Adding iTunes Artwork
We recently ended our subscription to Apple Music’s family plan and switched to Spotify’s family subscription (same cost). I thought Apple Music was great and suited my needs fine. My wife is indifferent about which service we have since she doesn’t listen to either. She created a Pandora station a while back and enjoys listening to it, despite the commercial breaks since it is a free account. But our son was lobbying for a Spotify subscription so he could use voice commands to listen to his favorite songs through his Xbox One or via our Google Home device. I resisted for a while, but ultimately relented and made the switch.
Quitting Apple Music has a significant consequence. When you start your subscription, Apple Music takes control of your iTunes directory and when you end it the music you owned, particularly CDs you may have ripped onto your computer, may no longer be in your iTunes directory. I have about 300 CDs in my collection and decided I would make a fresh start and go through the process of adding (ripping) all of them back into my iTunes. Having my own music back in my iTunes allows me to listen to it on my different devices where I have signed in and turned on Apple’s Home Sharing option, including my Apple TV (which does not have a Spotify app). I have a very eclectic music library. Approximately 50% is of the Rock genre (Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Genesis, Sting and many others). The remaining 50% is a mixture of jazz, classical, brass ensemble, new age, and then some “other”. Because much of the music isn’t exactly mainstream, iTunes doesn’t have many of my CDs in its library and, therefore, the album art does not automatically download for a significant portion of the CDs I bring into my iTunes.