Retrieving Artist Name and Genre from Itunes XML file on Music

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Level 1

12 points

Retrieving Artist Name and Genre from Itunes XML file on Music

Hello,

I have recently upgraded to Monterey 12.6.5 on a 2013 Macbook.

Everything works fine, but ...

I used to run my music tracks library (+ 8000 tracks) on a NAS server with iTunes. When upgrading, Itunes switches to Music, fair enough, but the library path was not.

As a result, when importing the library Music has messed around and has imported all tracks without artist name and genre ...

I have reversed the Music folder on the NAS to set back the original folder structure (Artist Name/Track). But the Artist name and genre tags in the wav files are definitely missing.

I have tried to do some research on the web on scripts but did not find any appropriate solution so far.

So if someone has a solution to grab from the Itunes XML file these 2 infos and insert them into the corresponding fields in the tracks infos (or point me to another solution), I would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks in advance,

Patrick

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 26, 2023 11:17 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

274,552 points

Jun 19, 2023 12:16 PM in response to miknu

You may have given up on this already. Monterey has an issue converting .itl libraries. If you convert your old .itl file using Catalina or Big Sur all of the metadata should be retained. Only the library is required to do the conversion so you can send it to a friend. If you don't know anyone with access to either version then I've done around 30 of these on my old Catalina Mac mini. Email address in my profile here if you'd like my help.

tt2

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Answer 2

miknu Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 20, 2023 11:57 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi,

no I haven’t actually as I am still stuck with it (I was even in the process of writing an apple script to import metadata from the itunes library file into the files of my tracks).

so you mean that converting the itl file would fix my issue and import (or reset) in the file info the artist nam, genre and rating of my tracks ?

thanks for your help,

Patrick

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,552 points

Jun 21, 2023 2:15 AM in response to miknu

Yes, I believe so. Wav files don't carry any metadata so all of this information only exists in the iTunes or Music database. If you import the media into an otherwise empty library all you get is the filename, including any leading track number, as a song title, and everything else is lost. Converting the .itl file to the .musiclibrary format will preserve everything, ratings, play counts, playlists, etc. Monterey should be able to do it but often stalls as you have found. Checking my hard drive I'm in fact just shy of 50 conversions dating back to last September when I first became aware of this issue and discovered this workaround.

tt2

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

274,552 points

Jun 21, 2023 6:50 AM in response to miknu

Well normally Music would do it for you, but the process is apparently broken in Monterey. You can do it by copying the .itl file to a machine running either Catalina or Big Sur (or you could upgrade to Ventura). I have a machine running Catalina and can perform the conversion for you if you wish. You simply send me your .itl file, or a link to it in a cloud service such as Dropbox, iCloud Drive, etc. I convert the file, and send you back the .musiclibrary version along with some instructions about where to place the file and how to open it.

tt2

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