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Doctor Author

Level 1

4 points

Playing or Adding QuickTime Recorder Files in Apple Music

I am trying to add some *.m4a's that I made with QuickTime Recorder that I have on my Mac to my Apple Music Library. I have tried the following:

** File->Import->[Select File from Dialog Box]->Open

** Dragging and dropping the file into the library when I have the "Songs", "Albums", or "Recently Added" as the selected view

** Left clicking on the file and selecting Open With->Music (default) ----*Note: in this case, the file doesn't play either

** Adding the files to the "Automatically Add to Music" folder ---- *Note: in this case, a "Not Added" Folder is created

The folders can be played by QuickTime and whatever program Mac uses when you preview play an audio file.

So, I guess my questions are these:

Did Apple create a system such that files created by QuickTime Recorder can't be added to Apple Music? Is there a reason they did this? Is there a simple way to override it?

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Mar 13, 2021 12:55 PM

Top-ranking reply

Doctor Author

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Mar 13, 2021 1:05 PM

I guess I actually figured this one out on my own. So, for some reason, if you File->Save the file using QuickTime, it is unreadable by Apple Music. But if you File->Export->Audio Only the audio file in QuickTime, it can then be read and added into Apple Music. The file extension *appears* to be the same, but perhaps Apple is hiding something from the user.

So, anyway, the fix for this is do not "Save" the file. Use "Export". It produce exactly the same kind of file (so it appears), but "Export" in QuickTime allows you to then "Import" into Apple Music.

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Playing or Adding QuickTime Recorder Files in Apple Music

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