Am I correct to assume that at the moment I have to always click synchronize if I want Audirvana to add new music I previously added to the new Catalina Music.app? Would love if it was possible to have them in constant sync and thus needing less manual interaction to have my library be the same across both programs at all times 
Hi Cudifying: I’m new to this community but had been using A+ (on-off) for some time now. I find synchronization too much work, too, so what I do is use the “Monitor Folder” section. Just go to your iTunes folder, select ‘Apple Music’ for your iTunes Music, and select ‘Music’ for those that you purchased: I did not have to use the ‘such’ again (except just for verifying that all iTunes/Apple Music are there)… however, I found that NOT ALL Apple Music albums become 100% available either by doing ‘Monitor’ or ‘Synch’; must be some sort of bug, or I’m missing something…
You can only add the non DRM protected content that way.
There are tracks that can’t be played outside of iTunes (they are thus skipped in Audirvana):
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the DRM protected tracks (usually files ending with .m4p), due to the copy protection mechanism, like the ones coming from Apple Music
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the iCloud/iTunes Match tracks, using an iTunes specific protocol for retrieving the audio data. To get them to play in Audirvana, you need to download all the songs you want to play thru Audirvana into your computer library by clicking the cloud icon present showing the album is in the cloud, not the library.
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the tracks in a Home Sharing library, for same reason (using an Apple non public sharing protocol). If you are using this, there is a workaround that consists in sharing the audio files on the server (to be able to access them from the Finder on the client Mac), and then import the track files in iTunes, or just add the shared folder to the synchronized list in the Library page of Audirvana preferences. This way, standard file sharing protocol is used, and Audirvana is able to access the audio files.
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Hi everyone and thanks for the replies. I use the Music.app (as it’s now confusingly called on Catalina) to organize my ALAC library, I don’t stream Apple Music nor have I purchased songs through iTunes.
The main reason why I would like continuous sync with the Music.app instead of monitoring a folder is so that my Music.app playlists always automatically update inside Audirvana without me having to manage two separate libraries basically. I would much rather not have to close and reopen Audirvana for it to sync every time I make changes to my Music.app library
Hello Damien: my trial will end soon and I am still ‘lost’ when it comes to Apple Music (or iTunes). I think I understand about the DRM - but does this include all PLAYLISTS? of all the Apple Music Playlist I have, there’s only 1 that contains an album, one that I purchased in iTunes Store.
I can play ALL MY PURCHASED ALBUMS (from iTunes) in Audirvana except those playlists (which I love).
Is there any workaround? I try to use “Integrated Mode” but that, too, confuses me so much that it is actually of no use - it does not work on my side.
I like to Audirvana as it can play all my DSD files ‘on the fly’ (down-sampled to 176.4, but just fine with me) - but I would wish for it to totally replace iTunes (and those playlists can be a deciding factor for me).
TIA, Egay
GUYS export your playlists from itunes or music now to somewhere on your mac…
Then use the single library in Audirvana… removing the path of iTunes or Music now…
load your saved playlists from a folder by importing them in Audirvana in one shot with shift key
and put all that music of yours in a folder anywhere that Apple might look by default…
This is not an option for me as I use Apple’s Music.app to sync my library to my iPhone, iPad and iPod Classic. Those devices are equally as important to me as listening to music on my hifi system, so I won’t ditch the Music.app and move to Audirvana only.
I really just wish Audirvana was able to scan my Music.app library file automatically so it would always stay in sync without me having to do it manually.
Too bad for you, wait for a fix then…
All my music is on a hard disc external… one folder to Audirvana database… flac, .dsf…
Whenever i have a new CD or Downloaded music or HDmusic from internet, i just make a mp3 version of it in 30 seconds with XLD, then i copy that folder (new CD) approx 100mb, to a folder that i keep my Music in for mp3 listening on my iPhone, again not in Apple Music default place…
Play safe don’t trust anyone to do things for you… you’ll enjoy more life for sure…
You’ll lose a minute for each new music you have, but saved hours of bugs…
It’s fine, I don’t add new music too often and my library isn’t that large (around 300GB). For streaming and discovering new music I use Tidal or Qobuz.
