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Multiple iTunes Libraries on multiple harddrives will not convert over to Mac Music

I have six separate iTunes libraries on two external drives and one on my iMac which I use for creating the digital albums I have copied and cleaned from old records and tapes. Each library contains a speciality and syncs to its own iPod Classic.


I have been trying in vain to move everything over to Mac Music with Catalina but what I have tried doesn't work.


As far as I can tell, it might be due to the address Music creates for each of my libraries. They are all the same" MusicLibrary.musiclibrary" But the pathways to each library are correct according to the preferences.


However, when i option/click on the Music app and select any external library, there is a pause and EVERY SINGLE TIME the library on the iMac will open, despite leading Music along the path where the particular library is located.


Tried to sync an iPod to a library and it did nothing but change its contents to the iMac library.


Is there a way to have Music zero in exactly on the library I point it to?


Thanks. Probably a simple answer but I'm not seeing it.


iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 18, 2019 11:12 AM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2019 8:31 AM

OK - looks like I solved my own problem.


I said that every external library had the same name "Music Library.musiclibrary" and even though I thought I had done this before, I tried inserting a small code which identified the genre of the library, in this case "classjazz", immediately after the first words Music Library and before the dot.


Closed everything and reopened as usual with Option/click and chose that library on the external disk. This time selecting the Music Libraryclassjazz etc. opened up the correct library.


I think the last time I tried adding a name I had replaced the first words "Music Library" with my new title. That did not work.


So I went back over all my other external libraries adding code letters and each one now opens. I even added "iMac" to the original library on my computer.


Also, I quickly tried to sync one with an iPod and now that works too.


Maybe this will help someone else. Although I don't know many people who have more than one musiclibrary.


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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 20, 2019 8:31 AM in response to OldLehrer

OK - looks like I solved my own problem.


I said that every external library had the same name "Music Library.musiclibrary" and even though I thought I had done this before, I tried inserting a small code which identified the genre of the library, in this case "classjazz", immediately after the first words Music Library and before the dot.


Closed everything and reopened as usual with Option/click and chose that library on the external disk. This time selecting the Music Libraryclassjazz etc. opened up the correct library.


I think the last time I tried adding a name I had replaced the first words "Music Library" with my new title. That did not work.


So I went back over all my other external libraries adding code letters and each one now opens. I even added "iMac" to the original library on my computer.


Also, I quickly tried to sync one with an iPod and now that works too.


Maybe this will help someone else. Although I don't know many people who have more than one musiclibrary.


Nov 19, 2019 11:27 AM in response to OldLehrer

As with iTunes before it opening a .musiclibrary file in Finder opens the Music app with the last library file that it opened, not necessarily the file you clicked on. You must use the hold-down-option-start-Music method to select a specific library. If Music opens without you being prompted to choose or create a library then close Music and try again. The method can be used to open existing music or iTunes libraries, however each time you use it to access an iTunes library Music will prompt for a new location to store the converted library, so ideally you would access each of the old iTunes libraries once and once only, creating a parallel Music library to go with it, then access those in future. Music will want to create a whole folder in which to store the new .musiclibrary file, but you can potentially move it and correct its designated media folder if needed after the fact.


tt2

Nov 19, 2019 11:40 PM in response to turingtest2

My point is - I am doing everything you suggested. I option/click on the Music icon in the dock and select choose library. Then I make my way along the path to the library I want to open. The name of that library will always be "MusicLibrary.musiclibrary" no matter which one I have chosen and no matter where it may be located. But --- when I click on it what opens is NOT that library I created in that location but the one in the iMac Music folder. All the time. This was never a problem with iTunes.



Nov 20, 2019 1:58 AM in response to turingtest2

I figure it has to be something I am doing or did. I created each external library by opening the iTunes library with Music and each seemed to convert seamlessly including covers. But--- when I return to open newly created library it always reverts back to the first library I created - the one on my iMac. I still wonder if the fact that all Music libraries are named identically has something to do with it.

Multiple iTunes Libraries on multiple harddrives will not convert over to Mac Music

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