Replacement for Apple Music on macOS?

I've noticed that Apple no longer requires the Music app (previously known as iTunes) to be running in order to sync your music library on you mac with an iPhone or an iPad.

This is fantastic because I must endure prolonged periods of the beach ball of death whenever I start up that app.

Although I have to use exactly the right USB-to-lighning cable and I might have to reboot my computer a few times, I can usually get the playlists on my mac synched to my iPhone with less than a dozen errors and less than 30 minutes of effort.

Unfortunately, whenever I want to add a file to my library, and/or change my playlists before syncing, I still have to endure the beach ball of death. Both on startup (~20 minutes) and with every single mouse click (5-10 seconds). I can't endure this torture any more and need an alternative.

I presume that the decoupling of the Music app from the sync process by Apple was done so that other applications could be used to write to the music library.

Is this the correct presumption?

If so, does a list of such apps exist?

Alternatively, can I add just mp3s and edit my playlists manually on the file system without using an app?

Solution 1:

There's something seriously wrong with your setup - either hardware or software.

You're not supposed to have "prolonged periods of the beach ball" whenever you start the Music app, nor do you have to use "exactly the right USB-to-lightning cable" (any USB to lightning cable will do), and you do not need to reboot yourc omputer to sync a playlist from your Mac to an iPhone. It also should not take 30 minutes.

Adding a file to your library and/or changing a platlist is also not supposed to give a "beach ball of death", nor should clicking your muse ofcourse.

You should fix this before looking at manually editing playlists in the file system.

Regarding your presumption, I can with almost certainty say that the iTunes software wasn't split up in order to make it possible for other applications to write to the music library. That has been technically possible for Apple to do at any time, no matter if the Music app and the syncing process were separate or not.