Using umlauts in iTunes/Music - files disappearing

Hello all,

I'm having a frustrating problem regarding music files in Music (formerly iTunes). I'm a bit old school here - this is regarding mp3 files that have been in my library for literally years. I am running Music 1.4.2.83 and due to the size of my library, my music files are all located on an external drive. There is now a problem with special charaters, in particular umlauts.

Several months ago, I attempted to play an album by Röyksopp and was met with silence, track after track. I checked info (cmd+i) and noticed the file location was missing. When I checked my external drive, every song I attempted to play was completely deleted. I was forced to re-download all my Röyksopp albums WITHOUT the ö. This appeared to temporarily fix the problem even though I don't like this option.

This morning I'm attempting to download a Björk song and the same thing is happening. When I add the umlauts in her name, the file completely vanishes from my external drive. What's more, simply clicking on any Björk songs within Music causes the file to disappear. WTF? This is extremely irritating. Please see screenshots showing correct file location without the umlauts, and then what occurs when I re-add the umlauts.

My library is over a decade old but this problem is new. What is going on here? What is a work-around? I don't want to lose any more files. I have a lot of song titles and artists with special characters and now I'm kinda afraid to access them.

Thank you in advance!