How Do I Paste Lyrics into Songs in iTunes?

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Level 1

8 points

How Do I Paste Lyrics into Songs in iTunes?

Up until recently, I have been able to copy lyrics from online and then paste them into the lyrics section of any mp3 file in iTunes. A week ago, I found iTunes to be unable to handle basic copy and past funtionality. Whether I use Ctrl+V or the paste option in the right click menu in the lyrics tab, nothing happens. I can't even paste single characters, let alone lines. Given this I tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. I even tried the iTunes from the Microsoft Store after uninstalling the one installed from the installer downloaded online. Is there something wrong with iTunes? Is this an update iTunes has made for some inexplicable reason? Forcing users to type out lyrics for every one of their songs individually seems like an incredibly anti-consumer move. If not, does anyone know how to fix this egregious issue?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Sep 11, 2021 7:14 PM

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Answer 1

the fiend

Level 7

23,466 points

Sep 12, 2021 5:15 AM in response to Larrimus_

Larrimus_ wrote:

Is there something wrong with iTunes? Is this an update iTunes has made for some inexplicable reason? Forcing users to type out lyrics for every one of their songs individually seems like an incredibly anti-consumer move.

No
No and
Why have you assumed that you are being "forced" to type out the lyrics? Pasting lyrics in is working for me.

Three possible causes that I can think of, although the precise symptom you describe appears at odds with my suggestions:

1. you have forgotten to tick (check) the box named Custom Lyrics. Tick the box
2. the song is in Read-only mode. Check in Windows File Explorer and turn off Read-only mode
3. the song is in .wav format. Check in Windows File Explorer, .wav files cannot contain lyrics (and it's not Apple's fault)

Regarding the first and second suggestions, I would expect that you would not be able to type in any lyrics if the tick box is not ticked or if the song was in Read-only mode. Regarding .wav files, I would expect paste to be available, as well as typing in the lyrics, but the text would not be saved.

In the screenshot of one of my .wav files, shown below, I've ringed the two attributes to look at:

If you're really keen to have the lyrics in a .wav file, you will need to convert the song from .wav to something else, such as mp3. iTunes can do this for you.

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Answer 2

the fiend

Level 7

23,466 points

Sep 13, 2021 8:04 AM in response to Larrimus_

Okay, well, we've ruled out the obvious causes.

I've just this minute tried lyrics again and I pasted some text into one of my mp3 songs, closed iTunes, re-opened it and the lyrics were still there. This supports my claim that the feature does still work in iTunes and I'm running the latest version of iTunes (that's 12.11.4.15 on the day of writing this). My copy of iTunes is directly from Apple, If you downloaded iTunes from the Microsoft Store, it updates automatically as and as far as I know, you can't even check which version it's using - because updating is automatic.

The only other thig I can think of is to re-install iTunes, although that is a drastic step.

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Answer 3

Larrimus_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 12, 2021 4:43 PM in response to the fiend

The files I'm trying to edit are all mp3's, and they're not in read only mode. Also, if I had forgotten to check the Custom Lyrics box, I wouldn't have been able to manually type lyrics in, but I am able to do that. I suppose I should have mentioned that more explicitly. I can see how the fact that I couldn't paste in individual characters suggested otherwise.

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Answer 4

Larrimus_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 14, 2021 1:55 AM in response to the fiend

If only I hadn't already tried that. I even tried switching from the iTunes that is installed from an installer downloaded from Apple's website, to the iTunes that comes from the Microsoft Store and doesn't require seperate Bonjour and Apple Mobile Device programs. Surprisingly, the exact same issue persisted, which is why I wondered if there was something wrong with iTunes.

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How Do I Paste Lyrics into Songs in iTunes?

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