How to Turn off iCloud Music Library on Mac/iPhone/iPad/iPod

Part 1. What Is iCloud Music Library?

First launched in 2015, the iCloud Music Library is a feature that allows you to sync your entire music collection across all of your devices. That way, you can access your songs, albums, and playlists from anywhere.

In order to use the iCloud Music Library, you need to have an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription. Assuming you have iCloud Music Library turned on, your iTunes songs will be stored in the cloud library. And you can access the cloud and play music from any of your devices with your Apple ID signed in.

Main Features of iCloud Music Library

• The ability to access your entire music collection from any of your devices.
• The ability to download songs or albums that you've purchased from the iTunes Store onto any of your devices.
• The ability to download up to 100,000 song collections.
• The ability to access the entire Apple Music catalog.

Pros of Turning off iCloud Music Library

The pros of turning off the iCloud Music Library are that you can save storage space on your device and choose which songs to share with other devices. It is also a remedy for some iCloud errors, such as album mismatch, wrong song metadata, and sync failure.

Cons of Turning off the iCloud Music Library

Typically, if you choose to turn off iCloud Music Library, you will no longer have access to your entire music collection from all of your devices, and any songs that you had stored in the cloud will be deleted from your device. This includes your Apple Music catalog, iTunes library, or other songs uploaded to iCloud. Hence, before you turn off iCloud, it would be wise to create a backup for all your iCloud songs/ tunes.

Part 2. How to Turn off iCloud Music Library on iPhone/iPad/iPod

Suppose you want to turn off iCloud on your portable iOS devices such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, how do you go about it? Here is a quick guide for you.

Step 1: On your iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod), go to "Settings" > "Music".

Step 2: Scroll down to find the "iCloud Music Library" option.

Step 3: Slide the toggle to turn off your iCloud on iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Part 3. How to Turn off iCloud Music Library on Mac

If you are using a Mac computer, please follow the instruction below to complete the process.

Step 1: Launch the iTunes app on your computer.

Step 2: Go to "iTunes" > "Preferences".

Step 3: Next, go to "General" and uncheck the "iCloud Music Library" option.

Part 4. How to Turn iCloud Music Library off on PC

Turning off the iCloud Music Library on a PC is similar to a Mac computer.

Step 1: Download and launch the iTunes app on your PC.

Step 2: Go to "iTunes" > "Preference".

Step 3: Go to "General" and uncheck the "iCloud Music Library" to turn it off.

Part 5. How to Back up Apple Music without iCloud Music Library

Even though turning off the iCloud Music Library helps fix some iCloud-related issues, it is not a good idea to do so if you want to keep your music collection safe and sound. Since turning it off will delete all the songs stored in iCloud, it is highly recommended that you create a backup of your music collection before turning off the iCloud Music Library.

However, creating a backup for protected Apple Music songs can be challenging as the songs are encrypted and can only be played on authorized devices. To back up your Apple Music collection, you will need the help of a third-party tool such as AudFree Auditior, a powerful Apple Music converter.

AudFree Auditior is a easy-to-use Apple Music tool to convert protected Apple Music songs to common MP3, FLAC, AAC, WAV, or M4A files. Once the conversion is complete, you can keep the Apple Music songs on your computer forever, even if you cancel your Apple Music subscription or disable iCloud Music Library.

Apart from converting Apple Music, the app can also help you download and convert Audible audiobook and iTunes M4P to MP3, FLAC, and AAC formats for offline playback. And it preserves the original audio quality of the songs and offers lossless conversion at 30X faster speed.

AudFree Audio Converter is available for Mac and Windows computers and can be downloaded from the official website. Once you have downloaded and installed the app on your computer, check the guide below to download and convert your Apple Music playlist for offline playback.

Main Features of AudFree Apple Music Converter

• Downloads Apple Music, iTunes, and Audible audiobooks
• Converts Apple Music to MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, etc.
• Conversion speeds of up to 30X with lossless quality kept
• Easy to customize music settings and format and support batch conversion

Download

Download

How to Download Apple Music Forever with AudFree Auditior

Step 1Launch & Register AudFree Auditior

First, download and install the AudFree Auditior app on your computer. Once the app is installed, hit the app icon to launch it. Next, go to the main menu bar and select the "Register" option. Now, enter the license key to activate the full software version. It is important to note that the Apple Music app will automatically launch after starting the AudFree Auditior software.

Step 2Import Apple Music Songs to AudFree

Remember, you can use the AudFree Auditior to import songs from iTunes, audiobooks, and Apple Music. In this case, hit the first "Add" button to import the Apple Music songs for download and conversion. Since the application support batch conversion, you can add multiple Apple Music songs to save time.

Step 3Customize Apple Music Output Format and Other Parameters

Once the Apple Music songs are added, you can click on the "Format" or "Edit" and choose your most preferred audio format from the available options (MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, FLAC, and M4B). You can also change the sample rate, bit rate, and sound codec of Apple Music tracks as you like.

Step 4Convert and Back up Apple Music Forever

After customizing your settings, click on the "Convert" button to start downloading and converting your Apple Music files. The conversion process will take some time, depending on the number of songs you are converting and the computer speed.

Once complete, you can go to the "History" section to check all converted files and keep Apple Music on PC forever without the iCloud Music Library. From there, you can add them to your media player or any other device for offline playback.

Part 6. FAQs about iCloud Music Library

Q1. What Happens if You Disable the iCloud Music Library?

Disabling the iCloud Music Library means you will not have access to your music collection across all your devices anymore. This includes any songs that you have added to your library, as well as any playlists that you have created. Therefore, it is best to back up your Apple Music tracks before turning off your iCloud Music Library.

Q2. How to Turn on iCloud Music Library?

iCloud Music Library is a feature of Apple Music that allows you to access your music library on all of your devices. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can turn on the iCloud Music Library to sync your music library across all of your devices. The following is the detailed steps.

Step 1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device.

Step 2. Tap Music.

Step 3. Tap the switch next to iCloud Music Library to turn it on.

Step 4. If prompted, sign in with your Apple ID and password.

How to Merge Your Music Library

Replace: The songs and playlists from your device will be replaced with the songs and playlists from iCloud Music Library. Any songs or playlists on your device that are not in iCloud Music Library will be removed.

Keep: The songs and playlists from your device will remain on your device, and the songs and playlists from iCloud Music Library will be added to your device.

Merge: Both sets of songs and playlists will be combined. If there are any duplicate songs, they will be merged into a single song.

Q3. How to Turn on iCloud Syncing iTunes on iPhone?

There are three effective ways to turn on the iCloud syncing iTunes on iPhone:

1. Open Settings on your iOS device and then go to Music. Tap the switch next to iCloud Music Library to turn it on. It might take some time to upload and sync your library if you have a lot of music.

2. Launch the Music app on your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, and then tap the More button in the bottom-right corner of My Music screen. Choose Enabled Devices > Turn On iCloud Music Library from the pop-up menu.

3. Connect your iOS device to a computer with iTunes installed, open iTunes, go to Summary > Options > check Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi.

Part 7. In Conclusion

That's all to turn off iCloud Music Library on iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and PC devices. Since turning off your iCloud Music Library means you can't access your music from any other device, it's better to backup your music collection. Just draw support from a third-party tool like AudFree Auditior. With this app, you can convert your Apple Music song and keep them on your computer forever, even if you cancel your subscription.