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How to Transfer Apple Music Songs to External Hard Drive

author By Emma Wouters
Updated on: April 23, 2024
Category: Apple Music Tips

Apple Music, released in 2015, is one of the most popular music streaming platforms in the world. With Apple Music, people can enjoy music on iPhone, Android phone, computer, smartwatch, HomePod, etc., which is really convenient. To get the full service of Apple Music, you need to pay a monthly fee. Then, you can listen to music, download music to your local devices, and enjoy the personalized service on Apple Music.

Apple Music currently has over 100 million songs, and many consumers want to keep Apple Music songs as collections on their local devices. If you want to transfer Apple Music tracks to an external hard drive, then follow this article, we will show you how to do it.

apple music to external hard drive

 

Part 1. How to Find Downloaded Apple Music Files on A Computer

To find and transfer the downloaded Apple Music files to the external hard drive, the first thing you need to do is to find where your Apple Music files are stored. Here is the way to find Apple Music files on computer:

For Windows users:

Step 1  Open iTunes on your computer.

Step 2 Click "Edit > Preferences", then choose "Advanced". You can find and change the output path there.


For Mac users:

By default, your music is saved in the following directory: Home/Music/

If you changed the path before, then you can check it by opening the Music app, then clicking "Music > Preferences > Files".

After that, you can just copy & paste Apple Music audio files to your external hard drive.

However, you need to know that the Apple Music files that you downloaded in this way are all protected. Although you can transfer them to your external hard drive, you can’t play them on unauthorized software or devices. Is there any way that could help users convert Apple Music songs to unprotected format? Read on, we will show you the method.


Part 2. Download & Transfer Apple Music Songs to External Hard Drive

To download Apple Music to plain audio format, you need a third-party tool, like NoteCable Atunes Music Converter.

NoteCable Atunes Music Converter is a simple yet effective downloader for Apple Music users to get songs from Apple Music web player and save them as local files on MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, ALAC or AIFF. After conversion, it can preserve the high audio quality and ID3 tags like artist, album, track number, etc. With just a few clicks, you can download Apple Music to your computer easily.

The following is a tutorial about how to use NoteCable Atunes Music Converter, and how to transfer Apple Music to the external hard drive.

notecable atunes music converter

NoteCable Atunes Music Converter

  • Download playlists and albums from Apple Music Web Player.
  • Convert Apple Music to MP3/AAC/WAV/FLAC/ALAC/AIFF.
  • Keep ID3 tags and lossless audio quality.
  • No need to install Apple Music app.
  • Support converting songs at 10X faster conversion speed.

  • Download and Save Apple Music to External Hard Drive

    * If you don't see the "Choose Conversion Mode" option in Step 1, simply move on to Step 2.

    Step 1Install and Run the NoteCable Atunes Music Converter and Choose Conversion Mode

    Launch the NoteCable Atunes Music Converter on your computer. And then you can choose App Mode or Webplayer Mode as your conversion mode.

    two modes

    Step 2Sign into Your Apple Music Account

    You ought to enter the necessary information to access your Apple Music content if you pick up Webplayer Mode.

    Please be assured: NoteCable won't collect your information other than the tracks, but the converter is only for personal use. Also, you must be an Apple Music subscriber in order to convert Apple Music with NoteCable.

    login with Apple id

    Step 3Customize Apple Music Output Settings

    Click the "Settings" part on the left panel to personalize the output settings. You can change the output format (Auto, MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF), Bit Rate (128kbps, 196kbps, 256kbps, 320kbps), output folder, Sample Rate (11kHz, 22kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz), and so on. Or, if you want to export songs in the same order as the original playlist, select the Playlist index option in the Output File Name column.

    set Apple Music the output format

    Step 4Add Apple Music Playlists to Convert

    Open the radio, song, playlist or album you want to export from Apple Music. Click on the cover and you will find the Click to add button on your right-hand side, which is used to detect and list the songs. On the pop-up, all tracks will be checked by default.

    If you don’t want to get all of them, you can uncheck the box beside Title and tick off what you need manually or you can select Converted Filter option to filter the repeated songs that you’ve converted before.

    Click the Convert button and all thing you should do is to patiently wait until all the songs finished converting.

    add apple songs to convert

    A brilliant up to 10X conversion speed will cut off the costs of the time spent waiting.

    apple music downloading

    Step 5 Check Out Complete Apple Music

    After the conversion is completed, the output folder will automatically open. Or you can find converted Apple Music songs by clicking "Converted" on the left bar. Just open it, hover your mouse on the converted songs, and click the folder icon.

    export apple music playlist to pc


    Summary

    You can’t miss NoteCable Atunes Music Converter, which can download Apple Music songs in different formats from the web player, and let you keep converted Apple Music songs forever. Just install NoteCable on your computer, then you can download the playlist, and transfer converted Apple Music songs to external hard drive.

    Author

    Emma Wouters

    Emma Wouters is a skilled writer who specializes in digital music streaming. She's an expert on music platforms and offers easy-to-understand advice on various tools.