why can't I drag and drop music files into my music library?

Hello GlobalDxN,

Thanks for choosing the Apple Support Communities. If we understand correctly, you are unable to drag and drop files into iTunes. We can understand why you'd reach out for a solution.

Here is a resource that can help.

Import music from a computer to Music on Mac

Cheers!

Typically with the Apple Music app, the red border on a drag operation means that it recognises you're trying to drag something onto it and it's acting like a target. Ironically if you don't see the red border, it means that the Apple Music app is busy doing something else and will not recognize the drag and drop operation.

So, if you do see that, then the problem is something else:

• It's not a valid format for the Apple Music App (MP3, AAC and WAV all work, but OGG, S3M, MOD and so forth do not.)
• It's not a valid file even though it's a valid format (i.e. it may say BLAH.AAC but it isn't as it's corrupt or a different file type with the wrong extension.)
• It is a valid file and has been imported but the metadata is so messed up that you don't see it where you expect it to be in the library (typically happens with poorly tagged older MP3 files.)
• It's a valid file but the namespace for it (i.e. something with the same filename and path) is already present in the library so it's not imported. Probably not the case here.
• There's a permissions problem so that the Apple Music app can't read the file properly in order to parse it. This can happen if it's dragged from a remote network drive or from another user's directory where you might have read but not write permissions. Typically the Apple Music app would run with the same permissions as the user moving the files so this is unlikely but possible.
• There's a permissions problem with the Apple Music app library. Similar to the above item, but this time Apple Music might not be able to update the library itself when trying to add the file. Easiest way to check this is to make other changes to the library and see if error messages pop up in case it's stifling the error on an import.

Global,

That behavior could mean it is not a valid audio file. What is the source of the file that is having the problem?