Apple Music Deletes Your Personal Data Without Warning

[bucklingspring]

Yesterday evening, I stumbled across a shocking article on Vellum Atlanta. If you're an Apple Music user, or you're thinking of subscribing to Apple Music, please, I beg you to read this.

Quote

“The software is functioning as intended,” said Amber.
“Wait,” I asked, “so it’s supposed to delete my personal files from my internal hard drive without asking my permission?”
“Yes,” she replied.

The article describes the experience of someone losing their extensive (122GB!) music library to Apple, against their will. Basically, through the Apple Music subscription, iTunes can look through your music library, scan Apple's database for 'matches', then delete the original files from the user's computer. The thing is though, apparently it doesn't work very well. The article says that what Apple considers a 'match' often isn't. Remixes of songs can be replaced with alternate, more common versions of the songs while retaining their original title.

Quote

What this means, then, is that Apple is engineering a future in which rare, or varying, mixes and versions of songs won’t exist unless Apple decides they do. Said alternate versions will be replaced by the most mainstream version, despite their original, at-one-time correct, titles, labels, and file contents.

The author goes on to say that Apple does let you get your data back by clicking a "cloud icon" next to the track title, but that could be an extremely tedious task, especially if you have thousands of albums stored. Not only that, but if your songs are saved in a format that Apple doesn't like (.WAV or .OGG, for example), then they would convert your songs into potentially lower-quality .MP3s or .AACs with no way of getting the original file back. The worst part of this is that if you cancel your Apple Music subscription, your data will be deleted with no way of getting it back.

Quote

So not only do I need to keep paying Apple Music just to access my own files, but I have to hear an inferior version of each recording instead of the one I created.

Once again, please go read the original article for more information.

I'd be happy to hear what you guys have to say about this topic, just reply and I'll get back to you.

[BHS4K]

I guess that's a reason to move to Spotify?

[bucklingspring]

Just now, BHS4K said:

I guess that's a reason to move to Spotify?

I tend to just avoid all music streaming services in favor of keeping my music stored locally.

[BHS4K]

1 minute ago, Skyber21 said:

I tend to just avoid all music streaming services in favor of keeping my music stored locally.

But then what do you do when you run out of storage, unless you have an SD card solution

[bucklingspring]

1 minute ago, BHS4K said:

But then what do you do when you run out of storage, unless you have an SD card solution

Since I don't listen to music very often, my music library isn't very big, so it works for me. My phone has a microSD card slot, which is good enough. At home, all of my music is stored on a 4TB NAS which I can access from my laptop and desktop.

[atrash]

No problem with my music collections at all. Granted all my songs are correctly labelled and acquired legally (mostly cd ripped).

 

People need to learn to read properly the options when setting up any software for the first time. I bet he missed out the part where you have the option to “Merge” or “Replace” your library at the beginning of the setup process

[19_blackie_73]

that's why I buy my cd's in stores - artists get most times more than from streaming services, and I can decide what I want to do with my CD's. NObody can delete them and I listen to them more as a piece of art. with good quality over my hifi system

[Volbet]

Well, isn't there a setting to disable this feature? Back when I still used iTunes there was a setting to delete dublicates, and I would guess this would be similar.

Although, that setting shouldn't be something you should have to disable. It should be disabled by default.

 

What I don't get is how it can be hard to get the files back. If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from.

Hell, the source could be iTunes itself. 

But yeah, this sound like another reason to be vary of music streaming  services.

 

Also, since when is 122GB of music considered extensive?

[bucklingspring]

1 minute ago, atrash said:

No problem with my music collections at all. Granted all my songs are correctly labelled and acquired legally (mostly cd ripped).

 

People need to learn to read properly the options when setting up any software for the first time. I bet he missed out the part where you have the option to “Merge” or “Replace” your library at the beginning of the setup process

Glad to hear that you're not having problems. The big issue here, however, is that Apple can mis-identify obscure or original songs as something else, even if they're properly labelled and obtained legally.

 

[bucklingspring]

7 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Well, isn't there a setting to disable this feature? back when I still used iTunes there was a setting to delete dublicates, and I would guess this would be similar.

Although, that setting shouldn't be something you should have to disable. It should be disabled by default.

 

What I don't get is how it can be hard to get the files back. If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from.

Hell, the source could be iTunes itself. 

But yeah, this sound like another reason to be vary of music streaming  services.

 

Also, since when is 122GB of music considered extensive?

It's extensive to me, lmao

 

But on the topic of "If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from", you're missing the point. Audio files can be obtained from a wide variety of sources, legal or illegal. Maybe the user could forget where they obtained the file from after years of it sitting in their iTunes library. Or, maybe that service doesn't let you re-download. Or, it could be an original song that you created that was mis-identified by Apple's system and erased forever.

[Kherm]

There's yet another point for deciding to stream your own personal music collection with services like Groove and Play Music

[bucklingspring]

7 minutes ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

that's why I buy my cd's in stores - artists get most times more than from streaming services, and I can decide what I want to do with my CD's. NObody can delete them and I listen to them more as a piece of art. with good quality over my hifi system

Hifi FTW

[19_blackie_73]

11 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Well, isn't there a setting to disable this feature? Back when I still used iTunes there was a setting to delete dublicates, and I would guess this would be similar.

