Apple Music playing songs from wrong playlists

[spacecadet1968]

I have an iPhone 13 Pro with iOS 17 and I assume Apple Music version 17.

In Apple Music, I have several playlists synced from my Mac.

Normally, when I tap the shuffle button on a playlist, it plays the songs in random order.

Yesterday, I noticed that one of my playlists, when in shuffle mode, is bringing in songs from other playlists. It’s never done this before and I’d like it to stop.

I’ve included screenshots to help show what I’m talking about.

The screenshot Playlists shows how my playlists are organized. The screenshot Fast and Hard shows how normally Shuffle works, playing songs in random order. The screenshot Music for Your Ears shows how this playlist, the in shuffle mode is playing songs from Music for Your Ears and Fast and Hard.

Does anyone know how to fix this? I simply want Apple Music to play songs from a selected playlist in random order, not play everything on the phone in random order.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IWT]

May I just ask you - are you talking about the free Apple's Music app OR the paid-for Apple Music which gives you access to there 100 million songs etc?

Why I ask is that if it's the paid-for version, I may have an explanation for your predicament.

If it's the standard Music app that comes with all Macs, then it's more difficult to explain.

Ian

 

[spacecadet1968]

Hi Ian,

It's the paid for app - but these songs aren't from the cloud, they live on my Mac. (An external HD attached to my Mac to be clear.)

 

[IWT]

This is what I think happens - or at least has happened with me.

You have 2 sources of Music - one from the paid Apple Music and the other from your Mac. What I've found, on occasion, is that when you select a song from your Mac, Apple tries to match that song with a Lossless version and sometimes with Spatial Audio as well, which it then streams to your iPhone.

That's great, but there can be problems. For example, if Apple can't locate an exact duplicate, you get something else and that "something else" might be from another playlist on your Mac. This especially occurs if the same song is found in another playlist.

As for the "Random" bit, that prompts Apple to locate songs in advance, so to speak, so that there is no appreciable gap between songs and you might find that it has borrowed songs from another playlist.

I realise that my explanation is a bit "woolly" but it's the best I can come up.

Ian

 

[spacecadet1968]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for I-putting some thought to the problem - much appreciated!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[IWT]

You're welcome. Thanks for replying.

Ian