Arrhh - Im unable to edit song or album info - iTunes on Windows 10

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Level 1

13 points

Arrhh - Im unable to edit song or album info - iTunes on Windows 10

My iTunes doesn’t allow editing of album info (title artist album artwork etc) - Im using iTunes 12 on Windows 10.

All I want to do is re-title an album and add some artwork. I used to be able to, but it looks like after some updates over the last few months (by both Apple and Microsoft) I can no longer do this.

I can open the ‘Get Info’ dialog box and change info as required but iTunes won’t accept or save the changes when I hit OK – I just get a three tone sound from the program – similar as to when I connect my phone to the program.

After a bit of Googling I discovered that the problem (or part of) may be due to the properties of the iTunes Music folder, whether it is set at read only or not.

I checked my iTunes music folder - here’s the info:

The iTunes Music folder is located on an external hard drive with iTunes program correctly mapped to it. iTunes plays songs from this location just fine.

The Properties of the iTunes Music folder, General tab, shows the Read Only attribute with a black square (not a tick or a blank) in the box – This is the same for all the child folders within the main folder.

However, ALL the files (mostly mp3) within the sub folders show the Read Only attribute with a blank.

Now the problem is that I can un-check and clear the black square from the parent (iTunes Music) folder and apply the setting but it always returns after I close the properties dialog box and then reopen it. This is also the same with any individual child folders within the parent folder.

After more Googling which came up with a possible solution - ref folder Security Permissions, I checked the permissions for the parent folder – which are:

The parent folder (and all child folders) has ALL groups (Authenticated users, System, Administrators, and Users) set to ALLOW permissions for Full Control, Modify, Read & Execute, Read, and Write.

The ownership of the folder is set to my Microsoft account name

So if I have full control of the folder why am I not able to permanently change the read only box for the folder, and does not being able to do this have anything to do with iTunes not allowing edits of song/album info.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Posted on Feb 11, 2017 9:17 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Feb 12, 2017 3:44 AM in response to Besomdave

Reinstalling iTunes would seem to be a reasonable thing to try at this point.

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.

The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach.

Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down the page in case one of them applies.

The further information area has direct links to the current and recent builds in case you have problems downloading, or want to revert to an older version if the current one won't work properly for you at the moment.

Your library and device backups should be unaffected by these steps but there are links to backup and recovery advice should it be needed.

tt2

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Answer 2

Besomdave Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 11, 2017 9:40 AM in response to Besomdave

Thanks for the info - I've checked both the' iTunes' folder and The 'iTunes Music' folder for permissions and have full control of read write for both. Also both folders are 'owned' by my correct windows account name, but im still unable to make changes in iTunes. - or permanently remove that **** black square on the folders.

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Answer 3

cjahn50

Level 4

2,083 points

Feb 11, 2017 11:21 AM in response to Besomdave

Here's a link referring to the read only box, there are a ton of hits if you do a search, but this cuts to the chase - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2422526/remove-read-attribute.html. And for what it's worth, my iTunes Music folder has the Read only box checked and I have no issues editing the info.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Feb 11, 2017 11:54 AM in response to Besomdave

After clearing the read-only flag for a folder and all contained files, folders and subfolders the folder objects will still show as read only. This is standard for Windows. Were you able to use the option to reapply settings to all child objects? Can you look at the permissions of a specific track that won't edit?

tt2

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Answer 5

Besomdave Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 12, 2017 3:13 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks cjahn50 & turingtest2 for your input.

It appears I DO have full rights to the folder after all and can change the contents of the folder (ie the music files) back and forth from 'non read only' to 'read only' and back again by checking / unchecking the boxi n properties on both the file itself AND via the parent folder! It was the returning black square that was causing the confusion.

So now everything is set at Non 'read only' BUT Im still unable to edit and save changes to info via itunes. Ive looked again at both the iTunes Music folder (on the extl hard drive) and the iTunes folder itself and I have full permissions for the folders and the contents.

Have you any ideas what could be causing the problem within itunes? Do you think a full removal and re-install of itunes might cure it?

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Answer 6

Besomdave Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 18, 2017 4:40 AM in response to turingtest2

tt2 - Appologies for not responding to your very helpful last post. I tried removing and re-installing itunes (what a palava that turned out to be on windows 10 64bit.). Anyway still no cicar regarding editing info in itunes - It could be that I hadnt removed all residual folders / files after the uninstall.

Im going to try again when i get a bit more time. Ill keep you posted how it goes.

Thanks again for your input.

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Answer 7

Besomdave Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 21, 2017 10:04 AM in response to Besomdave

Ok - Further Update and all is well in the world !!!

I completely unistalled itunes and all apple componets as per TT2 info, re-installed and Bingo. can edit items in itunes again. But.....I can only appear to edit tune/song info one at a time, and not multiple items. Anyway for the few I ever have to do at a time, I can live with it.

Thanks again to TT2 for his help.

Cheers

🙂

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