Migrated to new Macbook (2019 Intel 16" > M4). Apple Music won't play most of my songs

Question

Level 1

4 points

Migrated to new Macbook (2019 Intel 16" > M4). Apple Music won't play most of my songs

Almost the entire library won't play, and it will only play a complete random selection of songs. If I try to play a song that won't play, it'll skip through the entire list until it jumps to a song that it does play.

Here are all the things I tried after trying to find a fix online:

I've restarted the app and my MBP
I've signed out and back in
I've changed my password
I've authorized and reauthorized my M4
I tried consolidating files
I've opened Music with options select as "Music Library" and nothing
Sync library is on and I've tried updating the Cloud library
Tried turning lossless off to see if it could work
I right clicked songs that didn't work > show file > open with Music (instead of Apple TV for some reason)
Tried turning off wifi and playing a song and then turning it back on
I authorized Music to access all my files in security settings

I really don't know what else to do. I'm assuming my files are all messed up and in different locations for whatever reason. It worked completely fine on my 2019 yesterday before switching over, so not sure what's going on. Looking at the files when I click options+Music > choose library, it seems like all of my songs are under the iTunes Media folder. If I choose to open the library as "iTunes Library.itl" it asks me to save as a new library, which I'm kinda worried to do because I don't want to mess up my library and further.

edit: I JUST did some more digging, and it turns out the only songs it can play are from the folder Music > Media > Music, and nothing from the folder Music > Media > Apple Music! BUT I am also missing a bunch of songs from Music > Media > Music (and Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Apple Music by the way), so it's strange - why would some be missing if it can only play those songs?

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Nov 12, 2024 7:16 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Archjuke Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 12, 2024 7:33 PM in response to Archjuke

I attempted to follow the "MacOS Catalina or later" instructions here: Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community and it says "Copy Music Library.musiclibrary" to ~/Music/Music but it doesn't make sense to me, as the Music Library.musiclibrary file is in ~/Music/Music...

Reply

Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,452 points

Nov 13, 2024 6:30 AM in response to Archjuke

Is the library still working on your older computer? See Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community for more on the default layout of the Music library. Once you've updated to Music your old .itl file stops being updated, opening and converting that to the Music format again would result in an outdated version of your library missing all recent additions and changes. Tidying up the library on the old computer may make it easier to transfer to the new one, but if you copy all of the components to exactly the same paths then it should work.

Archjuke wrote:

... it says "Copy Music Library.musiclibrary" (from the old computer) (in)to ~/Music/Music (on the new computer) but it doesn't make sense to me, as the Music Library.musiclibrary file is in ~/Music/Music...

Did you open Music on the new computer before copying over your library? That would create a new empty library. Did you check to see which .musiclibrary package was active on the old computer?

Content inside the Apple Music subfolder comes from your Apple Music subscription and must be downloaded and authenticated by the Apple Music app. It contains DRM and cannot be used by other software, nor reimported into an Apple Music library. When you migrate the library correctly those files come over too and will work in the copy of the library that originally downloaded them.

tt2

Reply

Answer 3

Archjuke Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 13, 2024 5:43 PM in response to turingtest2

Music still works perfectly fine on my old MBP. When migrating, I just migrated everything over from my 2019 to my M4 - I didn't start fresh, so there was no chance to open Music on my M4 as a new one.

I think the file location on my 2019 is in /Music/iTunes/iTunes Media (at least that's what it says in the Music app (Music > Settings > Files). If I change it to /Music/iTunes/iTunes Media on my new MBP, nothing changes.

I moved the Music Library.musiclibrary from my old computer to my new one and replaced it. Should I try moving and replacing every file over under Macbook Pro > Macintosh HD > Users > (me) > Music from my 2019 to my M4 or is that a horrible idea?

I tried following some of these instructions: Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community - I changed the integer to 0, deleted some files, and hit the Keep Music Media folder organized preference off and on and it actually changed which songs Music plays, so now some extra songs play on Music, but again, not all of them. 😆 Oh boy.

I also attempted to open a new library as iTunes Library.itl, and it only had a few albums on there. No dice.

I hope I'm understanding your comment properly!! I really do appreciate the help, but I'm still at a loss as to what to do here. I'm worried now that I've ruined my Music app now haha

edit: Not sure if this matters, but now instead of rapidly skipping song after song after song until it jumps to a song that it can play, Music will now just immediately jump to the next song that it can play.

Reply

Answer 4

Archjuke Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 14, 2024 6:42 PM in response to Archjuke

SOLVED!

So I've seen that this post has gotten a decent number of views, so if anyone else is viewing this in the future, I contacted Apple support and they were incredible.

All I had to do was close the app, hold options and then select the Music app, and then open it as a brand new library ('Create Library'). I cannot believe it was that simple. That was one of the things I didn't try becuase I was scared to lose everything, but everything is here, including my old ripped songs from iTunes back in 2012. Keep in mind that I have used Migration Assistant to get from my 2013 to my 2019 to my 2024 M4.

Thanks turingtest2 and thanks Apple support.

Reply