IOS software
Swipe away your touchscreen troubles and rekindle your love of Apple’s mobile devices Imported tracks not available with Apple Music
Q
When I try playing tracks on my iPhone from imported audio CDs, it tells me they aren’t available in my country although I subscribe to Apple Music. Why doesn’t this work when the tracks play fine on my Mac?
A
There are three ways to make imported tracks available to devices; sync them with your Mac, or turn on Sync Library with a subscription to either Apple Music, or iTunes Match. This false error message means that none of those has worked for that CD. As you already subscribe to Apple Music, it means that Sync Library isn’t turned on, or syncing has failed, probably because Apple Music can’t match information from those tracks with what’s available.
Ensure your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS, then tap Music in Settings to check that Sync Library is turned on there, as it should be by default with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription. On your Mac, open Preferences in the Music app and in its General tab check that Sync Library is turned on there too.
If syncing should be occurring, the best way to find the cause of sync problems is on your Mac, by checking cloud status of those tracks. In the sidebar, select Songs, then in the View menu tick both Cloud Download and Status in View Options. This adds icons to each track listed, and for those affected shows the reason. Apple interprets icons and what you can do in apple.co/3lhrwJv. Errors can sometimes be fixed using File > Library > Update Cloud Music Library.