Can't open old iTunes library (.itl) on Music - "does not appear to be a valid library"
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on Apple Support, I hope everyone is doing well! I know there are several topics about this issue but I can't seem to find one that's specific to me.
My iTunes library crashed in 2017 and while all my files and metadata were restored, they now all had the same Date Added. I recently discovered the Previous iTunes Libraries folder in Music—>iTunes, which really pleased me as I could now browse my old iTunes library files (.itl) from 2011-2014, see when I added all my pre-2017 songs, and re-add them back into Music at their rightful date/time.
(I’ve been slowly doing this by going through my files and checking their Date Created info, though I have many mp3s that predate me getting a Mac so they just say December 31 1969)
I don’t need any files, I just want to see the Date Added info on all my songs.
When I open an iTunes library file on my MacBook (2015 MBP, still running Catalina cuz I’m scared to update lol) with the option+click method, but I just get a pop up that says “[file name] does not appear to be a valid library. Please choose a different library”
I've tried manually renaming an .itl file to .musiclibrary but I still get the same message.
I’ve also tried this on another Mac running at least Monterey and had the same issue. I’m trying to do this on another Mac because when I tried this on my own MacBook and reopened my current Music library, all my album artwork pre-2021 stopped showing (they’re visible when I go into Get Info, it just doesn’t show at the top next to the song title) and I don’t want to go through that again.
I really would appreciate any info that could help with my issue, thank you so much for reading!!