Farewell iTunes: How to Use the Music App in macOS Catalina Apple's macOS Catalina removes the iTunes app but lets you access all your songs, playlists, and Apple Music from a new Music app. Mar 11, 2020 The new Music app now replaces the old iTunes app and this new one brings a set of compatibility as well as incompatibility features. If you are unable to play all of your songs in the Music app in macOS Catalina, the following guide offers some of the ways you can resolve the issue.
Back then, syncing Macs with iPhones was such an easy feat. As long as you have a properly working Mac, an iPhone, and a Lightning cable, then there’d be no problem. Use the cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac, launch the iTunes app, and the syncing process will commence. But let’s face it. That was years ago, before Catalina was introduced. Today, many Apple users have reported that Catalina and iPhone are having syncing issues.
Hello, MacOS Catalina!
Officially released to the public last October 7, 2019, macOS Catalina is the sixteenth major release of Apple’s desktop operating system. It follows Mojave, which was launched in 2018. Catalina is the first ever macOS version that supports 64-bit applications.
Catalina works on all Macs that support Mojave, except for the 2010 – 2012 Mac Pros. Here is a complete list of Mac models that support Catalina:
- iMac (Late 2012 or later)
- iMac Pro (All models)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013 or later)
- Mac Mini (Late 2012 or later)
- MacBook (Early 2015 or later)
- MacBook Air (Mid-2012 or later)
- MacBook Pro (Mid-2012 or later)
What’s New?
With the release of Catalina, a number of changes have been introduced. Some apps have been revamped. New features have been introduced. Also, a beloved app has finally bid goodbye: iTunes.
During the official launch of Catalina, Apple confirmed the news about the demise of iTunes. However, the death of this app has given birth to a powerful trio of media apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV.
Yes, we’ve all grown to love iTunes despite it being problematic and slow at times. But without it, does it mean that we’ll all be having syncing problems between Catalina and iPhones?
Well, that isn’t really much of a problem. In fact, Apple recognizes the fact that sync issues between macOS Catalina and iPhones exist. Although they’re still working on solutions and possible workarounds, we’re excited to show you how to sync Catalina with iPhones. But before that, let’s first discuss the problems.
iPhone Not Syncing with Catalina Problems
Since the release of Catalina, many iPhone users reportedly experienced issues. Here are some of them:
- The Automatically sync when iPhone is connected option gets enabled in Catalina, causing iPhones to automatically start syncing once connected.
- The syncing process takes more than an hour to complete, and there is no way to interrupt it.
- There are no obvious improvements and progress during the sync process. Worse, there is no way to know what is happening.
- There is no way to sync ringtones. Although some users suggest to drag and drop ringtones to the iPhone from a Mac, it is obvious that they don’t have complete control over the process.
- Playlists are randomized.
- After the syncing process, the Space scale does not show the amount of available space.
- Every playlist folder comes with a subfolder of the same name and with the same content. As a result, users end up having hundreds of playlists, each having the same songs.
- After hitting the Sync in Finder button, the process takes several minutes to complete. The ideal time should only take seconds.
- Duplicates of the Playlist folders are created in the Music app of iPhones.
- It is not possible to manage the Playlist folder.
- On MacBook Pros, the sync process leads to the creation of a closed loop where all playlists are copied from one device to another and every device ends up having more and more playlists.
- The sync process removed all the playlists from iPhones and added them to a Mac’s Music library.
- The Finder app does not recognize the iPhone.
5 Ways to Resolve Sync Problems with Catalina & iPhones
Even if iTunes has been eliminated from the latest macOS version, there are still ways to sync your iPhone with Catalina. We’ve listed them below:
1. Restart Your Mac and Your iPhone.
The first thing you need to do if your iPhone does not sync with Catalina is to restart your Mac. Oftentimes, a quick restart is all your computer needs to fix issues.
The same applies to your iPhone. It is likely that there are lots of active apps and processes that are keeping your iPhone from syncing with your Mac. Restarting it can sometimes resolve the problem.
2. Enable the Sidebar Option.
The Finder app is a handy app for organizing your media, folders, documents, and other files. It includes the Finder menu bar, the windows and icons on your Mac, and the iCloud drive. It was given such a name because it literally helps users find and organize files.
It’s the first app that you see the moment your Mac completes the startup process. It opens right away and stays active as you use other apps.
To use this app to sync Catalina with an iPhone or vice versa, follow these instructions:
- Make sure your iPhone is connected to your Mac using a Lightning cable.
- Tap the Trust button on your iPhone and input your passcode.
- On your Mac, open the Finder app and go to Preferences.
- Navigate to the Sidebar tab.
- Click Show these items in the sidebar.
- Make sure that the iOS Devices option is enabled.
- Now, enable the Sidebar This way, Catalina can detect whether or not your iOS device is connected.
- Next, navigate to the General tab.
- Disable the Open folder in tabs instead of windows You’ll know you’ve done it right when you click on your connected iPhone and a new Finder window opens.
