It looks to me that I have two complete sets of my music. One is in the new Music/media folder and the other still in the iTunes Media/Music folder.
Is what it is really and should I just delete the "old" set in iTunes?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2
The default location for music in Big Sur is ~/Music/Music/Media where ~ is your user's home folder. You can use Music > Preferences > Files to check that this is the path being used. You can use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate File to copy in any file that is outside the designated media folder into it. Once done you should be able to remove the old ../iTunes/iTunes Media/Music folder without affecting your Music library. There is always a possibility however that you might have some songs in iTunes Media that haven't been added to Music, so you might want to give the folder a cursory scan before you remove it completely, or back it up elsewhere first.
A similar approach should be used with the TV app and any content you have in ../iTunes/iTunes Media/Movies and ../iTunes/iTunes Media/TV. You might also have audiobooks or podcasts, etc. in the old iTunes Media folder that you want to check are imported to their respective apps before you discard the old iTunes Media folder.
tt2
The default location for music in Big Sur is ~/Music/Music/Media where ~ is your user's home folder. You can use Music > Preferences > Files to check that this is the path being used. You can use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate File to copy in any file that is outside the designated media folder into it. Once done you should be able to remove the old ../iTunes/iTunes Media/Music folder without affecting your Music library. There is always a possibility however that you might have some songs in iTunes Media that haven't been added to Music, so you might want to give the folder a cursory scan before you remove it completely, or back it up elsewhere first.
A similar approach should be used with the TV app and any content you have in ../iTunes/iTunes Media/Movies and ../iTunes/iTunes Media/TV. You might also have audiobooks or podcasts, etc. in the old iTunes Media folder that you want to check are imported to their respective apps before you discard the old iTunes Media folder.
tt2
Hello dizs,
Thanks for reaching out in Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're seeing two different sets of your music. One folder is new Music/media and the other is iTunes Media/Music folder. We'll do our best to help.
Check out the following support articles:
Specifically, use these steps:
"Here are some things to know"
Change where your music files are stored on Mac
Cheers!
Hello dizs,
Thanks for the additional information. With macOS Big Sur music is stored in Home/Music/. "Depending on how you imported items into Music, some items in your library might be stored in different locations (for example, in another folder or on another storage device)." To confirm both files are the same in both libraries? We want to narrow down the cause of this issue.
The resource below has more information:
Change where your music files are stored on Mac
If you need more help, reach out for additional support here: Get Support
Thanks for your response, Eric. However, I had read both those support articles before I asked my question, and they aren't really responses to my concern. What I want to know is whether I actually have two complete sets, in other words did Music put all my music in its library but left the original set in the old Mojave version. So can I safely delete all the files in the iTunes Media folder without affecting what looks like the same files in the new one in Big Sur. And, if possible, why did that happen?
Thanks for the reply, Mario49. If I had some music files stored in each folder, the answer would be to simply move the ones that were in the old folder to the new. However, my question is that I have the same list of music files in each folder. Music is using the new folder, so what I'm asking is whether the collection which is still in the old iTunes Media folder is a second set taking up room?
This clears it up for me and thank you so much. I will compare the two lists and it's good to know that they are in fact duplicates and one set can be deleted.
You're welcome. 🙂
tt2
Music in Two Different Folders After Big Sur Upgrade
