Music/iTunes library broken. How to restore from iPhone?

Question

Level 1

4 points

Music/iTunes library broken. How to restore from iPhone?

I just migrated from my old Mac Pro 2010 to a Mac studio (so no system experience beyond High Sierra). Several attempts with the Assistant eventually got everything over ... but. My iTunes/Music library was on an external drive that died a while ago. Everything is also on my iPhone but I can't figure out how to use it to repair the new Mac (studio Pro). Both are on my AppleID account. When I go the the store it lists my purchased music but there is no "Download" option. ( The transfer on Photos from phone to Mac went fine- it also had been corrupted) I'd like to delete the fragmented/broken version on the Mac and restore it with a complete version from my iPhone. Is that even possible? . Are there new security system steps I need to address, even though both are recognized as "me"

Thanks for any help/suggestions

Mac Studio, macOS 12.3

Posted on Apr 2, 2022 6:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

sberman

Level 10

264,243 points

Apr 2, 2022 7:03 PM in response to Occidental

Occidental wrote:

I'd like to ... restore it with a complete version from my iPhone. Is that even possible? .

It is not.

An iPhone can never serve as a music repository. That's what Time Machine backups are for.

You may redownload music you purchased from the iTunes Store.

Redownload music - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

Occidental Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 2, 2022 9:10 PM in response to sberman

Thanks for the reply.

Well that's not very friendly. Most of the music was bought on CDs and not purchased from Apple but they now seem to control what I can do with it.

"You may redownload music you purchased from the iTunes Store."

That's what I thought ,but there is no "download option" when I view my Purchased items in the store, even though my computer is authorized. I tried that several times: that was the main reason for my post, to at least let me have access to the stuff I did purchase through Apple. If you can help with that aspect - to get a version of Music running that will let me retrieve my purchases, I'd be grateful. Like a guide/link on how re-install and reset the app.

I can probably get the rest of the music from the phone and use a third party app to listen to them and maybe even import them again.

Reply

Answer 3

sberman

Level 10

264,243 points

Apr 2, 2022 9:21 PM in response to Occidental

The CD music will need to be ripped on to your new Mac.

The previously purchased music should all be visible and available for download in the Music app, assuming Apple still offers it. Tap “Don’t see the music you purchased?” in the article if applicable.

Reply

Answer 4

Occidental Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 3, 2022 11:32 AM in response to sberman

Thanks for your help. I've decided that having two complete functioning libraries (a "repository" on each of iPhone and iPad, religiously backed up locally) is more than enough. Ripping those CDs again would take a loooong time.

A footnote - Music thinks the items I have purchased are alrrady in my collection, and that's why it wont let me download them. When I go to play them, the first thing I get is a notification that the original can't be found - would you like to locate it. Then I hit cancel and it starts downloading and playing. Something's not quite right about my app, but I've decided I don't really need it on my desktop machine...

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 21, 2022 9:02 AM in response to Occidental

I had the same problem, Occidental, and was dismayed to open Music on my new Studio and see only the few items I had bought from Apple. I solved it this way, after making sure I had a backup!: 1. Opened a finder window, navigated to the music folder, and in subfolders there I found the music from CDs I ripped or had downloaded from elsewhere was there in folders, even though it did not show in my music library. 2. I selected the songs and dragged them to the music icon in my dock, which added them to my music library. This unfortunately didn't preserve my playlists, but the songs are there in "artists", "albums", etc. I don't understand how Apple manages all this; there's a file called Music Library.musiclibrary in the Music folder that I suspect is important and doesn't reveal its contents or size, and you can't drag .mp3 files to it. I note that the overall size of the Music folder is driven by an "iTunes" subfolder, which apparently the musiclibrary is tapping, as opposed to replacing or copying. I suspect this kluge is due to historical spaghetti code the arcane nature of which is motivated more by helping you get to what you've bought from Apple than managing your own library. Nevetheless, you certainly deserved a kinder answer from sberman.

Reply

Answer 6

Occidental Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2022 9:11 AM in response to Argentcedar

Thank you for sharing you solution. I will try it...

Reply

Music/iTunes library broken. How to restore from iPhone?

Similar questions