MAC Generating Multiple music Libraries in Multiple Subfolders - Help!

See Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community. Your active .musiclibrary database should be the one that was most recently modified. The standard location for this is ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary where ~ is your user's home folder. Typically updates to the Music app that change the internal structure of the database cause the library to be archived to the Previous Libraries folder. If for any reason you choose one of these libraries to see what is inside it, that may cause that library to be updated again, and another nested Previous Libraries folder to be created.

Once you have selected your preferred library you may want to remove all of the others to avoid confusion.

See also Repair security permissions for iTunes/Music for Mac - Apple Community. When Music cannot write to the intended folder it may save the library in a parent folder, or sometimes even put it on the desktop.

It may also help to hold down option+cmd when starting Music to open it in its safe mode. This can sometimes fix odd inconsistencies in the database.

tt2

The dated library files in the Previous Libraries folder are expected when the Music app gets an update that makes a change to the .musiclibrary format. Typically that might happen once or twice a year, not 273 times. I suspect something has happened that prevented the upgrade of the library from completing successfully such that each launch of Music created a new backup of the library.

2a? No idea. Perhaps some of these files are not unique but aliases, a bit like how Time Machine works with many pointers to the same file.

2b? Copy the active Music Library.musiclibrary to another location as a backup. Delete the Previous Libraries folder. Empty the Trash. Launch Music. See if the Previous Libraries folder is recreated. If it is it may help to close Music, then press and hold down option+cmd when you launch it again to open Music in its safe mode. This can repair certain inconsistencies in the library and may possibly help. Are new files still being created?

tt2

Understanding music libraries on my Mac Music app

1. Here are the facts: In the ~Music/Music folder, there is:

a. one standalone file, “Music Library.musiclibrary” with Get Info size of 3.1 Gb

and 

b. one folder, “Previous Libraries” with Get Info size of 750.54 Gb

1) this folder has 273 files

2) each file is labeled, “Music Library[YYYY-MO-DD xxxxx].music library

a) each file is approx 3 Gb

b) the xxxxxx in each file name is a set of numbers

2. Here are the questions:

a. If my SSD is 245 Gb, how is it possible to have a folder with 750 Gb in it?

b. Why do I have 273 files named xxx.musiclibrary? Are they just the history of the music library as it has evolved? Can I just delete them without affecting the Music app? 

Followed your instructions from 2b above with following results:

Moved the active library to a different location.

Moved Previous Libraries folder to Trash, then deleted it from trash.

Launched Music app: No Previous Libraries folder created; new Music Library.musiclibrary created, but with size of only 1.5 Gb ILO the previous 3.1 Gb.

Launched Music app in Safe Mode: Still no Previous Libraries folder, nor any new files.

Music app contents (albums, Songs, etc) looks the same and random selection of songs play as supposed to.

For 2a above, checked SSD storage after deleting Previous Libraries, and it remains unchanged for the Gb available. Again, each of the 273 previous libraries were dated. Weird.

Thanx for your help.

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2