after updating to Ventura 13.6 my music library disappeared

Question

after updating to Ventura 13.6 my music library disappeared

updated MacBook Pro, 15" 2017 to Ventura 13.6 and everything in my music library was gone. Also gone on my iPod touch version 12.5.7, 6th generation (this iPod can no longer be updated, but works fine). We have another MacBook Pro - 13" 2022 which I used to sync my iPod with and got the music library back on the iPod touch. Both of our Mac's have the same music library. Is it possible to somehow get the music library back on the Mac which I just updated to Ventura 13.6? Either from my iPod to the MacBook or from the 13"Mac to the 15" Mac? When I first noticed that all my music was gone I went into finder and searched 'music' and it showed up with (damaged)typed underneath the 'music file'.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 13.6

Posted on Oct 4, 2023 10:26 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

274,222 points

Oct 7, 2023 1:09 PM in response to suefromvictoria

See Recover your iTunes/Music library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community. There was a way to export playlists from a device with iTunes, but I don't think that is mirrored in Music. You could check to see if you have any sort of backup of your .musiclibrary file, or if the one you have contains any .tmp files. Otherwise you might have to resort to third party tools that claim they can recover playlists, or a temporary subscription to Apple Music. If you sign up to Apple Music on device and merge the library then the lists should sync into your computer library when you enable Sync Library in its preferences.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,222 points

Oct 5, 2023 10:56 AM in response to suefromvictoria

What were you running before the update? Do you have a backup? See Empty/corrupt iTunes/Music library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community.

tt2

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Answer 3

Oct 7, 2023 10:56 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for your reply. I ended up going into music/library/import playlist - from there I've just started to drag

and drop each file separately. I thought I'd be able to import the whole library at once - but can't seem to figure

that out. There's no option to 'select all'. Any ideas? I'm just happy to know the music is still there. Again, I appreciate your reply - the only one I got!

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

274,222 points

Oct 7, 2023 11:14 AM in response to suefromvictoria

You can use File > Add to Library to add the content of your media folder to the library. There are methods to copy playlists from a device to the library, but they may only work if you're using the same library that created the lists. A temporary subscription to Apple Music is another approach.

tt2

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Answer 5

Oct 7, 2023 12:29 PM in response to turingtest2

I didn't have File>Add to Library, so I took a chance, on my computer it's File>Import. I'm amazed - It worked, and very quickly - right before my eyes. Thank you so much. We've been building our music library since 2012 so I would have been dragging & dropping forever! I guess it was just too simple a fix, for me to see! There's only my playlists I haven't transferred. Actually, our Macs & devices are all created from the same library. Would that be as simple as File>Import, which I've just done?

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