Electronics

[Mz iMac]

@Moonchilde

Sorry, I was going by your topic & statements..

"DUMPING iTunes"

"What can I do now to avoid ever having to use iTunes any more, ever?"

"I would love to get permanently out from under ever having to use iTunes on my PC again, if possible - or using it ever. Possible, or not?"

That you wanted to get rid/uninstall iTunes.

Like JaxsMom I also have a Mac.

If there are songs you do not want to lose, you can burn them onto a CD or DVD.  

Also, if you do backups, your music will not be "lost."

You should also check the VLC website.  This player may offer work-a-rounds for PC users.

Apple has various KB Articles regarding iTunes & Windows.  You should research there to find an Article that fits your needs and/or do a Google search.

Apple Knowledge Base

[jaxs mom]

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@Moonchilde wrote:

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@jaxs mom wrote:

its not so much where is it stored as how do you add non iTunes music purchases to your iTunes library through your device. Traditionally your computers iTunes library is your home library. Even if you don't physically sync. 

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Once upon a time I loaded every CD I bought, automatically. The CDs I still have, but the random free songs I d/l from various sites would be lost. And who wants to go back to CDs after having such portable music in the cloud. Sigh....

I have to do something one of these days, because half my (Apple-purchased) music won't play. This was a big Thing several months back. Had to do with licensing and synching if I recall. I'd need to look it up again.

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hmm half of it won't play at all, on your computer or your tablet? Sometimes the issue is that itunes can't find the file anymore, for example if it moved. It will tell you that if you try to play it and it will ask you if you want to look for it. It could also be old itunes music files that still have the DRM on them. They should have updated and become DRM free years ago but sometimes it misses some of your files. 

[Moonchilde]

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@jaxs mom wrote:

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@Moonchilde wrote:

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@jaxs mom wrote:

its not so much where is it stored as how do you add non iTunes music purchases to your iTunes library through your device. Traditionally your computers iTunes library is your home library. Even if you don't physically sync. 

---

Once upon a time I loaded every CD I bought, automatically. The CDs I still have, but the random free songs I d/l from various sites would be lost. And who wants to go back to CDs after having such portable music in the cloud. Sigh....

I have to do something one of these days, because half my (Apple-purchased) music won't play. This was a big Thing several months back. Had to do with licensing and synching if I recall. I'd need to look it up again.

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hmm half of it won't play at all, on your computer or your tablet? Sometimes the issue is that itunes can't find the file anymore, for example if it moved. It will tell you that if you try to play it and it will ask you if you want to look for it. It could also be old itunes music files that still have the DRM on them. They should have updated and become DRM free years ago but sometimes it misses some of your files. 

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@jaxs mom I googled it at the time and it was happening to people a lot. There were several references. When you go into your music on your phone or iPad, songs would be grayed out as unable to be accessed.

I honestly can't remember, but I think it might well have had to do with DRM and synching back to iTunes. It was a glitch in iOS7 but I still have songs "unavailable, cannot play." I suspect in order to get them back I'll have to synch. I forgot about this. This was all music purchased from the Apple store. Weird. There was never ONE solution.

[geezerette]

@Moonchilde   

It sounds like you feel about iTunes like I do about what Microsoft has done with Windows!😠

Far be it for me to give you advice about this since I have never used iTunes and know less about any of it than you do, but here is another site I found (obviously years ago) when I had your same question. I don't know if it helps or not.

http://www.howtogeek.com/175045/how-to-never-use-itunes-with-your-iphone-ipad-or-ipod-touch/

Strictly from a novice point of view, it sounds to me like you might be able to do what you want, but you may lose some of your older, more obscure music. And it also sounds like you'll probably have to do a lot of this manually, possible through other apps/sites, so you might have to decide whether or not it's worth it to you. While I do think that eventually everything we want will be accessible from the same place, "The Cloud", I think that's going to be a long time coming.

But then again, what do I know?😄

[Moonchilde]

@geezerette, thank you, the link is spot on, exactly what I wanted to know!  And I never paid attention to iTunes Match before and didn't understand what it was. It would be worth $25/yr to have *all*  my music available.

I started out being very invested with iTunes on my PC because I'd decided I wanted ALL my photos on my iPad. I no longer want/need that, so once I decide exactly how/where I want to back up my photos, that part is solved as well.

Have a great day 🌞

[geezerette]

@Moonchilde,  I'm glad that you finally found something that maybe will get you to your final goal.

I think before too long we all will be paying for most of what we get for free today.💸💸

Happy to be of some small assistance!👍🏻

[jaxs mom]

I had itunes match in the past. But it doesn't recognize some of my more obscure music. I've had Apple Music since it came out though and really enjoy it. I still buy music from various sources because everything is not on Apple Music, but I do feel I'm still getting my moneys worth, because can I listen to some things that I wouldn't necessarily purchase and it lets me see how much I really like it. 

I do really like the icloud music library since it keeps my desktop and my devices immediately up to date. If I switch song order on a playlist or make a new playlist, it shows up everywhere immediately. 

[Moonchilde]

@jaxs mom  My wifi is so limited that I can't stream :-(  Can't do Pandora or online radio stations. My speed is not only crappy, data is metered.

I do have some things - old TV theme songs for example - that I know would not be findable, or not likely.

My musical tastes are pretty eclectic and not hugely represented in iTunes, so I know what you mean.

[jaxs mom]

I don't stream, you can download songs with Apple Music. 

[Moonchilde]

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@jaxs mom wrote:

I don't stream, you can download songs with Apple Music. 

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I though Apple Music was a streaming/radio type thing. No?