Apple Releases iTunes 12.2.1, Claims to Fix iTunes Match DRM Issue

[kirkmc]

Apple Releases iTunes 12.2.1, Claims to Fix iTunes Match DRM Issue

[Tyler Kelly]

Well, 12.2.1 totally screwed up my playlists. Luckily, I was able to restore the playlists by overriding the iTunes Library.itl file with a previous version from a backup drive. This was recommended by an article on cnet.com.

 

Since Apple Music is so buggy, I've turned off Apple Music, and the iCloud Music Library, on my main computer and iPhone. If you have a computer with plenty of memory and relatively fast, and want to try Apple Music without risking playlist disaster, a workaround would be to create a separate iTunes account for Apple Music only, in a virtual machine or on a separate computer. That has worked for me. My iMac is running a copy of Yosemite in a VMware virtual machine with iTunes 12.2.1.

[Slydude]

That never occurred to me. Good idea. My machine is old enough though that I would probably take a performance hit. iTunes 12.2 seems to be working OK for me though I haven't made use of iTunes Match or the new Apple Music service yet. I think that has saved me a bit of grief.

 

I was planning to take advantage of the trial period for Apple Music while I'm still on summer vacation but I think I'll wait a bit longer.

[Tyler Kelly]

Actually, the best performance I've found running iTunes in a virtual machine (VMware Fusion) is under Windows. VMware will run a virtual copy of Yosemite (or the El Capitan beta), but it's slow compared to it running Windows.

 

Another thing you could do is simply create a new OS X user account on your Mac and use it to run a separate iTunes account for Apple Music. This would not screw up your playlists. Of course, you would have to log out, then log in to the special account to use Apple Music, but it would be a way to try it a little.

[Slydude]

That's an interesting idea that I certainly hadn't considered. I will be back on a regular work schedule soon which doesn't leave a lot of time for music listening. Next break comes at Thanksgiving. Maybe by then they will have the kinks sorted out.

 

I've had my complaints about iTunes in the past (speed, lack of server option, tagging, etc) but this is the first time I've been reluctant to try new features. I usually start exploring almost immediately.