Music in iCloud seems to have some corrupted files - any way to force refresh of whole library?

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Music in iCloud seems to have some corrupted files - any way to force refresh of whole library?

My issue is similar to this one (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251341142?answerId=252610225022#252610225022) in that some of my music library that I've uploaded/synced to iCloud to listen to on all my devices appear to be corrupted. I get an error message that says "this media may be damaged." Aside from the fact that these tracks appear to all be ones that I ripped from CDs or otherwise added to iTunes myself (i.e. - I haven't seen any that were purchased from iTunes and definitely none that were added via Apple Music), I don't seem to see any similarities between them or other way to predict which are affected (i.e. - sometimes whole albums, sometimes one or two tracks from an album, no length or genre or other similarities).

On my iMac, where my library lives, I can play the tracks just fine, so I know that there is no actual problem with the files themselves, but perhaps the version that lives in the cloud has somehow been corrupted? Further, I can fix this by dragging the track out of the music app on my desktop, then deleting from the library and replacing it by dragging it back. This triggers a re-upload of the tracks and they are again playable via my iPhone, iPads, and MacBook as expected.

I don't want to have to do this for each track every time one comes up (once again, the appear to be completely random) as the is time consuming and also has the side effect of making play count, "loved" status, etc. vanish as this metadata was associated with the now deleted version of the track.

What I'd like to do is simply refresh the library that lives in iCloud (hopefully without dragging everything to my desktop and re-importing everything). I wouldn't mind waiting a day or two for my whole library to re-upload (I'm talking about 120GB and 16k individual items), but is there a way to do that without:

Losing any local data
Losing Apple Music tracks I've added (they aren't downloaded to my computer anyway, so I don't imagine this would be affected)
Losing metadata ("loved" status, play count, etc.)

Is this as simple as turning sync off and back on? I've been afraid to try that, though it didn't seem to work for the poster in the link above anyway...

Otherwise, could there be a way to test the tracks in the cloud and only replace the corrupted ones?

Thanks!

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 6:23 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

274,494 points

Jul 1, 2020 2:03 PM in response to targus

Ensure all content is downloaded and stored locally.
Backup your library.
Use the option-start-Music method to create a new empty library.
Enable Sync Library to show your music in the cloud.
Select items to remove from the library and delete. If you're an Apple Music subscriber don't delete the Apple Music content.
Use the option-start-Music method to revert to your original library. Content will now show up with the cloud status of removed. See Identify cloud status icons in your music library on your Mac or PC - Apple Support for details.
Select the removed content and add it back to the library.
You should find content is now matched or uploaded once more, hopefully this time without error.

Depending on the size of your library I probably wouldn't do everything in one go. In principle it is only content that is uploaded that might be corrupt. You could perhaps create a playlist of the candidate tracks that need refreshing and do them in smaller batches so Music doesn't choke on the task. You can make a smart playlist that shows tracks with different properties so, for example, you can easily select and add back those that have been removed. Test the process with a single album first just to make sure things work as I've described.

tt2

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Answer 2

targus Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 1, 2020 2:20 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks! This seems promising (though time consuming and nerve-wracking).

Questions:

1) Would I first want to turn off syncing or do anything else (other than making sure my time machine backup is current) prior to step 3?

2) Is there any way to easily differentiate via the music app interface between "owned" tracks and Apple Music tracks? I typically differentiate by simply not downloading Apple Music tracks to my desktop, so I know that anything that lives on my drive is mine and anything that's in the cloud is "borrowed/rented" as part of my Apple Music subscription, but a new library would show everything as being in the cloud...

Thanks!

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,494 points

Jul 1, 2020 2:27 PM in response to targus

The link I posted shows how you can enable the iCloud status columns to show details. As noted you probably only need to delete tracks that show as Uploaded. Switching libraries takes a few moments. Sorting and selecting tracks to remove from the cloud library should be quick too. Uploading the removed tracks from your primary library will take as long as it takes, but you can add back all the removed tracks in one go and then leave it working overnight. Both libraries need Sync Library enabled as you're trying to affect what is in the cloud.

tt2

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Answer 4

targus Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 1, 2020 3:09 PM in response to turingtest2

Amazing! Apple wasn't able to offer any advice at all, but this seems really foolproof!

I've done some digging and it looks like all the offending tracks so far have indeed been "uploaded" rather than "matched" or "purchased" tracks, so only deleting the uploaded ones seems to be the way to go.

I probably won't get around to this until the weekend, but I'll post again and let you know how it went!

Thanks again!!!!

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Answer 5

targus Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 2, 2020 5:10 PM in response to turingtest2

I've only tried it with one song so far as a test, but I can confirm that it worked perfectly! You're a lifesaver, tt2! Thanks so much!

BTW, for anyone else trying this, be aware that any connected iDevice will block you from changing libraries in Catalina. It's not enough to physically disconnect them either, you have to disable "connect over wi-fi" and "automatically sync when this device is connected" as well.

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Answer 6

targus Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 3, 2020 12:46 PM in response to turingtest2

Confirming that this solution worked 100%! It was relatively painless, didn't take as long as I thought, and even allowed me to avoid uploading some junk files that had automatically gone up when first turned iCloud music on.

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