HLS format on Apple Music - Not playing - What is it?

Question

Level 1

8 points

HLS format on Apple Music - Not playing - What is it?

I was about to listen to Steven Wilson's latest album —The Future Bites— on Apple Music with my bluetooth headphones. A prompt appeared saying that Apple Music will always play whatever version was downloaded. That if I wanted a higher quality version, I should delete the download and try again.

I heard about Apple Music going lossless, so I thought it would be a great idea… even if I'm using my bluetooth headphones right now.

I deleted the download and re-downloaded the album. All but two songs now appear as HLS content. The remaining songs are 256 kbps, 44.100 kHz AAC files.

No HLS song will play. The animation will start, the scrubber will remain at 0:00, and nothing happens with that song.

I tried re-downloading the files, but now I only get them in HLS.

What's HLS?

Why is my computer defaulting to those files?

Why don't they play?

I'm using:

macOS Big Sur 11.4 (20F71)
Apple Music 1.1.5.74
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, firmware 1.8.2-11524+e0f7590
The Future Bites, by Steven Wilson: https://music.apple.com/mx/album/the-future-bites/1530202084

Does anybody know what's going on?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jun 4, 2021 3:06 PM

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Answer 1

callaway

Level 2

474 points

Jun 6, 2021 7:33 AM in response to Mape

I'm having the same problem with Beck - Reprise. I can stream it, but if I download it, it won't play. I noticed that it streams as AAC, but it downloads as HLS and won't play to any speaker output.

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Answer 2

Jun 25, 2021 2:21 AM in response to Mape

Unable to read HLS files as from today. It was fine before. Mac OS 11.4 running. Music jumps them all until finding an AAC file in the playlist. Those HLS files are favorite songs from Music streaming saved to a local playlist in the app.

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Answer 3

Jun 25, 2021 2:57 AM in response to lionelfromst-jean

Solution: Delete the download (the song stays in the playlist) and re-download it. This can be down be selecting all songs at once in the playlist.

Where did this bug come from? Maybe Music Match, an old apple service that is maybe causing trouble. I will cancel this service that is now useless with Music streaming.

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