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After migrating Music.app library, no playlists or ratings or date added - but the SONGS are present?

I'm attemping to migrate from a Mac Pro to a new M1 laptop. My library is in good condition with some 16,000 non-DRM tracks, ratings and various static and smart play lists.


When I copy ~/Music/Music/ from the desktop the the lap top, everything copies over fine, including the file ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary and everything under ~/Music/Music/Media.


SOO.. I should light up Music.app and see an exact duplicate of my desktop, right?


Not so. There is no data about the tracks at all. Items I depend on regularly are simply not present.


No playlists.

No ratings.

No "date added", or rather, there is data, but it's the same date for all 16,000 tracks, which makes sorting for new music impossible.


I have attempted using "OPTION start", ie; holding the option key at Music.app launch, then selecting the library file in question, but get the same results.


What could I be doing wrong? Everything on the the generic internet points to iTunes.app vs. Music.app, but they all assure this is generic operation that should be easy, just copy it all and you're done..


What could be going wrong? I am NOT ready to abandon two decades of song ratings and play lists!!


Thanks so much!!

MacBook, OS X 10.11

Posted on Nov 21, 2022 11:42 AM

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Posted on Nov 21, 2022 4:38 PM

It should just work as you say. Clone the entire ~/Music/Music folder from one machine to the other, then option-start-Music to select the library. Do you have any third party security software that could potentially disrupt things? The paths and volume names don't have to match on the source and target systems, so that isn't the problem.


tt2

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 21, 2022 4:38 PM in response to mtrcycllvr

It should just work as you say. Clone the entire ~/Music/Music folder from one machine to the other, then option-start-Music to select the library. Do you have any third party security software that could potentially disrupt things? The paths and volume names don't have to match on the source and target systems, so that isn't the problem.


tt2

Nov 21, 2022 12:27 PM in response to mtrcycllvr

OS level is incorrect! I am running 12.6.1 Monterey on both platforms!


Just tried another sync of ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary to my new laptop and can confirm the problem still exists. All the tracks are making it, but zero metadata is making it from the actual library?


Perhaps I need to edit a path or volume name on the laptop library or something like that?


Again, thanks for any input that might help solve this!


Sincerely,


Eric

Nov 21, 2022 4:55 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi TT2!


Well, huh.. I just redid this for, I kid you not, the THIRD TIME - apparently that's the charmed state - this time after "Option starting" and picking the same library file I used the other two times, Music.app paused for a few minutes (which it did NOT do the first two times), and lo, all is as I expected it to be - my metadata is back and useful again - including all my playlists, ratings and date added data.. I am totally floored as I really and actually performed this process two times previous..


Just to be clear - no third party anything - running stock 12.6.1...


Thanks so much for helping out YET AGAIN..


We can call this one solved, I believe!


Sincerely,


Eric

After migrating Music.app library, no playlists or ratings or date added - but the SONGS are present?

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