3. Delete the Preference List File.
For this tip, we will still use the Finder app. However, the aim is to delete the Preference List file. Here’s how:
- Open the Finder app.
- Navigate to Go -> Go to Folder.
- Input /~Library/Preferences into the text field.
- Hit Enter.
- Find the file named apple.finder.plist and drag it to the Trash bin.
- Finally, restart the Finder app and check if you can connect your iPhone to your Mac without problems.
4. Use Finder’s Relaunch Feature.
If you’ve reached this point but you still cannot access or sync your iPhone, we suggest using Finder’s Relaunch feature. Here’s how:
- Disconnect your iPhone from your Mac.
- Restart the Finder app by pressing the Option key and right-clicking on the Finder Select Relaunch.
- Use your Lightning cable to connect your iPhone again.
- Check if the Finder app can now detect your iPhone.
5. Clean Your Mac.
It is also possible that junk and unnecessary files have accumulated on your Mac. While some cause problems and issues, others keep processes like syncing from completing.
To get rid of junk files, you have two options: manual and automated. The manual method is quite time-consuming and risky as you have to go through each folder and delete suspicious and unwanted files. The automated method, on the other hand, is fast and easy. All you need to do is install an app and let it do the job.
One highly recommended app for this job is Outbyte MacRepair. Have it installed on your Mac, run a quick scan, and let it find all space hoggers on your Mac that are causing problems.
Wrapping Up
Just because your iPhone is not syncing with Catalina doesn’t mean you should hate the OS forever. As with other new operating systems, errors and problems like this are normal. Let’s just be thankful that Apple is working on some workarounds.
Now, if you are still experiencing issues with syncing your iPhone with Catalina, you may seek help from Apple Support. Chat with them directly and ask for a detailed guide or instructions on how to resolve the problem.
Do you know other ways to resolve the syncing problem with Catalina and iPhones? We’d love to know. Comment on them below!
If you’re running into errors and your system is suspiciously slow, your computer needs some maintenance work. Download Outbyte PC Repair for Windows, Outbyte Antivirus for Windows, or Outbyte MacRepair for macOS to resolve common computer performance issues. Fix computer troubles by downloading the compatible tool for your device.
See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy Policy.
See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy Policy.
By Justin SabrinaUpdated on February 03, 2020
Summary
UkeySoft Apple Music Converter(Mac) V.6.8.6 version now is fully compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina. If you want to remove DRM from Apple Music and convert Apple Music songs to MP3 on Mac, you need to update UkeySoft to the latest version and then start to convert Apple Music files to MP3 at 1X faster speed on Mac OS X 10.15.
UkeySoft Apple Music Converter(Mac) V.6.8.6 version now is fully compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina. If you want to remove DRM from Apple Music and convert Apple Music songs to MP3 on Mac, you need to update UkeySoft to the latest version and then start to convert Apple Music files to MP3 at 1X faster speed on Mac OS X 10.15.
Adding to great entertainment on the Mac, Catalina also features all-new Mac versions of Apple Music, Apple TV apps and Apple Podcasts. Every time you open the Apple Music app, you’ll get all the features and improvements of Apple Music personalized to your tastes with. Many Mac users install macOS Catalina to get the new features of Apple Music app, but some user find it’s a bit of a problem to convert Apple Music to MP3 after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.15.
Question: “I have upgrade my MacBook Pro to MacOS Catalina and the previous iTunes application is removed, which replaced with the new Apple Music app, UkeySoft 6.4.0 doesn’t load tracks from the new Apple Music app.”– A question from a UkeySoft user
Solution: UkeySoft Apple Music Converter for Mac has been updated on Oct 12, 2019, and the latest version of UkeySoft is V.6.8.4, it now fully compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina.
If you have installed MacOS Catalina, please go to UkeySoft Apple Music Converter (Mac) product page to download the latest version, the converter will launch Apple Music application and loads all tracks from the new Music app automatically, you can easily to convert Apple Music tracks to MP3, WAV, M4A, AC3, AAC, AIFF, AU, FLAC, M4R or MKA on your MacOS Catalina.
There are more that 60 million songs on Apple Music platform, the Apple Music subscribers can stream Apple Music songs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac,. HomePod, CarPlay, PC, Android, Sonos and Amazon Echo or download songs for offline listening via authorized Apple Music app or iTunes.
Apple Music songs added DRM protection, when you download songs to iTunes library(saved in Music – iTunes – iTunes Media – Apple Music )or Apple Music app’s libary, you will find they are in .m4p format, which is DRM protected, so you can’t play those downloaded songs on your MP3 players such as iPod nano, iPod shuffle, SanDisk, Sony Walkman, etc.
For macOS 10.14 and older and Windows 10/8/7/XP, we can download and play Apple Music songs with iTunes, so it is easy to convert iTunes M4P songs to MP3 to backup Apple Music songs. However, for Mac OS X 10.15, the iTunes is divided into Apple Music app, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV apps, we need to use the new Music app to access and play Apple Music songs on MacOS Catalina, if you want to keep Apple Music tracks forever on MacOS Catalina after canceling subscription, you can remove DRM from Apple Music by using the latest version of UkeySoft Apple Music Converter (Mac). Let’s shows you the easy guide to remove DRM from Apple Music and convert them to MP3 on MacOS Catalina.
