After much trial and error I finally put together a set up that works for me. It checks all the boxes of my use for my Prime 4’s (artwork, library organization, ease of use etc)
Apple Music is my Engine Prime library manager even on Catalina. It runs super smooth but I had to set it up a certain way. If you see any kinks or issues let me know but so far so perfect! Not doing anything wrong here but as always when dealing with something as important as you music library, try at your own risk and always keep backups!
First check keep library organized in Apple Music settings… For Prime 4 users, next we uncheck auto add to Apple Music when importing to library since the default location won’t actually always be plugged into your computer as you’ll see in the next step.
I moved the Apple “Music” folder to my P4’s internal drive right where it’s own folder titled, “Music” contained in the “Engine Prime” folder would be. In Apple’s settings, set that as the default location for Apple Music. These two folders are now one and the same.
Make alias of this folder somewhere such as your desktop to easily drop/download files into, as well as open.
You will open, drag and drop the alias folder to either Engine Primes P4 Collections window or the Apple Music library window anytime you want to, “refresh/sync” changes made on the opposite.
When files are downloaded to our folder they are simply there and not packed. If it’s 50 songs, then I drop the 50 songs into Apple Music, organize how I want, then drop the alias into P4 collections in EP.
Music files never touch my computers drive. Just main external and backups. Not even in the computer Engine Prime collection. Just P4 straight to P4 drive while still being able to mass analyze and edit cue points etc.
This may all be pointless since the Catalina beta is here but may remain my workflow even then as I like keeping space on my computer free. We will see.