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Playlists in Music app

I have a substantial number of songs in mp3, wav and wma formats on an external drive. I would like to add some of them to my Music app on my Macbook and hopefully onto my iPad. (I am not talking about the streaming Music app.) I have tried dropping songs into my Music app and this is what I get (see screenshot).


My question: how do I correctly import or place songs from my external drive into Music app and how do I delete the playlists shown in the screenshot (there are no songs in any of those playlists).


Is there a good YouTube video showing the process?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Mar 24, 2022 4:31 PM

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11 replies

Mar 25, 2022 12:26 PM in response to Staynavytom

Apple Music isn't able to use tracks in .wma format and, unlike iTunes for Windows, it doesn't have a mechanism to convert and import them. Using tracks in .wav format in a new library is problematic because they don't have a tag and import to the library as just the filename (including any leading track number) as the track name with no other details, even when they might be visible in the path.




The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes or Music expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, the drive it lives on has had a name change, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes or Music have changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates at some point.


Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Cmd-I to get Song Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location the library thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drives. Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive label has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Mac - Apple Community.


In some cases the library may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.


If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

  1. The location of the media folder under iTunes|Music > Preferences > Advanced
  2. The location of a sample missing track shown under Song Info > File > Location that begins file://
  3. The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2



See also FixLinks - an AppleScript to repair broken links in Music - Apple Community.



tt2

Mar 26, 2022 2:03 PM in response to Staynavytom

Your screenshots show where Music thinks that track should be. Can you locate it on your external drive? What is the path to the media folder in preferences. It may be possible to either repair the broken links, move the media to where the library expects to find it, or reimport the .itl file.


See Move your iTunes/Music library to a new computer - Apple Community for background on the right way to move a library to a new computer.


tt2

Mar 27, 2022 8:16 AM in response to Staynavytom

It would seem you have a subscription to Apple Music and sync library is turned on. See Turn on Sync Library with Apple Music - Apple Support. With Sync Library enabled changes you make to the library are uploaded to the cloud and sync to any another library or device where sync library is enabled. Rather than delete content from the library you can select, right-click, and use the Remove download option. Once done then assuming the tracks previously matched or uploaded correctly you can now stream them from the cloud, or download to get a new local copy that works.


tt2

Mar 26, 2022 1:15 PM in response to turingtest2

Here's what I think I did. I originally save all of my songs to an external hard drive when I migrated from a PC to my first Macbook Air. I must have dragged and dropped songs and albums from my external drive to the iTunes music app (that was the app on that vintage of Macbook). I upgraded to a M1 Macbook Air and to most recent OS which replaced the iTunes app with the Music app. I think Music is looking to find the old location from my old Mac. I had some "issues" transferring my data and apps from the old Mac to my new one. Here is the screen shot from you CMD+I suggestion.


Can I just highlight all of the songs in the list and delete them, then start over? How will that effect my sync to my iPad? Also I still cannot delete a playlist from my old songs. If you noticed in my previous screenshot, those play lists had a ⚙︎ icon by their names.


Mar 27, 2022 9:00 AM in response to turingtest2

I do not have a subscription...at least nothing I am paying for and when I tried to find a song to buy using my Music app, it wanted me to buy a subscription. I bought some songs through iTunes app. It's really unfortunate that Apple chose to use Music as the name for both their music playing app and their music streaming subscription service. The link you provided confirms I do not have a subscription. I'm also not subscribed to iTunes Match.


For some reason, my Music app thinks all of these songs have been downloaded which I presume means downloaded into a folder on my hard drive in the path that doesn't exist.


Here's what I think: the only songs that are actually downloaded to my Macbook are the songs I recently purchased through iTunes. I do not have any syncing subscriptions in Music or iTunes Match; the only way I have synced my songs to my iPad is through a manual sync with a cord.


I think I can highlight all of my songs and Delete them, then download the songs I recently purchased or others from my external drive. Thoughts about that option?


BTW, you have been a big help.

Mar 27, 2022 12:33 PM in response to Staynavytom

Rather than hiding them you can use File > Add to Library to add in your local content. Where you import a track this is currently shown in the cloud that entry should be replaced by the local file, rather than creating a duplicate, so you shouldn't need to hide anything unless it is something you never want to see in your library again.


tt2

Playlists in Music app

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