If I get new music for my library its always FLAC, which I convert to ALAC with XLD aswell. I drag that album into the Music.app and it syncs automatically to my iPhone and iPad via WiFi. They have 512GB and 1TB storage so I can use the lossless files directly. The whole process from starting the download of the album to it being on my devices takes around 5 minutes max.
I only do this once or twice a week with all the new music I have accumulated. I run my Music.app library and Audirvana on a Mac mini 24/7 and its simply one click to sync my Music.app library with Audirvana. It’s less about time invested and more about me just wanting to automate one more step in the process.
I really like the Music.app for tagging and organizing my library, I don’t feel dependent on it. Please be aware that I do not use Apple Music (the streaming service) I own all the music I listen to regularly, there’s no DRM problems involved. It’s just really unfortunate naming from Apple’s side to call the app just Music and also have a streaming service that is called Apple Music.
The advantages of me using the Music.app in tandem with Audirvana instead of Audirvana and some other workaround far outweigh the sole disadvantage I would like to have fixed (if technically possible @Antoine).
Hello @cudifying, which synchronization method did you choose for your library in Audirvana settings?
Hi @Antoine,
im currently using: 2nd method: Music Library Synchronization. Whenever I add a new album to macOS Music.app I have to click ‘Synchronize’ in Audirvana to also have that album available there. I wish that Audirvana was able to either check in the background or even better monitor my Music.app library file and when it detects changes to automatically sync. Again, this is nothing too tedious to do, it would just make the whole process more seamless.
I have experimented with “watch folders” vs. 2nd Method Synchronization, and it seems that the watch folders will add new songs added to Apple Music, but will not update playlists. Is that expected behavior? So it seems that if you want to force Audirvana to pay attention to changes/ update playlists, you need to choose 2nd Method Synchronization. However, when I do this, Apple Music launches by itself in the background (I didn’t touch anything) and it is using 100% CPU (while Audirvana is using 1.7% cpu) and the progress bar in Audirvana is not moving at all for hours now. Is this expected behavior? Does Audirvana cause Apple Music to launch and rebuild its database? If I try to quit Apple Music, it quits but immediately relaunches itself. Audirvana will not quit either, unless I force quit. If this is “expected” behavior, then I will continue letting it sit there for hours (my library is about 200GB). It would seem this is not expected behavior?
The first method only add your music from a folder. If you want to have your Music playlist in Audirvana using this method you then need to export it from Music and then import it in Audirvana. After doing so you need to get rid of Music since the playlist you imported in Audirvana are not connected to Music.
I let the 2nd method “synchronization” run its course, it took several hours, but it did update all of my playlists in Audirvana to reflect my playlists in Apple Music. (BTW, I don’t have any files in the cloud, just strictly local files). I was concerned that there was a problem when the synch took so long and seemed to launch the Apple Music app itself (without me launching it) in order to accomplish its sync. So, it appears that you can sync Apple Music playlists, it is just a very time intensive task, so I will use it sparingly. If there were a better way to manage music on my iOS devices, I would do away with Apple Music altogether, but for now I’m working around it.
uI haven’t been able to get any of my playlists to show at all. Is it the “First Method” or “Second Method” that I want to use? And do I want to point to my Music.app library file? Or is the location of the library file specific to Audirvana? Thanks!!
Hello @whyrichard, you can use the “Second Method” and you’ll have your iTunes playlist in Audirvana.
Hello,
Question: I click synchronize under second method, and it is slowly working along. from what I can tell it says it completed its synchronization a few hours ago. Why does each synchronization take so long? Tell me that it is not copying any files…?
Also, does it matter where the AudirvanaPlusDatabaseV2.sqlite file is located?
Thank you!
R
Hello @whyrichard, the synchronization depends on the number of file you have. For the database you shouldn’t change the location since you can have issue with it afterwards.