Sonoma (Apple) music disaster

[Milestones]

So now another weird and disturbing thing happened with Apple.

For quite some time I have been bothered by messages to upgrade to Sonoma.  I put it off and put it off, but finally decided to do the upgrade tonight.  I found rather quickly that for most of my playlists only a couple of tracks (out of 10-20) would play.  Some would play zero songs.  I went to individual albums and found similar results.  This has just happened, but I believe that the vast majority of music (about 50 DAYS worth) will not play.  

What account for this, and what is the fix?

Thanks.

 

 

 

[mjzee]

As a diagnostic step, take one of the songs that will not play, right click it and choose Get Info.  In the pop-up box that opens, click File.  Under "Location," is that where the music file is located on your hard drive?  If not, it could be that iTunes (Music) forgot the path to find the music file.

[John L]

9 hours ago, mjzee said:

it could be that iTunes (Music) forgot the path to find the music file.

That has happened to me numerous times for one reason or another.  The files are still there but iTunes somehow lost the address to find them.  I then throw away my corrupt iTunes library file and create a new library by reloading all of the files.  

On the other hand, my son had an even more worrisome experience.  He says that when he agreed to an iTunes proposal to hold his library in a cloud, iTunes somehow deleted all of the music files in his drive.  So now he can only access his music in the cloud, giving iTunes complete control over how much he will have to pay every month to hear his own music library. 

 

[Milestones]

I found that I can play just about any track through Finder, but this seemingly allows you to play only one track at a time--plus you don't get the running time or ability to move through the track.  All of this would be detrimental in terms of the advantages of having music on a computer.  

[mjzee]

1 hour ago, Milestones said:

I found that I can play just about any track through Finder, but this seemingly allows you to play only one track at a time--plus you don't get the running time or ability to move through the track.  All of this would be detrimental in terms of the advantages of having music on a computer.  

Did you try my suggestion?

[Milestones]

Yes, but I think that the bottom line is my music is a mass of confusion in some respects.  There are several folders holding music, and in many cases they will not play the music as they did before (on Apple Music).

I find that the music I downloaded over about the last four months plays fine, but then the problem sets in.

I think I can bring it all back, but it will take much time--and the playlists are particularly problematic.

 

 

 

 

[Dan Gould]

There's a lesson here that keeps me in the physical-object realm until the day I die. Including when I do a download purchase.

Edited June 5, 2024 by Dan Gould

[Milestones]

I have hardly ever removed CDs from my collection.  But I have also borrowed and downloaded.

Chances are I can fully recover--it will just take time.  I just don't know why an upgrade would create such havoc.

 

 

[mjzee]

iTunes wants all of your music files to be in one folder, titled Music.  This folder can have many subfolders, but it looks for all your music in that one folder.  That folder also needs to have your Music Library file, which is the index iTunes uses to find your music files (iTunes creates and maintains this file).

in iTunes aka Music (I'm referring here to the macOS version), if you go to Music/Settings... , the Files tab will show you where it thinks your Music media folder is.  There are also two check boxes: "Keep Music Media folder organized" and "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library."  It's been years since I've had to put my music files in order, so I don't remember how to direct you to do it.  It is a lot of work, and you need the skill set and patience of a librarian.  Here's a good place to start: https://support.apple.com/guide/music/change-where-music-files-are-stored-mus69248042d/mac

Good luck!

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

18 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

There's a lesson here that keeps me in the physical-object realm until the day I die. Including when I do a download purchase.

I have ripped my whole CD library into Q0 VBR mp3 files which I have stored on multiple external hard drives for redundancy. No one is going to take this library away from me unless they somehow manage to erase all of these drives. I used to store one at work but now that I'm retired, I have to store one at my daughter's house.

One of the cool things about doing this is that I attached one to a Rasspberry Pi mini-computer running Volumio so I can play anything in my library on my main music system using my laptop or cell phone. I don't use the cell much as it's slow as heck accessing such a huge library.

If an Apple computer allows an external drive for your music library, I would do the same thing there. I would never allow Microsoft or Apple to store my library, especially if they restricted my access.

 

22 hours ago, John L said:

On the other hand, my son had an even more worrisome experience.  He says that when he agreed to an iTunes proposal to hold his library in a cloud, iTunes somehow deleted all of the music files in his drive.  So now he can only access his music in the cloud, giving iTunes complete control over how much he will have to pay every month to hear his own music library.

Your son should find out how to download his music back onto his PC and then back it up to an external hard drive.

[Milestones]

Is anyone familiar with the "consolidate files" function" in Apple Music?  My organization seems erratic, and maybe this has something to do with all the non-playing tracks when I upgraded to Sonoma. 

I'm just worried that the consolidation would take up more space on the hard drive.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2024 by Milestones

[mjzee]

1 hour ago, Milestones said:

Is anyone familiar with the "consolidate files" function" in Apple Music?  My organization seems erratic, and maybe this has something to do with all the non-playing tracks when I upgraded to Sonoma. 

I'm just worried that the consolidation would take up more space on the hard drive.

It will.  The Apple web page I linked to above states:

Consolidate your files in the Music folder

Depending on how you imported items into Music, some items in your library might be stored in different locations (for example, in another folder or on another storage device).

You can consolidate all the files in your library in the Music folder—for example, to make it easier to move your library to a new computer.

1. In the Music app  on your Mac, choose File > Library > Organize Library.

2. Select “Consolidate files.”

   Files remain in their original locations, and copies are placed in the default folder.

 

So it will copy, not move, your music files into Apple Music's preferred folder.  That protects your files from being lost or corrupted during the moving process, which is good, but it will duplicate your files.  You could simply delete the files from the original location once the move is complete (and then make sure to empty the trash).  But it could be a problem if you don't have enough hard drive space to hold duplicates of all your music files.  Instead, you could do the process on a folder-by-folder basis: Take a folder of music you know doesn't open in Apple Music, and drag that folder into the A.M. program window (when I do this, I have the program open to the "Songs" view).  See if those tracks will then play through A.M. and, if so, delete those files from their original location.

[Milestones]

I don't think I can double up on tracks, so I guess I will pass.  I am deleting and bringing backs tracks now--and it's going quickly enough.  I have enough done out of the total that I would rather not try to start again from zero.   Or....  Well, I think my system will do for now.