![Apple Music App Mac Catalina Apple Music App Mac Catalina](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133862376/308820694.jpg)
Download the latest version of UkeySoft Apple Music Converter on your Mac or Windows computer.
Steps to Convert Apple Music to MP3 on MacOS Catalina
This tutorial will show you how to convert Apple Music songs to MP3 on Mac . If you subscribe to Apple Music on a Windows PC, check this tutorial about convert Apple Music to MP3 in Windows PC.
Step 1. Add Songs and Albums to Apple Music Library
To convert the Apple Music songs you want, you need to add songs, albums or albums to the Apple Music application’s library, you don’t need to download the Apple Music songs at first since UkeySoft app automatically loads with Apple Music Library and Playlists. Then, exiting the Apple Music application after adding songs to the library.
To convert the Apple Music songs you want, you need to add songs, albums or albums to the Apple Music application’s library, you don’t need to download the Apple Music songs at first since UkeySoft app automatically loads with Apple Music Library and Playlists. Then, exiting the Apple Music application after adding songs to the library.
Step 2. Run Apple Music Converter and Loads All Songs and Playlist
Download , install and launch Apple Music Converter on your Mac. It will launch Apple Music app and loads the whole Apple Music app’s library automatically, you can see all Apple Music songs, playlist and albums be synced into the converter automatically.
Download , install and launch Apple Music Converter on your Mac. It will launch Apple Music app and loads the whole Apple Music app’s library automatically, you can see all Apple Music songs, playlist and albums be synced into the converter automatically.
Please don’t exit Apple Music app, when it start to convert, the Apple Music app plays the Apple Music tracks in the background (muted), the converter will record and convert the selected songs at up to 1X speed. In addition, please don’t use the Apple Music app to play other files until the whole conversion process complete, please wait patiently.
Step 3. Check and Select Apple Music songs
If you added Apple Music songs/albums to Library, click Music on the left side and find your songs. Click the top checkbox if you want to select all songs in the playlist.
If you added Apple Music songs/albums to Library, click Music on the left side and find your songs. Click the top checkbox if you want to select all songs in the playlist.
If you add playlist to Library, click the playlist name on the left side and all songs in the playlist will be shown on the right side. Check all of them or any one you want to convert.
Step 4. Select Output Format – MP3, WAV, M4A, etc.
If you want to convert Apple Music to MP3, please select MP3 as output format. What’s more, the Apple Music converter also supports converting Apple Music M4P tracks to WAV, M4A, AC3, AAC, AIFF, AU, FLAC, M4R and MKA. If you want to set Apple Music as iPhone ringtone, please select M4R as output format.
If you want to convert Apple Music to MP3, please select MP3 as output format. What’s more, the Apple Music converter also supports converting Apple Music M4P tracks to WAV, M4A, AC3, AAC, AIFF, AU, FLAC, M4R and MKA. If you want to set Apple Music as iPhone ringtone, please select M4R as output format.
Step 5. Other Output Settings(Option)
Output Audio Profile: For each output format, Apple Music converter provides different profile settings: High, Normal and Low with different Bitrate, SampleRate and channels. You can also customize the value as you like.
Output Audio Profile: For each output format, Apple Music converter provides different profile settings: High, Normal and Low with different Bitrate, SampleRate and channels. You can also customize the value as you like.
Edit Metadata and other Information: The Apple Music Converter can read and save music metadata, such as the song cover picture, song title, artist name, album name, genre or album artwork. So, you can see the output filename can contain Title, Artist, Album, TrackID and DiskID, such as Artist – Album – Track – Title.mp3.
If you like to edit them, please click “Options” on the menu bar to open Preferences and customize output filename format.
If you like to edit them, please click “Options” on the menu bar to open Preferences and customize output filename format.
Customize output filename format: Output mp3 filename can contain Title, Artist, Album, TrackID and DiskID, such as Artist – Album – Track – Title.mp3. Click Options on the menu bar to open Preferences and customize output mp3 filename format if you like. Then all output MP3 songs will be in this filename format.
Step 6. Start Converting Apple Music to MP3
After completing the above settings, please click “Convert” button to start converting selected Apple Music songs to MP3. During converting, the Apple Music app plays the selected songs in the background (muted), so you’d better not using Apple Music app before conversion is finished.
After completing the above settings, please click “Convert” button to start converting selected Apple Music songs to MP3. During converting, the Apple Music app plays the selected songs in the background (muted), so you’d better not using Apple Music app before conversion is finished.
After converting complete, you will get the non-DRM Apple Music songs, the converted MP3 songs are saved in the output folder of your computer.
Apple Music App Mac Catalina Mac
Apple Music App Catalina
It means those converted Apple Music tracks turns as local songs, you can kept Apple Music songs forever, or enjoy Apple Music songs offline on any device without any restriction.