iTunes error message -61 "You do not have the privilege to make changes"

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iTunes error message -61 "You do not have the privilege to make changes"

I just got an iMac and my itunes library is on an external hard drive. I changed the music folder location in itunes under advanced preferences and I can access all the songs in the library. However, when I try to download new songs from the itunes store or try to import a CD I get an error message stating that "You do not have the privilege to make changes". The itunes download gives me an error message err = -61. Has anyone had this problem?

imac 24, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 10, 2009 7:17 PM

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Answer 1

May 10, 2009 7:51 PM in response to apathak

Check permissions on your iTunes Music Folder. Navigate to it through Finder, Get Info and make sure permissions are set to read and write. Then click the Gear symbol and Apply to All Enclosed Folders.

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Answer 2

apathak Author

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May 11, 2009 4:51 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Thanks. When I do this under sharing and permissions the only option is "You can only read". Can I change it?

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Answer 3

May 11, 2009 6:10 PM in response to apathak

Well...that's definitely what's causing your problem. If you click on the drop-down menu, is Read Only the only option available to you? If you are able to select Read and Write, do that and Apply to All Enclosed Folders. If you can't change it, did you set up this user account as an Admin account? If not, I think you can still change permissions if you give your Admin password when prompted. If that's not the case, I'd suggest going to Sysem Prefs, Accounts, select the account you're using and check under Limitations. (At least that's how it works on Panther...not sure if it's exactly the same on Leopard.)

Post back if you need more help sorting it out.

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Answer 4

apathak Author

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May 11, 2009 7:24 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

My account is an admin account. The only option that I have is that it is read only.

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Answer 5

May 11, 2009 7:45 PM in response to apathak

Try this: select the icon for the external hard drive (where the iTunes library is) and Get Info. Can you change permissions on the drive itself? Or is the drive locked? (A checkbox in the Locked option...or do you see a lock icon?)

Also...just to be sure...when you checked permissions, did you check on the iTunes Music folder...not on the folder for the iTunes application????

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Answer 6

apathak Author

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May 11, 2009 7:49 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Yes I selected the iTunes folder. When I select the hard drive it also says that I can only read. Does the hard drive need to be reformatted for MAC OS?

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Answer 7

May 11, 2009 7:59 PM in response to apathak

This is definitely the source of your problem, but I'm not sure whether formatting the drive will fix the issue. If you have things backed up somewhere, you could try it and see if it fixes the problem. Or you might repost here (or in the OS X forum) and state that you can't utilize your library because it's on a drive that you can only get Read access to. I'll do a little digging and see if I can find the answer, but the specifics here are a bit outside my realm of knowledge.

But...at least we're getting closer to an answer.

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Answer 8

May 11, 2009 8:01 PM in response to apathak

You might have a read here and see if this helps: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1650649

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Answer 9

apathak Author

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May 11, 2009 8:04 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Thank you for all your help.

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Answer 10

Hedlan

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Jul 5, 2009 10:50 AM in response to apathak

I have this problem too. Just started.

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Answer 11

Oct 1, 2011 3:05 AM in response to apathak

I experienced this issue as well. Although not ideal, I was able download my purchases when I disconnected my external harddrive, and allowed the music to be downloaded to my Mac hard drive. Then I was able to copy from my Mac hard drive to my external harddrive. Although not ideal at least I am able to listen to my purchases:-)

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Answer 12

Dec 14, 2011 7:54 AM in response to michael wulff from wessling

Just had this same problem. Library on External hard drive. Would not let me write to it and it was set as read only with no options to change that. Rebooting Mac didn't help, but... Turning the hard drive off and restarting did. Brought it right up as read and write and there were options to change it. Hope your solutions are as easy.

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Answer 13

Jan 4, 2012 11:31 AM in response to apathak

I had this problem too. Go to the folder where you keep your iTunes music on your external hard drive. Get info. At the bottom the of get info window make sure the lock icon is unlocked, and apply to all enclosed folders. Then you should be able to download music from iTunes to your external hard drive.

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Answer 14

Dec 27, 2012 4:17 PM in response to apathak

Solution:

Open Disk Utility.

Select your external hard disk and run a “verify” on it. After a few minutes (depending on the size of your drive), you should be good to go. You don’t need to run a “repair” on it... (at least I didn’t have to). See photo for reference.

This should fix the permissions issue, because on my Mac running Mountain Lion I was unable to edit the permissions in the get info dialog window even after "unlocking" the drive.

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