Apple Music sync between iMac and MacBook

Question

Apple Music sync between iMac and MacBook

Hi! I use my iMac to upload singing lessons to iTunes and then sync my iPad so I can listen on the go. However, I want to use my MacBook to upload singing lessons in future but my playlists are not shown on my MacBook. I think it is because I do not subscribe to Apple Music. If I joined Apple Music for one month, could I sync my library from iMac to MacBook and then use MacBook to sync iPad to Apple Music (like I currently do with my iMac). Basically, I only use my iMac for this so want to get rid of it. If that all makes sense. Thanks for reading.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 17, 2025 7:19 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 18, 2025 10:57 AM in response to Servant of Cats

Thanks for coming back to me. Very much appreciated. I think I have sort of done it now, in a very round about way.

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Answer 2

Nov 17, 2025 3:18 PM in response to sopranosqueak

That seems unlikely to work.

I believe that when you stop subscribing to Apple Music,

Subscription songs stop working
Playlists containing Apple Music subscription songs stop working
Synchronized copies made using "Sync Library" may stop working

You would probably do better to look at manual ways of recreating your playlists on, or transferring your playlists t, your MacBook, if the goal is ultimately to use your MacBook as your only Mac.

I presume the reason that playlists do not show on your MacBook is that you only ever created those playlists in the independent iTunes or Music library on the iMac. For the same reason, any singing lessons that you had uploaded to the Mac would not be on the MacBook unless you had taken extra steps to copy them there.

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