London (AP) – Want to switch to Apple Music as you can’t find your favorite indie band on Spotify? Or you may be using Amazon Music, but you’ve seen a new subscriber offer on Tidal.
There are many reasons to change your music provider. But if you’re thinking about it and worried about losing your library of saved songs and personalized playlists, don’t be afraid. There’s a way to take it all to you.
Many music streaming services don’t make it obvious – often fill the instructions deep into the FAQ, making the process difficult – but they offer options that will help you migrate your collection.
Apple became easier last month when it quietly rolled out a new feature that allowed users to import libraries from rival sites. Apple’s official functioning can give passive users confidence to move around.
A few pointers to help you along with the music transition.
Import to Apple Music
iPhone maker recently released Help Page Walk through the process of users importing libraries into Apple Music.
Buried in your settings, this feature is provided by a third-party service called Songshift. Currently available to users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
To use it you will need an Apple Music account and the latest version of your iOS or Android Apple Music app.
On your iPhone, go to Settings, then Apps, Music. Tap “Transfer music from other music services” to pop up a list of various streaming services. Android users can follow a similar process. The transfer is music.apple.com.
After selecting a service, you will be presented with a different screen prompting you to log in to your target account.
Now you’ll get a menu with the option to import “All Songs and Albums” and “All Playlists”. If you don’t want all the playlists, you can unlock unnecessary playlists. However, you cannot choose individual songs or albums.
Apple Music replicates libraries based on your selection.
Importing the Spotify library with around 150 playlists went pretty smoothly, but the process took about 30 minutes as the service had about 1,230 songs and albums downloaded to my iPhone.
I thought engraving “all songs and albums” meant that Apple Music would reflect the small number of music I downloaded to my Spotify app, but I downloaded all 63 albums to the Spotify Library and also 440 songs from the Liked Songs list. If you don’t want to download everything, unsubscribe that option before you begin.
They also say Apple cannot transfer playlists “created by music services” so they couldn’t deliver such a Spotify Curated list to Taylor Swift or alternative 80s. It also meant that my Liked Songs list that Spotify generates for all users, and the list I’ve added over the years, could not be reproduced. Songs downloaded from these lists will be dumped into your Apple Music library. So you have to start from the start using Apple’s favorite songs list.
If you want to try out the tool, be aware that it probably doesn’t work the same for all services. Apple warns that what can be transferred depends on the source platform. For example, playlists created by other users, such as The Sounds of 1994 on BBC Music, have finished it.
Additionally, some content may not be available in the Apple Music Catalog or may be accurately matched.” If it does not match, we will do a 30-day review and choose from alternative versions.
We work with other music platforms
Most other big music streaming platforms offer a way to transfer your library to your site. They primarily rely on standalone third-party services that are free to use for a while and do not require app integration to work.
Both Tidal and Deezer direct their users to their websites on their websites to such a service, My Music Tune My Music. This is the host of popular platforms such as Spotify and lesser known sites.
The Amazon Music webpage has dedicated buttons for Tune My Music and two similar services, Songshift and Soundiiz.
Google also advises third-party services for YouTube music users who want to import or export playlists, albums, artists and tracks. However, for Apple Music users who want to migrate to YouTube Music, the process is different. You will need to sign in to Apple Music, transfer a copy of your data and then export it directly to YouTube Music.
“If you have many playlists, the transfer process can take several hours,” warns Google. Support page.
Spotify says it is currently testing how users transfer libraries and hopes to provide details soon.
Migrate between platforms using third-party services
Moving your Spotify library to Deezer using Tune My Music was very easy.
I clicked the button on the Deezer website. This started the process asking you to log in to your Spotify account. The menu then created pre-drawn options for what I could migrate. I came up with one or all of my entire library, my favorite songs, my favorite albums, my favorite artists, or 150 playlists.
I decided to move it all, it ended up with over 16,359 items. It took about 5 minutes. Unlike Apple Music, Deezer did not download the files. Just the copied list.
Dozens of songs have gone missing, my music said.
“It usually happens because the song is not present on the new platform or it was named a slightly different way and it couldn’t match,” he added, but that you can download a list of missing tracks and search for it on the new platform.
After the music library transfer is finished, don’t forget that it is still on the original platform and has not been deleted.
Most third-party forwarding services are free, but also offer premium levels with more features, such as instant syncing of libraries between multiple streaming sites.
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James Pollard, an AP business writer in New York, contributed to this report.
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