Apple's Music Service Allows User-Initiated Transfer of Playlists to YouTube's Music Platform
Switching your tunes from one streaming platform to another might appear straightforward, but it often relies heavily on external tools. There's always the possibility that these tools may cease operation or fail due to changes made by your preferred streaming service to their code, rendering them ineffective. Thankfully, Apple Music has now embraced the notion of transferring playlists to YouTube Music directly, as reported initially by MacRumors. Here's how to benefit from this novelty.
Limitations of Apple's Official Move Method
While I welcome Apple's endeavor to facilitate the transfer of music to competitors, I'm not entirely convinced this is the most practical method. Apple Music enables transfer of custom-made playlists, including collaborative ones, but it fails to facilitate the transfer of curated playlists created by Apple or other users. With a vast collection of approximately 50 playlists that I have meticulously crafted on Apple Music, I'm thrilled to use this method to back up my music library on YouTube Music, but I'm disheartened by the prospect of leaving my entire collection behind.
This limitation can be bypassed by relying on third-party platforms that can transport your entire music library from one service to another, and at no cost to you. Additionally, you can also utilize this app to routinely backup your Apple Music library.
Migrating Music from Apple Music to YouTube Music
Kindly note that you'll need to use a web browser for this process, as it isn't supported via the Apple Music app. With that in mind, follow these easy steps:
- Head over to Apple's Data & Privacy page and sign in to your Apple Account.
- Click on Request to transfer a copy of your data.
- On the subsequent page, Apple will prompt you to choose what you'd like to export. Select Apple Music playlists and click Next.
- The following page will reveal the number of playlists you can transfer. Click Continue.
- In the popup, sign in to your YouTube Music account and grant Apple permission to access your Google account. Don't forget to enable the View and manage your YouTube Music data option.
- On the final page, hit Confirm Export and the process will commence.
- Once the transfer is complete, navigate to the Library tab in YouTube Music and all your playlists will be displayed.
With this, your Apple Music playlists have now been successfully moved to YouTube Music. Remember that this isn't a sync service. If you add or remove music from Apple Music post-transfer, it will not automatically appear on YouTube Music–you'll need to transfer again to see it. Some music may also be unavailable on YouTube Music, which means those songs will be absent from your playlists.
The tech-savvy user who wants to move from Apple Music to YouTube might find the official transfer method limiting, as it only supports custom-made and collaborative playlists, leaving curated playlists behind. To overcome this limitation, one can utilize third-party platforms that can transport the entire music library.
After navigating the process of moving playlists from Apple Music to YouTube Music using Apple's official method, some users may discover that some of their music is unavailable on YouTube, resulting in certain songs being absent from their playlists.
