Loading m4p files

Good screenshot.

Ok, forget the second iTunes account idea then. (Good, that's one thing ruled out!) Back to the conversion, which you've mentioned yet again.

El_Bollo wrote:

It's possible that I .... set iTunes to auto convert new songs that were imported.

No. You cannot set iTunes to auto convert files. Not only that, but if they were conversions I would expect to see a title in the Title column of your original screenshots (which there isn't). If I recall correctly, if you import a file to your iTunes Library without a song title (that is, text in the Title column), iTunes would use the filename (the Name column) as the song title. Then, when converting the song, the title column would have that song title in the Title column of the converted file. I'm 99.9% certain these are not converted files. Forget the idea. Seriously...

Two remaining ideas (and I'll come back to the bit of your text that I omitted):

1. I wonder whether the songs are markers that downloaded when you had the Apple Music trial, in which case, they won't play since they're Apple Music files, which you don't own.
2. You mention Soundcloud. Could they be Soundcloud files (or similar)?

Going back to Apple Music: is it possible that you never owned these particular songs, but instead you added them to your playlist while you had the Apple Music trial? In other words, they are markers for those Apple Music songs, to which you no longer have access because you ended your Apple Music subscription (the trial). At this point, it probably needs someone else to help out, because this is something I don't know (as I don't use Apple Music). The question is; when an Apple Music song is downloaded into an iTunes Library, what does it look like in Windows File Manager? Also, will it still show up in Windows File Manager once the subscription has ended?

Now onto Soundcloud and artist websites (this looks promising):

As someone who has downloaded music from artist websites etc., I know that such artists have a habit of simply adding a filename and not completing the MP3 tags for song title, artists etc.

You stated:

It's possible that I noticed extensions not matching...

So is it possible that you downloaded the files from Soundcloud, or an artist website and added in the file extension yourself?

Both of your screenshots show the file extension M4P. However, in Windows 10 File Manager (that is the view you're showing, isn't it?) neither the details view nor the large icons view should be displaying the file extension. So what you assume to be the file extension M4P, actually isn't and what that means that you do not yet know which format these songs are in.

• In that folder, select one of these troublesome songs
• Use right-click/Properties/General and look to see what the Type of File is:

What type of file are they?

To try and speed this up (it's been long-winded because I needed to exclude other possibilities), I'm going to assume for now that they are MP3 files and that you have added in the .m4p yourself. Don't change them yet!

• If this is so, it's possible that these songs are in your Library, but you're not looking in the right place for them. If you change the filename now, to remove the .m4p bit, iTunes will lose track of them
• Now look in your iTunes Library. Use the Songs view and look for any of those songs, under the name you see in your file manager. For example, look for the song Altered Beast.m4p. Is it there? If so, I'll bet that it has no artist or album title and probably no genre either:

What do you find?

Hi El_Bollo,

Thanks for posting. If I understand correctly, you're having issues playing content previously purchased in iTunes.

For clarification, what's happening? If you get an error, what does it say?

Have you tried to re-download the songs directly from the iTunes Store? Redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books

Depending, this might also be helpful: If iTunes for Windows prompts you to authorize your computer when you try to play purchases

Take care.

Your screenshot is a valuable resource, It suggests two avenues to explore. So let's examine the first option and if that doesn't fix the issue and it rules itself out as a possibility, we'll look at the second option.

First of all, as previously stated, iTunes does not convert music without your active particpation. The user has to select the song, click on File, scroll down to Convert, wait for the Convert menu to appear and then click on the option to create the converted file. In addition, iTunes does not change the original file, instead it makes a copy of the original file and saves that copy in the new format (usually in the same folder). So any file on your computer that iTunes had converted would result in two files; the original and the conversion. Plus - the converted file would almost certainly have a title in the title field (yours don't I notice). Finally, M4P is Apple's protected file type, and I've never seen M4P as an option to be created during conversion.

So as far as I'm concerned, that rules out conversion by iTunes.

An M4P could be an old protected purchase from the iTunes Store. If so, and you haven't managed to get the replacement non-protected copy, such files will only play in the same account that purchased them. So if these files are purchaes from the iTunes Store, your iTunes must be signed into the same account that bought them. (However, I would expect the songs to be added to your Library but a message appear as a pop-up when you try to play them, saying that your iTunes was not authorised. Since you state that the songs didn't even appear in your Library, this seems like an unlikely possibility.)

One question it does raise though, are you currently, or have you ever been a subscriber to Apple Music, even for the trial period? Once I know the answer to that question, we can move on. At the same time, could you post a clear screenshot of the icon that appears next to the filenames in your screenshot? I would like to understand what the blue part of the icon is, but it's not clear enough as it is, even if I zoom in:

To summarise:

1. Is it possible that these are purchases from the iTunes Store, but under a different account name?
2. Have you ever used Apple Music
3. Can you post a clearer screenshot of the icon I've highlighted?

Thanks.

El_Bollo wrote:

I have several M4P files ...

... now in a separate folder.

If the songs are already on your computer, they do not simply appear in your iTunes Library. Instead, use the top bar menu command File/Add Folder to Library, navigate to and highlight the folder and click on Select Folder. The songs should then appear in your Library.

If they don't, at which point do things not go as indicated?

Did I miss any?

El_Bollo wrote:

I now realize these songs all have the same thing in common: they were all downloaded from other sites and imported into iTunes for play.

iTunes doesn't (as far as I know) convert anything by itself, you have instruct it to carry out the conversion. But that said, I'm failry certain that even when you ask it to convert something, iTunes would not convert anything into mp4 as that is Apple's DRM protected filetype. In other words, it's music that is protected from copying (DRM = Digital Rights Management). If the files are in mp4, then they did come from the iTunes Store, although the store does not sell protected files anymore. If they are MP4, try going to your iTunes account to see if you can download them again, but in an unprotected file type this time.

If the files came from another source, I don't see how they could be mp4.

I think the first thing you need to do is find the files in Windows file manager and make sure you know the filetype. It is uneccessarily complicated, but here's a screenshot of the same song, looked at in different places:

Top picture - Windows File Manager

Middle - iTunes Library, Songs View

Bottom - iTunes Libary, select song and examine the Song Info, and on the File tab, look for location.

Each of these "filetypes" is the same file. Note that in this file MPEG-4 is an audio file.

If you can find the files on your computer, which format are they in? If they are MP3 (such as sold by Amazon, Beatport etc.) then File/Add File to Library should add them to your iTunes Library. Check either by using the Recently Added list, or (if you cannot see that) by using the Songs View and sorting by Date Added:

iTunes will not add flac files to your Library and it you try, it will not tell you that it hasn't done so.