How to Record Apple Music on a Mac?

Apple Music is one of the most popular music streaming platforms globally. It offers a friendly interface, million tracks, and is fully compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. Meanwhile, Apple continued to bolster its music streaming service in 2021 by adding support for Spatial Audio and Lossless audio at no extra charge to its subscribers. So far, Apple has upgraded its entire catalog of 90 million tracks in its lossless audio codec, called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). It is over four times the audio quality of the previous AAC audio tracks that you had been streaming before 2021. If you like streaming Apple Music, you may want to download/ record what you hear for later playback.

Now, there are mainly two ways you can use to download Apple Music songs to your Mac (or mobile device) to listen to later while offline.

Using the official download feature
Using an Apple Music Converter

In this article, we would discuss the difference between Apple AAC and ALAC Files and how to use TuneCable iMusic Converter to record Apple Music songs on Mac.

Part 1: The Difference between Apple Music AAC and ALAC Files
Part 2: How to Record Apple Music in ALAC/AAC by TuneCable

Part 1: The Difference between Apple Music AAC and ALAC Files

AAC is a lossy audio compressed format that takes up very little space and is good for streaming. An AAC file is already an advanced audio format, but for the same bit rate or files size, it gives better quality than MP3.

ALAC is short for Apple Lossless Audio Codec ( also known as Apple Lossless), creating audio files that are half the size of typical CD files without compromising on sound quality. It works only on Apple devices.

The main difference between AAC and ALAC is "L=Lossless", which is just a Lossless format for Apple. Apple Music used to be streamed in AAC format at 256Kbps, which is what we usually hear with Bluetooth devices. Now, the standard Lossless tier of Apple Music starts at CD quality, which is 16-bit/44.1 kHz, and it goes up to 24-bit/192 kHz which is sometimes referred to as ”Mastering Quality Sound”- (MQS). If you intend to listen to music through basic earbuds, you won't hear any difference between AAC and ALAC but you can feel that lossless sounds more full and rich. Another difference between the two that might be evident to consumers, is the file size. The distinction in size can be up to 10 times. After all, the higher the bitrate, the better the quality, but the larger the file size.

Part 2: How to Record Apple Music in ALAC by TuneCable

If you’re an audiophile who wants to record and save Hi-Res audio to your Mac locally, an Apple Music Converter is indispensable since it allows you to download audio from Apple Music with lossless audio quality, and it can export the sound file in your desired audio format.

TuneCable Apple Music Converter is an outstanding one among all the Apple Music Converters. It is an all-in-one iTunes Music Converter that helps to download any playable music from iTunes, including Apple Music, iTunes M4P music, and iTunes Audiobooks. Compared to other programs, it's much more user-friendly, and the best part of it is that it allows users to download Apple Music to MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, and ALAC format while keeping the original audio quality. The cool feature of this program is that you can customize the bitrate, sample rate, output file name, and output folders, helping you create more accurate recordings.

Key Features of TuneCable Apple Music Converter:

Record Apple Music, iTunes M4P music, and iTunes /Audible audiobooks
Convert Apple Music files to MP3/AAC/WAV/FLAC/AIFF/ALAC
Record Apple Music at fast speed and keep the best audio quality
Keep all of the ID3 tags after conversion
Enjoy free updates & technical support

Try It Free

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Record Apple Music in MP3 on Mac

Currently, TuneCable Apple Music Converter offers Windows and Mac versions. Here we take the Mac version as an example to show you how to easily record Apple Music on your Mac.

Step 1: Launch TuneCable iMusic Converter on Mac

After running TuneCable iMusic Converter for Mac, the main interface will be shown as below.

Step 2: Add Desired Apple Music to Download

Click "+ Add" to select desired Apple Music files. Just simply tick the Apple Music tracks that you want to download and tap the "OK" button to confirm your selection.

Step 3: Customize the Output Format

Before downloading Apple Music files, tap the(Settings) icon from the menu bar to make some settings. Here you can choose the output format, conversion mode, output quality, conversion speed, output path and adjust output file name. And once you made up your settings, you can close the setting window to apply the changes.

Output Format: MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, AFIF
Conversion Mode: Intelligent Mode, Convert Mode, YouTube Mode
Output Quality: 128kbps, 192kbps, 256kbps, 320kpbs
Output Folder: You can choose to change it or not
Output Name: {Track Number}, {Title}, {Artist}, {Album}, {Playlist Index}
Output Organized: None, Artist, Album, Artist/Album, Album/Artist

Step 4: Start Recording Apple Music

Just click the "Convert" button to start Recording Apple Music in a plain audio format without loss of any quality.

Step 5: View Output Apple Music Files

After conversion, please go to the 'Converted' panel to check your download history. It will show you which songs and files you have recorded or converted at different periods.

Summary: It’s easy to download Apple Music for offline listening on your Mac, but if you want to be able to record or keep Apple Music on your Mac, you’ll need the TuneCable iMusic Converter. It offers an excellent solution you can try for quick, hassle-free backups that require next to zero technical skills and save you time on getting high-quality Apple Music Files. As a highly reliable and user-friendly application, it will record and download Apple Music Lossless Audio to plain ALAC files in seconds.