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User profile for user: JLogan1982
JLogan1982 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Why doesn't music import with metadata into Apple Music?

Hey folks. I have a bunch of music files, sorted into album and artist folders and all, which also have metadata that was added in Apple Music in another account on the same Mac. Now even these, when I try to import them either by drag and dropping into Music or the Automatically Add to Music, they only import with a title. The only way to resolve is to import each album individually edit the metadata per album, which is tedious and time consuming.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on Jul 14, 2022 11:22 PM

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User profile for user: ed2345
ed2345
User level: Level 9
62,852 points

Posted on Jul 15, 2022 5:08 AM

J Logan,

What format are they in? If they are WAV files, Music/iTunes only stores the metadata in the library, not as tags in the files, and therefore it will not be preserved when the file is moved.

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User profile for user: ed2345
ed2345
User level: Level 9
62,852 points

Jul 15, 2022 11:57 AM in response to JLogan1982

JLogan,

Either Apple Lossless (ALAC) or AIFF would do the trick. Do the conversion while they are correctly in the library and it will create a converted copy (in the new format) with the metadata in the tags.

Convert a song to a different file format with the Apple Music app or iTunes for Windows – Apple Support (UK)


Do one or two files to begin with, and make sure it is behaving as expected.

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User profile for user: ed2345
ed2345
User level: Level 9
62,852 points

Jul 15, 2022 1:12 PM in response to JLogan1982

Good! By the way, you may know this, but the conversion process leaves the original (WAV in your case) in place, and creates a new version in your indicated format (presumably ALAC in your case). So it may look like 2 identical files are there in your library. Make sure to use the ALAC for the new folder! If you are in Songs view, the Kind column will tell you which is which.

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User profile for user: JLogan1982
JLogan1982 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 15, 2022 1:18 PM in response to ed2345

I was initially going ALAC but it seems unclear how well it does in the case I do want to use my files on non-Apple devices, so I'm going to use AIFF and keep my WAV files. (I was planning on getting rid of all my old CDs too but honestly thinking I might not at this point. Having the source audio on them is nice. Plus if I maintain a CD collection I can get cheap CDs! Thanks again.)

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Why doesn't music import with metadata into Apple Music?

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