A macOS app rather than a streaming service, Apple Music is a popular and feature-packed choice for managing large music collections. But you may not have come across one of its key features, the ability to manage multiple libraries.
Give your music a separate space with its own songs, playlists and settings. This is especially useful if you have musical tastes that span very different or conflicting styles and you don’t want to swing too far from one to the other when you press the shuffle button.
As of this writing, Apple Music (the program) has not yet made its way to Windows, but users have access to iTunes, which supports multiple music libraries.
Why you should set up a second Apple Music library
Apple Music gives users the flexibility to create complex music collections using smart playlists, folders, star ratings, and other organizational features. However, sometimes you don’t want to keep all your music in the same bucket.
[Related: How to add your personal music collection to your streaming playlists]
Seasonal songs are a good example. Even if you love all the Christmas classics, you don’t necessarily want them cluttering your music library or dropping into your automated playlists when you least expect them for the rest of the year. . It makes sense to build a dedicated Christmas music library that’s available at the right time.
Having a second Apple Music library is also useful when you have different types of music for specific purposes. For example, long instrumental chillout tunes are great for work or study. These tracks are great for playing in the background, but you don’t want them popping up in random playlists when you’re getting ready for a night out.
Using a second library gives you even more flexibility. For example, if you have a lot of songs stored on an external hard drive that isn’t always connected to your computer, you can add songs to a second library that can be loaded each time it’s connected. For local storage spaces, this allows you to create large libraries on separate drives, or smaller libraries that are always available.
How to set up a second Apple Music library
Setting up another music library with Apple Music is easy. First, make sure the desktop application is completely closed.to continue option key (macOS) or shift key (Windows) and launch Apple Music again from the Applications window in the Finder on macOS or the Start menu on Windows.
You can then select create a new library Create a second library or Choose another library Switch between existing libraries (by default the program opens the last used library).
If you choose to create a new library, the app will ask you to choose a new location. It can be anywhere on your computer system or an external hard drive. You should also give your new library an easily identifiable name, so make sure the name describes the purpose of the library and the type of music it contains.
[Related: Everything you need to know about the new Apple Music Voice Plan]
After a few moments, Apple Music will generate a new library and present you with a blank canvas to start creating playlists and adding songs. Open the application settings ( music When setting macOS, or edit When Environmental setting on Windows) to configure the behavior of the library. For example, after adding tracks to your library, you can choose whether the app merges tracks into the same folder location.
Additional libraries have one important limitation. You should stick to files stored locally on your device, purchased digitally or ripped from CDs, rather than tracks streamed from Apple Music. This is because only one library can contain streaming tracks and sync to other devices (phones, tablets, etc.) via iCloud and Apple ID. this is, sync library Options in Apple Music settings.