iTunes not recognising Apple files

iTunes TV seasons - when I have moved the files from a program to a backup drive, or when they have been backed up using Time Machine [and then deleted them from the iMac iTunes Media file]-- If I decide I want to play them again and move the files back into the iTunes Media file on the iMac -- very often there is a problem playing them because they are no longer recognised as iTunes files. Getting them to work is a strange and difficult process that takes quite a bit of time. I assume some little tag on them gets removed when they are backed up that causes them not to be recognised. If there is something I can do to prevent this problem I'd like to know what it is.

Posted on Apr 4, 2021 10:42 AM

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3 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

278,351 points

Apr 4, 2021 5:15 PM in response to sdaniel5

That is an odd error to get for a media file. Are you accessing the file directly in Finder, or have you used either the Automatically Add to iTunes folder or File > Add to Library to import the item to your iTunes library and are you trying to play it from there? Can you redownload from your purchase history instead?

tt2

sdaniel5 Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 5, 2021 6:52 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you, tt2. I had never heard of Automatically Add to iTunes folder. So I just used it to add a season of a program, closed iTunes, opened iTunes again, and there is Season 7 and episode 1 starts up. I did get a strange error message in the middle of loading that season that apparently stopped the load after 6 episodes claiming 7 had a name that was too long or had forbidden characters ... but I went back and got 7 and the rest loaded in. -- I'm not saying this is completely fixed because I didn't want to check every one before I replied to this. [And yes I can download again but I have an internet provider that gives me 100G/month before it slows everything, so I prefer when I do have the files already not to have to download. so thank you!]

turingtest2

Level 10

278,351 points

Apr 5, 2021 9:13 AM in response to sdaniel5

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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iTunes not recognising Apple files