I just got my Mac and honestly I do not know where to start with the music app. I would like to have a guide or a tutorial to get going because I have heard that it is a bit complicated. I used many guides on this page to learn to use my Mac. So any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Pascal
The music app is separated in a few parts:
player controls: with the player controls, you can control the currently playing album, song, or playlist. Within those, you find an LCD groups which you can interact with. Within this LCD groups, you find more controls but I think that those are self-explaining.
Sidebar: In the sidebar, you can switch between the different areas of the music app. At the top of the sidebar (FN+VO+Left arrow after interaction) you find the search field. By pressing VO+right arrow, you can navigate through the entries like "Listen now", "Discover", "Radio", or your library. Once you selected an area (let's say you want to check the recently added area), interact with the sidebar and choose Recently added. Then stop the interaction and press VO+right arrow, which'll lead you the the next part of the music app.
In this part, you find the contents of the currently selected area in the sidebar - in this case, the recently added stuff. VoiceOver will therefore say "Recently added, scroll area". Start interaction with that scroll area. Now, you'll find your recently added albums and playlists, if you added some earlier. If so, you can interact with the grid and then navigate through the grid by pressing VO+right and left arrow.
I hope this helps as starting point to understand the basic structure of the music app.
PS: You can easily find further options and controls within the menu bar (VO+M) like your account settings or the import options and much more. Also, the apple support pages may include a good overview of further keystrokes.
Thank you so much for the quick and clear guide to start with Apple Music. Please, tell me how do I add my own music as I am not interested in subscribing to the Apple music service. Your help is greatly appreciated. Blessings. Pascal
Hi Pascal,
You can add your music either by importing own files, buying music via the iTunes Store, or by loading purchases.
Importing your files
Before you start importing your music files, make sure the format(s) are supported.
To import the files, do the following:
Open music app
Press CMD+O which is the shortcut for importing files (you can also find the option in the menu bar under file > import)
Select a file, a folder, or more files and press CMD+O. Note: You cannot open folders by pressing CMD+O. Instead, you have to press right arrow to open up a folder. (This could be different if you are not using list view. To use list view, press CMD+2 after the import dialog is displayed)
Now, the files have been imported into your music library. If the files are tagged properly, you can search them by album, artist, or song. If not, you can also search for the file (e.g. via the songs area) and then change the song's information.
Buying new music via iTunes Store
It may be possible that the iTunes Store is not displayed within the sidebar. To list the iTunes Store there in order to buy new music, do the following:
Open music app
Press CMD+, - this will lead you to the settings pane
Select "general" in the toolbar
locate the iTunes Store checkbox and make sure that it's checked
Now, you can simply select the iTunes Store section in the sidebar and buy new music like under iOS.
Load purchases
If you've already purchased music via the iTunes Store, you can load your purchases simply into your library. To do so, do the following:
First, make sure that you are logged in into your account. To check that, go to the account menu in the menu bar and select sign in. If the menu already shows your account information and the sign out option, you are logged in.
Open the account menu in the menu bar
Select the option "search for available downloads" (It could be called differently in English macOS, I'm running the german version here - but it should sound something like this)
Now, you can download all the stuff that's available in your account. The content will then show up in your library as described earlier.
Hi Hexagon, First thank you for your help and the very concise and clear steps. The music files to import are MP3 files. I have them in my Windows PC. What is the best way to get them to the Mac? Can I send them as attachments? Import them from my Dropbox? or is there another easier way? I truly appreciate your help.
Hi,
MP3 files are fine. You can get them onto your Mac by either using Dropbox, mail attachments (ZIP would be the easiest way I think) or copying them onto a external drive (e.g. USB stick or external SSD). Then you could plug this stick or whatever into your mac and copy the files via Finder to the mac's internal SSD. With that done, you can follow the steps described above for importing the music files.
Hi Hexagon, Thank you for your help and kindness. Now, I shall conquer using Apple Music. One last question: I learned if you connected a memory stick to the Mac that has data, the Mac first format the memory stick. Is that true? Many many thanks. You mentioned using German in one of your comment, are you in Germany? I grow up in France. Blessings. Pascal
Hi,
Actually, the Mac should not format your external drives when you plug it in. If the drive is formatted as exfat or fat32 for example, all should work fine. If you have formatted your drive as an NTFS volume, you can only read the files on the stick but not copy new files on it. Normally, sticks are formatted in exfat or fat32, whereas SSDs may be formatted as NTFS volumes. As of today, I've never had any problems with USB sticks. Simply plug it in, copy your files, and then eject the drive (CMD+E).
And yes, I currently live in Germany. ;-)
Hi Hexagon, I followed all your steps judiciously. Using thememory stick I moved several albums, all MP3, in a subfolder to the document folder. I opened the Music App, Typed CMD-O to import, opened the created My Music folder, highlighted the albums and again typed the CMD-O. My files were not imported into the Music App library. I was able for the first time to play my music on the Mac. I cannot figure out what could have happened. Of course I want my music to also be on my iPhone. I repeated the process with the same result. By the way, your guide is very good and you ought to post it on Applevis. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi,
Instead of pressing CMD-O to start the import, you can also press the "open" button at the end of the import dialog. It's located two elements after the list view.
Comments
Concrete Problem
Hi,
Where is your concrete problem when using the music app? Where do you need help?
