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Using Apple Music tracks in a Photos slideshow and iMovie project...

I have created both Photos slideshows and iMovie projects in the past which used tracks from my music library on my Mac and/or iPhone. Im on a recent MacBook Pro running Monterey 12.6 and the Photos app presents all my Music tracks but NONE of them (even voice recordings, purchased tracks, etc.) show greyed out and unable to select.

In iMovie the Music media panel just shows "The contents of your Music library will appear here" but none of the artists/tracks shows.

Am I missing something here? Have Apple changed what you can/can't do? Have I lost a setting for access in either Photos or iMovie when I setup this new MacBook Pro?

Any help much appreciated.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.6

Posted on May 10, 2023 9:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 17, 2023 12:42 PM

I had many songs downloaded to the MacBook but all greyed out.

Many others are previously purchased and downloaded but show greyed out.

Some audio recordings I put into iTunes app many years back (so personal recordings) are also greyed out.


I do have the Apple One full service and I do use iCloud for Music storage but absolutely nothing showing as useable regardless of nature of tracks.


I upgraded to Ventura hoping it was a Monterey problem but that hasn't fixed.

What DID just fix it was binning the prefs file for Music app, restarting and suddenly it now shows that none of my files are downloaded from iCloud. So it was showing me they were downloaded but actually they probably were not.


SOLVED

Appreciate the help which steered me there.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 17, 2023 12:42 PM in response to léonie

I had many songs downloaded to the MacBook but all greyed out.

Many others are previously purchased and downloaded but show greyed out.

Some audio recordings I put into iTunes app many years back (so personal recordings) are also greyed out.


I do have the Apple One full service and I do use iCloud for Music storage but absolutely nothing showing as useable regardless of nature of tracks.


I upgraded to Ventura hoping it was a Monterey problem but that hasn't fixed.

What DID just fix it was binning the prefs file for Music app, restarting and suddenly it now shows that none of my files are downloaded from iCloud. So it was showing me they were downloaded but actually they probably were not.


SOLVED

Appreciate the help which steered me there.

May 10, 2023 10:29 AM in response to ChristofG

Are you using iCloud for your Music Library? iTunes Match or Apple Music?


You cannot use songs that have not been downloaded to your computer. And you cannot use songs that have digital rights attached. It will depend on your system version, which songs you can use.

On macOS 13 Ventura I can again use the songs I played and recorded myself with GarageBand for the music track of my slideshows, as long as the songs have been downloaded from the cloud. It has not been possible on macOS 12 Monterey. I can also use songs from Apple Music, but then I cannot export the slideshow as a video.






May 10, 2023 1:31 PM in response to ChristofG

Upgrading the operating system can make it necessary to redownload iTunes songs from the Cloud. For iTunes songs, open your iTunes library in the iTunes website. Download the songs that have a cloud icon next to them. That should make the songs recognizable in iMovie, and possibly in Photos.


Forget Apple Music. Apple Music is a streaming subscription service, intended only for personal listening and not for publication. One is only renting Apple Music songs, so to speak, and cannot create a broader license by downloading the songs to an app and publishing from there.


-- Rich

Using Apple Music tracks in a Photos slideshow and iMovie project...

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