Music files linking to wrong directory on Music on Mac

I have been a long-time user of iTunes, and my library has remained stable for many years. Recently, I subscribed to Apple Music, and since then, I have encountered a significant issue with my music library on macOS.

Thousands of files in my Apple Music/iTunes library are now broken. Although the files are still located in their correct directories, Apple Music/iTunes is identifying them at incorrect locations.

Previously, the files were linked to: file:///Volumes/NAME OF EXTERNAL DRIVE/iTunes%20Music/Music/

However, some files are now incorrectly linked to: file:///Users/MY NAME/Music/Music/Media/

I suspect that enabling the cloud library feature has disrupted the offline files, which were functioning correctly before.

Currently, approximately 3,000 items in my library are affected by this issue.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and found a solution? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Aug 10, 2024 9:12 AM

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2 replies

AndrewChen Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 10, 2024 11:08 PM in response to AndrewChen

upon further inspection there seems to be an issue whereby all of the files that were named file:///User.. were still linking to an convention of 01-Songname.mp3 whereas the files were 1-01Songname.mp3

Looks like at some point iTunes/Apple Music changed some settings and broke the links to the older songs.

I managed to use a GPT modified version of the script, however there are thousands of files with this issue. Ugh.

AndrewChen Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 10, 2024 10:45 PM in response to AndrewChen

I also found previous topics that were similar.

Apple Music won't find "missing" files - Apple Community

I've also tried placing the files into file:///Users/MY NAME/Music/Music/Media/ again and what is interesting is that even with the files there it will still have a broken link. The files are there and there aren't any issues with the permission settings.

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Music files linking to wrong directory on Music on Mac