iTunes library not accessible to Music app

Question

Level 1

4 points

iTunes library not accessible to Music app

Hi,

Prior to Catalina I had all my music (plus audiobooks, saved podcasts, movies etc) on an external hard drive, linked to iTunes in the preferences and working great. I could listen, I could transfer music and books to all my devices. Since Catalina it's non-functional. I followed other advice and pointed the preference files to the hard drive, used organise and consolidate, and now I have 2 itunes media folders on the hard drive, and I still can't transfer any content to my devices without wiping everything and starting from scratch. If I use option + Music to open the old library it just wants to make a new music file wherever I point. If I try to "create a library" on the external drive I get a message saying I have to disconnect all my devices, which I think means disassociate from my Apple ID.? I have .itl files in the old library but I'm not sure how to associate them with the music app so I get permission back. I'm so confused. I just want to be able to add music and audiobooks to my devices hassle free. Can someone help? Thanks in advance.

Posted on Jun 22, 2021 9:30 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

274,510 points

Jun 23, 2021 8:48 AM in response to Kimbo H

See What happened to iTunes? - Apple Support. With Music the library can be home shared without the Music app running. It is perhaps such connections that need to be closed if your switch between libraries or create a new one. The Music app can open and convert a .itl file to a .musiclibrary library. What is the exact text of the error message you get when you try to do this? It should be safe to proceed. Because iTunes and Music use different library formats it is perhaps likely that the first time you sync with Music it will want to erase and reload content to the device. Provided all your media is in your library and works that shouldn't really present a problem, but I'll grant it is annoying.

See also Organizing audiobook chapters - Apple Community. Audiobooks have been moved into the Books app, which has reduced features for editing metadata. You may want to fix up tracks in Music first before importing to Books.

tt2

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Answer 2

Kimbo H Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 23, 2021 8:22 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi, thanks for answering.

The few audiobooks that have shown up in Books appear to be ok so far. Thanks for that link though.

I've read “what happened to iTunes”, and I thought that when I opened music the first time it would convert, but it made a new library on the internal drive instead. And imported my purchased music.

Checked home sharing - it's not on, so that's not it.

Create New Library message is - “You cannot change the music library at this time because the current library is in use by a device. Sign in without connected devices to change your music library".

Proceeding is not an option. Just click OK, then the pop up window disappears and Music app closes. I ejected the devices, turned off wi-fi and bluetooth, but the same message popped up, so it's not to do with being connected by Wi-fi, so I guessed maybe devices associated with my Apple ID?

I changed the location in Music preferences, pointed to the folder on the external drive with the media in it. Then said yes to organising, consolidating, and just got an extra media folder for my trouble. Some new titles have showed up in the library screen on my Mac but not the titles for 100gb of media. How would I get all the song titles etc to show up on the music app screen?

Am I missing something with the .itl files? I thought that when I open my existing library, I should point to the music folder on the external drive. The .itl files are inside that folder. What if I find the most recent .itl file in the old library and just open that?

It's entirely possible that Music app got opened after Catalina upgrade, without the hard drive being attached. So that's probably contributing to the problem.

My brain is fried. Looking forward to any suggestions. Thanks so much.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,510 points

Jun 24, 2021 2:14 AM in response to Kimbo H

Kimbo H wrote:

Create New Library message is - “You cannot change the music library at this time because the current library is in use by a device. Sign in without connected devices to change your music library".

I would assume that could be triggered by physically connected devices, e.g. iPhone connected to USB or set up for Wi-Fi sync, or a Home Sharing library connection. You could try again after rebooting your computer with networking disabled to eliminate possible connections.

Proceeding is not an option. Just click OK, then the pop up window disappears and Music app closes. I ejected the devices, turned off wi-fi and bluetooth, but the same message popped up, so it's not to do with being connected by Wi-fi, so I guessed maybe devices associated with my Apple ID?

I changed the location in Music preferences, pointed to the folder on the external drive with the media in it. Then said yes to organising, consolidating, and just got an extra media folder for my trouble. Some new titles have showed up in the library screen on my Mac but not the titles for 100gb of media. How would I get all the song titles etc to show up on the music app screen?

Changing the media folder preference controls where newly ripped, converted, and download content is stored. Existing content at that location isn't automatically absorbed into the library. You can import it, but to get back playlists, ratings, play counts, etc. you need to open the old .itl file instead.

Am I missing something with the .itl files? I thought that when I open my existing library, I should point to the music folder on the external drive. The .itl files are inside that folder. What if I find the most recent .itl file in the old library and just open that?

You cannot open the .itl file directly in Finder, that will just launch Music but not open that file. You must use the option-start-Music method.

It's entirely possible that Music app got opened after Catalina upgrade, without the hard drive being attached. So that's probably contributing to the problem.

That is likely what happened. It would have behaved like a clean install.

tt2

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Answer 4

Kimbo H Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 26, 2021 12:30 AM in response to turingtest2

Hiya, thanks again for answering.

So I made a copy of the library on the external drive and opened it on a desktop that had recently been wiped, it had nothing in Music. Used Option + Music, choose library, and instead of choosing the folder with the music in it I chose the .itl file, and it opened. Playlists, play counts, some podcasts got imported into music as MP3s, but I think everything is there.

Is that the correct way to do it?

Thanks.

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