Music app
I just got my Mac and honestly I do not know where to start with the music app. I would like to have a guide or a tutorial to get going because I have heard that it is a bit complicated. I used many guides on this page to learn to use my Mac. So any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Pascal
The music app is separated…
The music app is separated in a few parts:
player controls: with the player controls, you can control the currently playing album, song, or playlist. Within those, you find an LCD groups which you can interact with. Within this LCD groups, you find more controls but I think that those are self-explaining.
Sidebar: In the sidebar, you can switch between the different areas of the music app. At the top of the sidebar (FN+VO+Left arrow after interaction) you find the search field. By pressing VO+right arrow, you can navigate through the entries like "Listen now", "Discover", "Radio", or your library. Once you selected an area (let's say you want to check the recently added area), interact with the sidebar and choose Recently added. Then stop the interaction and press VO+right arrow, which'll lead you the the next part of the music app.
In this part, you find the contents of the currently selected area in the sidebar - in this case, the recently added stuff. VoiceOver will therefore say "Recently added, scroll area". Start interaction with that scroll area. Now, you'll find your recently added albums and playlists, if you added some earlier. If so, you can interact with the grid and then navigate through the grid by pressing VO+right and left arrow.
I hope this helps as starting point to understand the basic structure of the music app.
PS: You can easily find further options and controls within the menu bar (VO+M) like your account settings or the import options and much more. Also, the apple support pages may include a good overview of further keystrokes.
Learning to use Apple Music
Thank you so much for the quick and clear guide to start with Apple Music. Please, tell me how do I add my own music as I am not interested in subscribing to the Apple music service. Your help is greatly appreciated. Blessings. Pascal
Adding your own music
Importing your files
Before you start importing your music files, make sure the format(s) are supported. To import the files, do the following:- Open music app
- Press CMD+O which is the shortcut for importing files (you can also find the option in the menu bar under file > import)
- Select a file, a folder, or more files and press CMD+O. Note: You cannot open folders by pressing CMD+O. Instead, you have to press right arrow to open up a folder. (This could be different if you are not using list view. To use list view, press CMD+2 after the import dialog is displayed)
Now, the files have been imported into your music library. If the files are tagged properly, you can search them by album, artist, or song. If not, you can also search for the file (e.g. via the songs area) and then change the song's information.Buying new music via iTunes Store
It may be possible that the iTunes Store is not displayed within the sidebar. To list the iTunes Store there in order to buy new music, do the following:- Open music app
- Press CMD+, - this will lead you to the settings pane
- Select "general" in the toolbar
- locate the iTunes Store checkbox and make sure that it's checked
Now, you can simply select the iTunes Store section in the sidebar and buy new music like under iOS.Load purchases
If you've already purchased music via the iTunes Store, you can load your purchases simply into your library. To do so, do the following: First, make sure that you are logged in into your account. To check that, go to the account menu in the menu bar and select sign in. If the menu already shows your account information and the sign out option, you are logged in.- Open the account menu in the menu bar
- Select the option "search for available downloads" (It could be called differently in English macOS, I'm running the german version here - but it should sound something like this)
Now, you can download all the stuff that's available in your account. The content will then show up in your library as described earlier.Adding my music to Apple Music
Hi Hexagon, First thank you for your help and the very concise and clear steps. The music files to import are MP3 files. I have them in my Windows PC. What is the best way to get them to the Mac? Can I send them as attachments? Import them from my Dropbox? or is there another easier way? I truly appreciate your help.
Hi, MP3 files are fine. You…
Hi,
MP3 files are fine. You can get them onto your Mac by either using Dropbox, mail attachments (ZIP would be the easiest way I think) or copying them onto a external drive (e.g. USB stick or external SSD). Then you could plug this stick or whatever into your mac and copy the files via Finder to the mac's internal SSD. With that done, you can follow the steps described above for importing the music files.
Learning Apple Music, MP3 files are fine
Hi Hexagon, Thank you for your help and kindness. Now, I shall conquer using Apple Music. One last question: I learned if you connected a memory stick to the Mac that has data, the Mac first format the memory stick. Is that true? Many many thanks. You mentioned using German in one of your comment, are you in Germany? I grow up in France. Blessings. Pascal
Hi, Actually, the Mac should…
Hi,
Actually, the Mac should not format your external drives when you plug it in. If the drive is formatted as exfat or fat32 for example, all should work fine. If you have formatted your drive as an NTFS volume, you can only read the files on the stick but not copy new files on it. Normally, sticks are formatted in exfat or fat32, whereas SSDs may be formatted as NTFS volumes. As of today, I've never had any problems with USB sticks. Simply plug it in, copy your files, and then eject the drive (CMD+E).
And yes, I currently live in Germany. ;-)
Learning to use the Apple Music app
Hi Hexagon, I followed all your steps judiciously. Using thememory stick I moved several albums, all MP3, in a subfolder to the document folder. I opened the Music App, Typed CMD-O to import, opened the created My Music folder, highlighted the albums and again typed the CMD-O. My files were not imported into the Music App library. I was able for the first time to play my music on the Mac. I cannot figure out what could have happened. Of course I want my music to also be on my iPhone. I repeated the process with the same result. By the way, your guide is very good and you ought to post it on Applevis. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi, Instead of pressing CMD…
Hi,
Instead of pressing CMD-O to start the import, you can also press the "open" button at the end of the import dialog. It's located two elements after the list view.
Apple Music app
Thanks Hexagon. Iwill try it.