open command in Terminal

what you've given here doesn't use the open command. that would look like this: open /Users/terrator/Music. does that work? and what do you mean by 'the same symptoms' - are you saying that trying to open a folder from the dock opens a terminal window and tells you that a path is a directory?

do folder windows open normally in the Finder (by double-clicking)?

do you see any pertinent errors listed in Console.app? do you have any third-party hacks or haxies installed?

Do you have that Microsoft XML Converter installed? I have seen some similar reports from people with that software. I can't seem to find a clever utility to list what application is associated with a file type or folder.

Does the following work?
*open -a Finder Music*
If this works, then maybe LaunchServives database is broken?

You can use lsregister command to view/modify the database. The lsregister command is in
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.fram ework/Support

cd to this directory, and run
*./lsregister -h*
to see some help info. To view the whole contents of the database
*./lsregister -dump | less*
Search for a string "Finder.app" and "Terminal.app", and see what types are registered for each app. In my case Folder is registered under Finder.app as follows (id number may differ):

 claim id: 5964
 name: Folder
 rank: Default
 roles: Editor 
 flags: apple-default apple-internal 
 icon: 
 bindings: public.folder, 'fold'

For Terminal.app I don't see anything with name "Folder" but I see one with roles "Editor":

The Terminal does not execute anything. It is a character terminal emulator that is connected to pseudo (fake) serial terminal device (/dev/pty**)

The other side of that pty device is attached to an independent process that happens to be running a shell of some kind (default being the bash shell).

The shell will create child processes on demand and run commands requested by the user. Any text send to standard out or standard error by the shell or any of the children processes started by the shell, will be sent to the pty and the Terminal will read the other side of the pty and display the text in the Terminal window.

The Terminal will also listen to the keyboard, and send any text you type to the pty where the shell or a child process created by the shell will read the other side of the pty and do what you tell it via the keyboard.

That is the Terminal's job. communicate through this fake serial device. It does not execute commands. I knows nothing about Folders, nor files, nor TYPE/CREATOR fields, nor file type suffixes. Just reads text you type, and displays text sent back from the shell or its child processes.