Background music not working

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Background music not working

So I just got iLife 08 and decided to use iMovie for the first time ever. I was making a movie the other night and wanted to add some background music.

So I opened the "Music and Sound Effects" window, found the song I wanted under iTunes and dragged it over the project background. The background turned green as it hovered but when I let go, nothing happened. There was no music icon at the end of the video clips. I opened iTunes, dragged the song from there and it worked!

Does anyone have a clue why I can't just drag the song from within iMovie? My entire iTunes library is on an external hdd. Could that have something to do with it? (And yes, it was plugged in and turned on.)

12" Powerbook G4, Intel Mac Mini, iPhone, iPod Video & Shuffle, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 25, 2007 1:48 PM

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Answer 1

babybackriib Author

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Sep 26, 2007 11:14 AM in response to babybackriib

Anyone have an idea?

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Answer 2

Sep 26, 2007 11:27 AM in response to babybackriib

You need to drag and drop the song either to a blank space in the project (turns green) or drag the song to the top of a specific clip (turns purple).

I have no explanation why this should not work for you.

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Answer 3

Sep 26, 2007 12:38 PM in response to babybackriib

I'm not sure if the music you're adding is a protected aac file, but if it is there was a known issue with adding these files. Check out the following links

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB13&Number=5 28769&page=0&view=collapsed

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1076620&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1127271&tstart=0

The last link indicates that the latest Quicktime update on 9/11 fixed the problem, so I'm not sure if you're having the same issue unless you need to update.

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Answer 4

Sep 26, 2007 12:46 PM in response to SharedThought

It could simply be an unsupported format, open the get info window and see what kind of file you are trying to use.

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Answer 5

babybackriib Author

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Sep 27, 2007 3:02 PM in response to babybackriib

I'm using mp3 files. I tried dragging the song from the "Music and Sound EEffects" window over the project background where it did turn green. I thought, ok great it's going to work. But once I let go of the button, I didn't get the music icon at the end of the footage. I must have tried about 20 times, but it never worked.

That's when I opened iTunes and dragged the exact same song directly from iTunes over the project background. It turned green just like before, but this time when I let go I had the music icon. I don't mind the workaround I guess, I just don't like when something that is supposed to work, doesn't.

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Answer 6

Sep 27, 2007 7:42 PM in response to babybackriib

I am not sure what music icon you are expecting. As long as you see the green background in your project, the music will play. I was not clear from your post whether the green background vanished or not.

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Answer 7

babybackriib Author

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Sep 28, 2007 9:09 AM in response to babybackriib

After you add music to the background, there is a little icon that appears at the end of the video clips and the background stays green. When I dropped the song over the background, it was green while hovering, but stayed black with no icon once I let go of the mouse button. I even previewed my movie after every attempt and there was no song.

Basically, using the songs from the "Music and Sound Effects" window doesn't work, but using the songs directly from iTunes does. I guess I'll just have to use the workaround.

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Answer 8

Sep 28, 2007 9:16 AM in response to babybackriib

in iM≤6 this 'drop content but doesn't apply'-effect usually was an indication of a wrong formatted drive.. your project/event library is on internal drive? afaik, iM08 does NOT accept wrong formatted drives anymore.. (?)

and, just a stab in the dark, ... you ext. hdd, how is it formatted (single click in Finder, Apple-I will tell you....)

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Answer 9

babybackriib Author

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Sep 30, 2007 7:39 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

My project/event library is on the internal drive. My external drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). So if the drive is formatted wrong, shouldn't it not work at all?

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Answer 10

Sep 30, 2007 11:59 PM in response to babybackriib

you told us ...

.. My entire iTunes library is on an external hdd. ..

so, my silly idea was, that probably a 'wrong formatted iTunes library' could cause such a weird effect ..

are those mp3s generated by iTunes?
I guess I remember a topic, that some 'exotic' settings for mp3s (vbr?) could make them un-useful for iM.. < scratching head > ...

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Answer 11

babybackriib Author

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Oct 1, 2007 12:21 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Some of them are and some aren't. I don't know about the particular song I was using, but I'm guessing it may not have been. But the same exact song worked when dragged directly from iTunes but not from the "Music and Sound Effects" window within iMovie. I just don't get it. I've tried a couple other songs as well since the first experience and the same thing happens. Grr.

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