC owners, seems completely unbelievable. How can Apple just delete or replace your music on your hard drive? Thankfully this guy had a recent backup of all is music or he would have been totally screwed.

What Amber explained was exactly what I’d feared: through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers. When I signed up for Apple Music, iTunes evaluated my massive collection of Mp3s and WAV files, scanned Apple’s database for what it considered matches, then removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted. If Apple Music saw a file it didn’t recognize—which came up often, since I’m a freelance composer and have many music files that I created myself—it would then download it to Apple’s database, delete it from my hard drive, and serve it back to me when I wanted to listen, just like it would with my other music files it had deleted.
 
"What Apple considers a “match” often isn’t. That rare, early version of Fountains of Wayne’s “I’ll Do The Driving,” labeled as such? Still had its same label, but was instead replaced by the later-released, more widely available version of the song. The piano demo of “Sister Jack” that I downloaded directly from Spoon’s website ten years ago? Replaced with the alternate, more common demo version of the song. What this means, then, is that Apple is engineering a future in which rare, or varying, mixes and versions of songs won’t exist unless Apple decides they do. Said alternate versions will be replaced by the most mainstream version, despite their original, at-one-time correct, titles, labels, and file contents."

"Should I choose to reclaim my songs via download, the files I would get back would not necessarily be the same as my original files. As a freelance composer, I save WAV files of my own compositions rather than Mp3s. WAV files have about ten times the number of samples, so they just sound better. Since Apple Music does not support WAV files, as they stole my compositions and stored them in their servers, they also converted them to Mp3s or AACs. So not only do I need to keep paying Apple Music just to access my own files, but I have to hear an inferior version of each recording instead of the one I created."

for fucks sake...wow
 
Sounds a lot like he got confused about a dialog that appears when you delete a song from your library. Depending on where you do it (your master library, or secondary/phone) it will delete your original file, but keep the iCloud file active. It's not an excuse but it's a complaint that people who don't tend to consider where they are since the beginning of the service.
 
Holy fuck, that's not the way to integrate users into the cloud, that's the way to send them yelling and screaming.

Google Music doesn't touch the files on my computer, it just syncs the specified folders to my cloud account. This horseshit sounds more like the aggressive caching and deletion you need to do on a mobile device to free up storage space.
 
There is something else at play here. I have been using Apple Match for about 3 years now to sync my main OSX based library at home and my Windows work computer, as well as several iOS devices. And I have been using iTunes Music since it came out, which I don't think has been a year yet.

I listen to a lot of music that is not available on iTunes Match and it has not deleted ANY of it.

I have been using iTunes for damn near 13 years now and I will admit that in the past it would occasionally delete random songs from the library, but only if you enabled "Allow iTunes to sort my library". So I did keep that turned off for many years, but I have not had that problem in the last several years.

His entire thesis doesn't even make sense. Just think about what he's saying.....that the largest music provider in the world is just going to arbitrarily delete your shit because they do not sell it. It sounds like he's regurgitating some glitches that DID show up when iTunes Music was first released. But that was fixed very shortly after.
 
at least to PC owners, seems completely unbelievable.

Well it should sound believable to any Windows 10 user since OS can delete programs and swap drivers without your consent.
 
I spent a few hours last weekend trying to copy songs to my iPhone. I downloaded the files in one of my playlists on my PC and then tried to drag the playlist to the phone, but nothing would happen.
Apparently you just click on the cloud icon on your device and it starts to download from iCloud direct to the device. Pretty strange if you ask me.

The reason I want them on the phone is that Sprint Data is spotty and it's a pain to listen to music that keeps stopping when the network speed drops.

I believe there is an option to replace lower quality files in your library with ones from Apple if you select it.
That option I believe will delete your original files.
 
And yet iSheep continue to buy their crap, allowing themselves to be treated this way. Tsk tsk...
 
I can't believe iTunes is still around. The software is bad and contrary to "it just works" - is actually confusing to use. I avoid it.
 
I spent a few hours last weekend trying to copy songs to my iPhone. I downloaded the files in one of my playlists on my PC and then tried to drag the playlist to the phone, but nothing would happen.
Apparently you just click on the cloud icon on your device and it starts to download from iCloud direct to the device. Pretty strange if you ask me.

This is where the execution is iffy. iTunes Match is meant to replicate the existence of your entire library on your iOS device. So being able to load playlists to the phone conflicts with that mentality. The other side effect to not being able to force a playlist is that you cannot put music videos on your iOS device outside of the ones that you buy from iTunes.

The work around is to turn off Match, load a playlist, then turn it back on. Now I know what you are all going to say, "Oh you have to use a workaround to make an Apple work". Well haven't you guy been singing the praise of Windows and Linux all this time because you can freely do workarounds?!?
 
I can't believe iTunes is still around. The software is bad and contrary to "it just works" - is actually confusing to use. I avoid it.

See how long it takes for someone to make a playlist in Windows Media Player versus iTunes. (I still haven't figured this out)

See how long it takes someone to figure how to make Foobar2000 useable.
 
In the back of my mind I keep wondering if Apple was the true inspiration for The Borg. All those devices attached to them, no way to think or act on their own, the collective deciding everything for them. I myself have some really old mp3s that are unique versions. No way in hell would I trust crApple to not overwrite them with generic data. I can't wait for Apple to produce those self driving cars that decide what music to stream and what destination to take you all based on what some designer at Apple thinks is best for you.
 
More validation for a running joke of mine that I like telling people - "iTunes is pretty much malware."

Yep.
If someone at work is having odd problems with their laptop, one of the first things I do is remove iTunes (not a supported app, but people are allowed to load it if they want/need to). Usually fixes whatever flakey problems they where having.
 
