iTunes 12 for Windows: Stream or download unlimited songs with Apple Music

Stream or download unlimited songs with Apple Music

Apple Music is an online service that gives you unlimited access to millions of songs on up to ten of your devices and computers. You can stream songs, or download them to your computer or device so you can play them when you’re not connected to the Internet.

Apple Music also makes recommendations (which you can fine-tune at any time) based on your musical tastes. You can also see what Apple Music contributors—artists, reviewers, DJs, and others—are listening to and subscribe to their playlists.

To stream and download songs from Apple Music, you become a member using your Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you can create one during setup.

Join Apple Music

  1. If you’re not already signed in, sign in to the iTunes Store.

  2. Click Media type pop-up button near the top left of the iTunes window, then choose Music.

  3. Click For You, then click Start 3-Month Free Trial.

    The For You tab in the navigation bar

    If you don’t see For You, choose Edit > Preferences, click General, and select Show Apple Music.

  4. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Your membership begins with a free three-month trial.

Any items in your music collection that aren’t available in Apple Music are automatically uploaded to iCloud, so you can access them from your other computers and devices.

At the end of your free trial, your membership is renewed monthly. For information about turning off automatic renewal, see the Apple Support article View, change, or cancel your subscriptions.

Even if you aren’t an Apple Music member, you can follow your favorite artists on Connect.

Find songs, albums, or playlists

  1. Click Media type pop-up button near the top left of the iTunes window, then choose Music.

  2. Do any of the following:

    • View recommendations tailored for you: Click For You.

      The For You tab in the navigation bar
    • See what’s new in Apple Music: Click New.

      The New tab in the navigation bar
    • Search the Apple Music catalog: Click the Search field in the top-right corner of the iTunes window, type search criteria for the item you want to find, then click Apple Music.

      The search field for Apple Music

Stream songs, albums, or playlists

Stream an album or a playlist: Move the pointer over the album or playlist and click the Play button .

Stream a song: Click the album or playlist that contains the song you want to play, then double-click the song.

Add songs, albums, or playlists to your iCloud Music Library

You can add songs, albums, and playlists from Apple Music to your iCloud Music Library, which is accessible whenever you’re signed in to Apple Music. Items in your iCloud Music Library appear in iTunes, together with the rest of your music collection.

  1. Select a song, an album, or a playlist.

  2. Right-click the item, then choose Add to My Music.

To add a song to a standard playlist without adding the song to your library, choose Edit > Preferences, click General, then deselect “Add songs to My Music when adding to playlists.”

For more information about playlists, see Create a playlist.

If you don’t see your saved Apple Music songs, Choose Edit > Preferences, click General, make sure iCloud Music Library is selected, select Show Apple Music, then click OK. When this checkbox is selected, you also see items you’ve saved on other computers or devices.

The iCloud Music Library checkbox in General Preferences

Download songs, albums, or playlists to your computer

After you add items to your iCloud Music Library, you can download them to your computer and play them at any time—even when you’re not connected to the Internet.

Important:   Songs you download from Apple Music can’t be burned to a disc or synced to a device, such as an iPod or iPad.

Click The iCloud download button next to the item you want to download.

Downloaded items are stored in the Apple Music folder, which is located in your iTunes folder.

If you don’t renew your Apple Music membership, the songs you’ve downloaded remain on your computer, but you can’t play them until you rejoin.

Fine-tune the recommendations you receive

When you join Apple Music, you’re asked about your preferred music genres and artists. Apple Music then uses your preferences to make recommendations for you. You can update your preferences at any time.

You can also let Apple Music know about your favorite songs and albums.

Update your musical preferences: Choose Account > Choose Artists For You, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Love a song, an artist, or an album: Right-click the item or artist, then choose Love. You can also click an item’s or artist’s Love button wherever it appears in iTunes.

A Loved icon appears next to your preferred songs, artists, and albums wherever they appear in iTunes. You can also add a Loved icon to a song by clicking its row in the Love column .

Tip:   To see all your preferred songs, click Media picker pop-up button near the top left of the iTunes window, choose Music, select Songs in the sidebar on the left, then click the top of the Love column.

Subscribe to a playlist

You can subscribe to playlists created by any Apple Music contributor. That way, whenever the playlist is updated by its owner, it’s updated in your library as well.

  1. Click the title of the playlist you want to subscribe to.

  2. Click A button with three dots next to the playlist’s title, then choose Add to My Music.

To view your subscribed playlists, click Media picker pop-up button near the top left of the iTunes window, choose Music, then select a playlist in the sidebar on the left, below Apple Music Playlists.

Last Modified: May 27, 2016
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