Although, that setting shouldn't be something you should have to disable. It should be disabled by default.

 

What I don't get is how it can be hard to get the files back. If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from.

Hell, the source could be iTunes itself. 

But yeah, this sound like another reason to be vary of music streaming  services.

 

Also, since when is 122GB of music considered extensive?

that's a lot ...

[Linus_torvalds]

12 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Well, isn't there a setting to disable this feature? Back when I still used iTunes there was a setting to delete dublicates, and I would guess this would be similar.

Although, that setting shouldn't be something you should have to disable. It should be disabled by default.

 

What I don't get is how it can be hard to get the files back. If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from.

Hell, the source could be iTunes itself. 

But yeah, this sound like another reason to be vary of music streaming  services.

 

Also, since when is 122GB of music considered extensive?

How many hidden porn videos are in there?

[Volbet]

6 minutes ago, Skyber21 said:

It's extensive to me, lmao

 

But on the topic of "If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from", you're missing the point. Audio files can be obtained from a wide variety of sources, legal or illegal. Maybe the user could forget where they obtained the file from after years of it sitting in their iTunes library. Or, maybe that service doesn't let you re-download. Or, it could be an original song that you created that was mis-identified by Apple's system and erased forever.

I have been confronted by a world I don't understand. How can a person only have about 7GB of music.

The first artist in my Foobar library is larger than that.

 

I wouldn't really consider my point as missing the point.

I have yet to find find a legal download site that doesn't let you re-download the files you have bought. 

If it's an original work, then you should back it up. 

And if you know what files are missing, you should also know where you got the file from. 

 

Now, I would still consider it a major problem that Apple outright deletes your music without consent, but if your work is important than your back it up. 

 

6 minutes ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

that's a lot ...

It's a pretty nice library to have. 

But compared to several of my friends my library is puny in comparison.

By now he must have between 4TB and 5TB of music. 

I guess that what you get by working as a DJ and being a music collector.

 

4 minutes ago, mate_mate91 said:

How many hidden porn videos are in there?

I'm in the lucky position where I don't have to hide my porn. 

The vast majority of the files are music files and the rest are cover pictures.

[bucklingspring]

5 minutes ago, Volbet said:

I have been confronted by a world I don't understand. How can a person only have about 7GB of music.

The first artist in my Foobar library is larger than that.

 

I wouldn't really consider my point as missing the point.

I have yet to find find a legal download site that doesn't let you re-download the files you have bought. 

If it's an original work, then you should back it up. 

And if you know what files are missing, you should also know where you got the file from. 

 

Now, I would still consider it a major problem that Apple outright deletes your music without consent, but if your work is important than your back it up. 

The majority of my songs are lossy MP3s which take up little space, while yours appear to be lossless FLACs.

 

Yes, of course people should back up. In fact, the author of the article went on to say that they were able to get their music back with a backup they made only days before. But unfortunately, most people tend not to back up their data. 

 

There are many other possible reasons as to why someone might not have the means to re-obtain their music, like losing or throwing out a CD that you ripped years ago. And even if you do have the means of re-obtaining, you'd have to go through the trouble of re-ripping and re-downloading all over again for no reason other than a company screwing you over.

 

 

[SSL]

Pretty disgusting. Apple is certainly showing their hand here in their utter contempt for the consumer.

 

The push for cloud services is far too aggressive in general. I hope this kind of thing serves as a wake-up call for people to not be so willing to sell their soul to these companies. Resist while it's still even slightly possible.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Volbet said:

Well, isn't there a setting to disable this feature? Back when I still used iTunes there was a setting to delete dublicates, and I would guess this would be similar.

Although, that setting shouldn't be something you should have to disable. It should be disabled by default.

 

What I don't get is how it can be hard to get the files back. If you have a legally obtained file, you should also have the media or internet source that file is from.

Hell, the source could be iTunes itself. 

But yeah, this sound like another reason to be vary of music streaming  services.

 

Also, since when is 122GB of music considered extensive?

LMAO, I was just about to post a screenie of my 750GB library until I was this, now I feel deflated.

[Sors]

1 hour ago, atrash said:

all my songs are correctly labelled and acquired legally (mostly cd ripped).

FYI, that is NOT legal according to most countries laws.

[suicidalfranco]

2 hours ago, Sors said:

FYI, that is NOT legal according to most countries laws.

most countries being UK and US

[Technous285]

5 hours ago, Sors said:

FYI, that is NOT legal according to most countries laws.

Australia Consumer Laws: You own a copy of media physically (BRD, DVD, CD, Floppy, 45rpm Vinyl, game carts...), you can make a personal backup for day-to-day use and store the original media away.

 

RIAA & MPAA can get as pissy as they want about me ripping my Readers Digest: Greatest Original Hits of the 80's 6-disc collection to MP3's (320kbps, 44.1KHz), or if I rip and convert my NTSC-formatted 20th Anniversary Power Rangers Helmet Set to ISO's, but they can go pound sand here in Aus as I'm using my legal right to produce a backup copy and put the originals into storage for the future.