I have an Apple music folder in the iTunes directory but I’m not sure what it’s for...I’m assuming it’s for Apple Music downloads or adding Apple Music to the library. However, I noticed some purchased files in there as well. Anybody have any ideas ?
Apple has changed where music is kept before, so I wanted to rule out if Apple Music is the new repository for music files. Sorry if this is a duplicate question, but I couldn’t find a current answer. Thanks!!
There is a bug with recent versions of iTunes that will automatically reset the media folder to iTunes Media in the folder where the .itl file resides. No point in trying to fight that one. I suggest you put things back roughly where they ought to be, then read on.
The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates. See Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely if you're trying to access your media with any other media players.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.
If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files, or the library has been moved from OS X to Windows, then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works. It might need some tweaking if your media is in a non-standard layout.
If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:
Note the addition of file://localhost/ (and the flipped direction of slashes in Windows) is normal for a file that isn't quite where iTunes is expecting to find it.
tt2
Apple Music is for Apple Music downloads. It should only contain the DRM laden rental tracks that have been downloaded for offline use. Purchases ought to go to Music. Are these items you obtained first through Apple Music and then purchased?
tt2
What do you have for the media folder location under Edit > Preferences > Advanced? Typically this will be <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Media. Apple Music and Music would normally both be inside iTunes Media. Libraries that have been around a long time might potentially have a media folder called iTunes Music, with or without the Music folder inside it. For more details see Make a split library portable - Apple Community. Note that you shouldn't move the folder by hand if you think it is in the wrong place, you need to coax iTunes into doing it. Apple Music content cannot be added to the library from disk, only what iTunes has downloaded itself will be considered valid.
tt2
You were correct. The Apple Music files were downloaded prior to me purchasing them. One last thing, should the Apple Music directory be under Music\Itunes\iTunes Media? Currently, it’s in Music\iTunes.
Thanks again for your help.
My son decided to make iTunes work better, so he thought he’d save time and manually move everything. As soon as he told me, I knew from experience that was not right path to take. His intentions were good, but we all know how that turns out. Especially when you can get help here and learn how to do it correctly.
What he did was move all music files into Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music from:
Music\iTunes\iTunes Media - About 70% of the music files were here
Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music - Appox 5% were here, but it had ALL of the Artist directories. Most were empty
Music\iTunes\Music - The rest of the files were here
This library was manually manipulated when I transferred the music from a desktop to a laptop a few years ago This is where I spent a Sunday trying to repair what I had done. I kept consolidating and organizing before I had everything where I wanted it. iTunes was trying to help, but I did the same thing my son did and tried to wing it.
So, how it sits now is “All” music was manually moved into Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music folder along with Books, Movies, TV Shows, Home Movies, Automatically Add to iTunes, Downloads, Mobile Applications, Tones, and Voice Memos
In Music\iTunes\ - In here we have four directories - Album Artwork, Apple Music, iTunes Media, and Previous iTunes Libraries. The iTunes Library, iTunes Library Extras, iTunes Library Genius, and the .iTunes Preferences .plist are in here as well
In Edit> Preferences> Advanced it has C:\Users\Username\Music\iTunes
(All three check boxes under folder location are un-checked)
When I reset it, it changes into the C:\Users\Username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media, but it doesn’t change. I can go back into preferences and it’s back to the same thing I was before.
That’s possible...I’ll check it out and confirm. Thanks for quick reply. I’ve been reading your posts for a while and I’ve learned quite a bit this afternoon.
Apple Music folder in iTunes directory
