How do I keep music between two laptops in sync? When I sync 16 GB of music to iCloud, does it use up 16 GB on iCloud?

To sync music libraries across Macs you’ll need to subscribe to iTunes Match or to Apple Music. Otherwise, you’ll do a lot of manual moving of songs to ensure your libraries contain the same data. Use Sync Library to access your music library across your devices - Apple Support you do not need to purchase any storage for the sync to work

ykt28403 Said:

"How do I keep music between two laptops in sync? When I sync 16 GB of music to iCloud, does it use up 16 GB on iCloud?: I have two MacBook Pros (2023 M2 and Early 2015) and am trying to use iCloud to keep the Music between them synced.[...]"

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iCloud and Music:

Q1. "I selected "Sync Music" in the Music app (2023 M2 MBPro) and "iCloud Music Library" in iTunes (Early 2015 MBPro). Will that keep the music between the two in sync, no matter on which one I add new music?"

A1. Enable Photos on both Macs:

All will be accessible by iCloud, once synced.

1. Go to: System Preferences
2. Click: Apple ID (on top-right)
3. Select: Music (by giving it a check mark)

Q2. "I have 16 GB of music. Do I need to purchase extra space on iCloud if I'm using the options above?"

A2. Yes. You need to signed up for a 50GB iCloud Plan.

ykt28403 Said:

"How do I keep music between two laptops in sync? When I sync 16 GB of music to iCloud, does it use up 16 GB on iCloud?"

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You can sync this all manually.

See my User Tip: Moving the Music library to a New Apple ID on Pre-Ventura - User Tip

ykt28403 Said:

"How do I keep music between two laptops in sync? When I sync 16 GB of music to iCloud, does it use up 16 GB on iCloud?: I don't want to Enable Photos.”

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Copy-&-Paste error on my part.

iCloud Drive is what you need to enable for home music. Apple Music will allow your Music library to sync across devices once logged in to your Apple Account on it.

If you wish for your music libraries to sync across two Macs so that any change on one is automatically also made on the other, you need to subscribe to Apple Music or to iTunes Match. You cannot sync libraries using iCloud.

You can, of course, maintain two separate libraries and simply download purchases onto the other. And, you can share playlists too. This would not happen automatically so you would need to remember to download items every so often and to export playlists.

Or, you could simply copy the entire music folder from one device to the other from time to time. Essentially making one device primary and the other secondary.