How do I update all song locations to show as iCloud?
The Issue I need Help Resolving:
- All songs on my Mac Apple Music show the circled ! and when clicked give the error "The song “*******” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I need a process to update the location of all song locations to show iCloud. Not individually, but all at the same time.
Background and Steps Tried:
- Within Apple Music, I used to have Settings>Files>Music_Media_Folder location set to an external hard drive. That external HD is no longer usable.
- I do not have a back-up of that external HD given that I subscribe to Apple Music and use iCloud sync, and all songs in my library have an iCloud Status of either purchased, matched, or uploaded, so I can download any or all of them to any device I am logged into my iCloud account and using iCloud sync on.
- I don't require a physical copy of all 4000+ of the songs in my library. I don't require offline access, I don't mind streaming, and would rather Apple Store the music.
- Therefore after I lost the External HD, within Apple Music, I went to Settings>Files>Music_Media_Folder and changed the location to the Music folder on the internal HD.
- This is when I noticed the location error for all songs in the library.
- I then tried a File>Library>Organize_Library and selected 'Consolidate Library'. This did not clear the errors.
- Prior to trying to play an individual song, if I right-click on a the song, and select 'Get Info', and look at the "File" tab, it shows the location as the old external HD. If I then try and play the song, and get the error dialog box, and I click "Cancel", that song's location will update to iCloud (in 'Get Info'), the error resolves, and I can then interact with the song as expected. I tried various means to trigger all songs to update with no success.
- I would like a process to do this to all of them at once to avoid the pain of doing each individually. Or basically reset the Music App to open like I would open on a new device, like my iPad, show the synced library, and stream from iCloud until/unless I choose to download a song.
- Most of my research led me to processes for pointing Music to the new location of the physical files. As stated, I no longer have a physical copy of the music files on my end, so these processes have not worked. I was not successful in finding a process to point back to iCloud.
Specs:
- Mac Mini (2018)
- macOS - Ventura 13.1
- Music Version - 1.3.2.31
- Subscribed to Apple One - Includes Apple Music/iCloud
- Sync Library is Turned On (Used Match Prev)
- All Songs have Cloud Status as either Matched, Purchased, or Uploaded
Help is greatly appreciated!
Mac mini, macOS 13.1