Export music files from network drive to local drive for just one playlist

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Export music files from network drive to local drive for just one playlist

My Apple Music files are stored on a network drive accessed via wifi at home. I have made a playlist for an event from lots of different albums and want to have those files stored on the MacBook itself so I can play the music at an event without having to take the separate drive. Many of these tracks are old and obscure and not available to stream, or I would have done that instead.

I do have a separate, much smaller, Apple Music library of locally stored files so basically I want to add the playlist files from the main library to this secondary one.

Does anyone know of a straightforward way of exporting the files from their normal location to the local MacBook other than manually locating and copying them in the Finder?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 3, 2023 4:28 AM

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Answer 1

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ed2345

Level 9

63,632 points

Nov 3, 2023 7:23 PM in response to Night Ed

Does anyone know of a straightforward way of exporting the files from their normal location to the local MacBook other than manually locating and copying them in the Finder?

Night Ed,

Highlight them in your main library. Drag-n-drop them to a folder on the desktop of your MacBook. (This puts a copy into the folder without changing the original. But if you have any doubts, try it first with one or two files.) Inspect the folder; once you are satisfied that all the songs have copied correctly, add them to the (secondary) library on your MacBook.

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Answer 2

Night Ed Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 5, 2023 5:56 AM in response to ed2345

Thanks for the help. Your suggestion should have worked perfectly but after copying the files to a folder and option-launching Apple Music I got the following message when trying to switch libraries:

You cannot change the music library at this time because the current library is in use by a device. Sign in without connected devices to change your music library.

I turned off my phone and iPad and ejected the network drive but the same thing happened again. So I researched the error message and when I saw the suggested solution, which seems to work for some people but not others, I decided to go down another route completely.

I have now created a one-off music library and playlist in a Mac OS player called Vox. All I want it to do is play this one playlist in random order and it works fine.

As so often with Apple software these days, there are too many complications. Thanks again for your help.

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Answer 3

ed2345

Level 9

63,632 points

Nov 5, 2023 4:46 PM in response to Night Ed

Night Ed,

OK, not clear why the process of copying a few files from the external to the local would mess up access to the secondary library. But anyway, having a separate Vox-only library sounds like a great solution. Good luck at the event!

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Answer 4

Night Ed Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 6, 2023 5:51 AM in response to ed2345

I would have got the same error message without exporting the files. I think it's because I sometimes use the Remote app on my iPhone to control Apple Music. Switching off the phone ought to fix it but it seems you have to disconnect all your devices from wifi, restart them and then try again. Too much trouble.

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Export music files from network drive to local drive for just one playlist

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