This is one of those stories where, at least to PC owners, seems completely unbelievable. How can Apple just delete or replace your music on your hard drive? Thankfully this guy had a recent backup of all is music or he would have been totally screwed.

What Amber explained was exactly what I’d feared: through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers. When I signed up for Apple Music, iTunes evaluated my massive collection of Mp3s and WAV files, scanned Apple’s database for what it considered matches, then removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted. If Apple Music saw a file it didn’t recognize—which came up often, since I’m a freelance composer and have many music files that I created myself—it would then download it to Apple’s database, delete it from my hard drive, and serve it back to me when I wanted to listen, just like it would with my other music files it had deleted.

This happened to me a couple of times. I found if I allowed Apple to "build my library" it would then cause syncing issues with my phone. If the music wasn't present during a sync, it would delete them. I have several backups because of it.
 
In the back of my mind I keep wondering if Apple was the true inspiration for The Borg. All those devices attached to them, no way to think or act on their own, the collective deciding everything for them. I myself have some really old mp3s that are unique versions. No way in hell would I trust crApple to not overwrite them with generic data. I can't wait for Apple to produce those self driving cars that decide what music to stream and what destination to take you all based on what some designer at Apple thinks is best for you.

The car might go off a cliff when it determines the occupant is irrelevant.
 
I can't wait for Apple to produce those self driving cars that decide what music to stream and what destination to take you all based on what some designer at Apple thinks is best for you.

I can see it now....

Dave to Apple iCar: Please take me to my polling place so I can vote.
iCar: I'm sorry Dave but I can't do that. You are registered to the wrong party.
 
This is why i don't do apple.

Their "Let me think for you" design, is not compatible with my mindset
 
Well, Apple is a very successful company. If users like having their hands held, music deleted, and being forced to do everything through iTunes on the cloud, who am I to question them?

I just really hope I never have to use anything like iTunes and that better alternatives continue to exist for people like me. I worry that companies will look at Apple and think users like stuff like this, and then force it on us.
 
I also noticed many of my songs having different versions after switching to Apple Music. I'll have to check if my actual MP3 files are still original or updated..
 
WinAmp, CDex, and Physical discs are still my method for my music.

Hasn't failed me yet.
 
. If users like having their hands held, music deleted, and being forced to do everything through iTunes on the cloud, who am I to question them?
It's not that they like it, but most often, they're not paying for it. Huge numbers of 'i' device users are kids who's accounts are paid for by their parents, or even adults who's account is paid for by the spouse. And even the parents are too lazy to learn how to manipulate the files on their phones, so the iphone/ipod/ipad is what they buy, too. Because it's 'easy'. Missing song? They figure they might have deleted it by mistake, and just go and buy it again. Daddy's to busy to worry about his daughter spending another $1 on top of the already $800 phone bill every month. That happens to a million users worldwide once a month, and you've got a $12 MILLION dollar freebee for apple. Why on earth do we think they'd ever fix that software?
 
Honestly i kind of just experienced the same thing when i moved my 460GB library from one drive to another, i found i lost some tracks.
 
I have been using music for a while and none of my music has been deleted. I haven't even gone into the settings either.

I smell butt hurt, much like what a majority of the posters in this thread is expressing.
 
No, Apple Music is not deleting tracks off your hard drive — unless you tell it to

And the rebuttal from someone.

I don't know who to believe anymore! :)

Heh, I was pretty sure this whole thing was a user error and then apple haterz made it into a big headline.

This guy is obviously clueless:

For about ten years, I’ve been warning people, “hang onto your media. One day, you won’t buy a movie. You’ll buy the right to watch a movie, and that movie will be served to you.

By this time he doesn't know that he already buys the right to watch or right to listen only? He doesn't own any of the CD/DVD:s he has in reality, he just has the right to use it.

In many countries, ripping a CD to your own hard drive is illegal since you don't 'own' the cd.
 
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Maybe it's time to use something more professional than itunes if that's your line of work....
 
This happened to me 10 years ago, I loaded itunes on my server and it decided to blackhole all my files instead of moving them to the new itunes storage location. Considering that Apple applications don't exactly come with a manual, and are supposed to be idiotproof, you really can't expect some innocuous checkbox like "Build My Library" equates with delete everything on the source folder. Even windows will prompt you before deletion/overwrite and let you make the choice, Apple's approach stinks of corporate entitlement, as if anyone who owns CDs are beneath their notice. I promptly went back to winamp then eventually to xbmc and plex. My files stay where I want them to be and that suits me fine. Maybe someday Plex will work with my car and then that's the end of that.
 
I'm not buying this. I smell user error.

Maybe..maybe not. But blaming a user for something when it is not obvious isn't fair either when that user is PAYING YOU. If you would ask every apple user if they knew about an option where when using itunes and apple music that apple could delete files...the amount of blank stares you would get would be amazing. That is no longer "user error"...because no sane person would EVER make that assumption.
 
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It isn't just Apple. Software bugs in music software or anything that manages your files can be a real problem. On my current setup if I use Microsoft's Win 10 built in music program it deletes a bunch of my music files. It leaves all the folders and album artwork alone and just deletes the MP3 files. Since I stopped using it I haven't had a single file go missing. Thankfully, all my music is on an NAS that gets backed up to a drive that isn't normally visible to programs. So, I only had to access the backup and copy the files back. But, it was a pain in the ass trying to figure out why things were going missing. They were on that NAS for years before I tried using that program and nothing else ever deleted files. When I tried using that program then things started vanishing. Obviously it isn't a feature of the program but a bug that I've never seen anyone else replicate.
 
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