Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Music - Missing Features, Bugs, Issues & Troubleshooting
- Thread starter ErikGrim
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Ok, I wasn't sure what you were talking about so had to play with it a bit. Now I see what you mean. I never have my Playlists in Album view, so hadn't noticed this issue. Bottom line, if you are within a Playlist and click on View->As Albums, then click on an Album, it will show you the songs from that album that are in the specific Playlist.
However, if you choose one of those songs, it will then begin ONLY playing songs from that album that are in the playlist. I pulled up iTunes on my Windows PC and the behavior is exactly the same there.
Biggest advantage of the prior iTunes workflow is that it expands the Album in-line vs opening up another window to display the album. Never thought I'd miss iTunes....
However, if you choose one of those songs, it will then begin ONLY playing songs from that album that are in the playlist. I pulled up iTunes on my Windows PC and the behavior is exactly the same there.
Biggest advantage of the prior iTunes workflow is that it expands the Album in-line vs opening up another window to display the album. Never thought I'd miss iTunes....
Yes, sorry. You'd think I'd be checking which thread I'm in
I am new to this thread so sorry if this had been discussed before. I had to create a new log in for my 2019 iMac (having issues with the computer restarting itself overnight and Apple support said to try this after reinstalling the macOS didn't solve the initial issue).
Anyway, on my original log in to Apple Music I had the occasional issue with albums being split up, etc. but not with the artwork in general for the most part. I set up the log in with the Apple Senior Tech and he walked me through with copying and pasting my Apple Library file from one ID's files on the main drive to the new one and pointing Apple Music app to the external drive where I keep the Music files themselves. The library under the new ID synced properly, all albums and playlists there - both what I had ripped myself and those I added from Apple Music - BUT NO ARTWORK AT ALL. He said this is an ongoing issue with Music. Aside from actually deleting the albums and re-adding them from Apple Music (which does bring back the artwork) any other suggestions?
Thanks
Anyway, on my original log in to Apple Music I had the occasional issue with albums being split up, etc. but not with the artwork in general for the most part. I set up the log in with the Apple Senior Tech and he walked me through with copying and pasting my Apple Library file from one ID's files on the main drive to the new one and pointing Apple Music app to the external drive where I keep the Music files themselves. The library under the new ID synced properly, all albums and playlists there - both what I had ripped myself and those I added from Apple Music - BUT NO ARTWORK AT ALL. He said this is an ongoing issue with Music. Aside from actually deleting the albums and re-adding them from Apple Music (which does bring back the artwork) any other suggestions?
Thanks
UPDATE: This morning I went into the Music app, turned off sync, signed out of my Apple ID, shut down the music app, restarted it, signed back into my Apple ID, turned sync back on and went for breakfast. When I came back all the music from Apple Music had it's artwork back. I do have to go through all the albums I added manually to get their artwork to show, but that is a much smaller amount than the entire library.
Hello everyone, a couple of days ago i finally migrated my MacBook to Catalina 10.15.6. So far so good, but all of the embedded artwork in my Music Library is not being shown. I only see it in the Information Window. The Artwork in the TV app is there, but it's not local. My music Library is on a NAS, the Library file is local. What I have noticed is that AMPArtWorkAgent is doing nothing. I've tried a couple of things like deauthorizing the Computer, sigining out of the iTunes Store-Account and stopping Sharing. Frustrating, any Ideas, how I can get this to work again?
I had to go album by album and go into the "Get Info" screen and just click and jiggle the artwork that was already there until I got the green check representing a metadata change and then it appeared.
For hundreds of albums...*sigh*
To those with the problem of restoring the artwork, there might be a solution in the form of one of these scripts available on Doug's scripts site: Restore track's artwork and Edit, assign or embed the artwork for selected tracks
Incredible that anyone caring about their iTunes files, artwork or photos still keeps upgrading to Catalina with these forums available, reporting what happens when you try it.
Fortunately, my iMacs are old enough that they won't run Big Sur, so I won't be tempted to touch that either.
Mojave works fine.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Walls are harder than heads.
Fortunately, my iMacs are old enough that they won't run Big Sur, so I won't be tempted to touch that either.
Mojave works fine.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Walls are harder than heads.
I have a question, maybe you guys can help me with. I have an older 2011 iMac on Mac OS High Sierra. I'm trying to transfer music files and playlists using the Home Sharing function in the Music App onto my 2012 MacBook Pro (running Mac OS Catalina). I've tried everything but nothing seems to work. It seems as if the new Music App isn't compatible with iTunes at all. I've deauthorized both machines and then authorized them again. I ensured that Home Sharing was turned on for both machines. It's beyond frustrating that I can't get the Home Sharing function to work between these devices. I'm a DJ hobbyist and I'd prefer not to have to use a USB thumb drive each time I need to transfer files...it's inefficient. Perhaps this has something to do with the Music App in Catalina not using XML files anymore?? If you know anything that could help, please advise. Thanks so much!!!
What's weird is that I can pull music from the Music App in Catalina to my iMac running High Sierra, but not the other way around. It's silly that this only works in 1 direction!!!
What's weird is that I can pull music from the Music App in Catalina to my iMac running High Sierra, but not the other way around. It's silly that this only works in 1 direction!!!
Last edited:
Home sharing streams the files it does not share the files or transfer them -a better solution might be an external drive preferable an SSD with all your music files on the external drive (make sure you have a duplicate back up too) then you can use it as a master with all your Mac's no matter what version of OS
XML is still there on Catalina - but it is a manual export - so if you have a DJ software or something like Sonos that uses the XML files just remember to export it once in a while or daily to get a new updated xml file - easy and fast to export
@mikzn Home Sharing on iTunes used to allow the transfer of files between computers with the same Apple ID on the same network. It always used to allow that. It's just the Mac OS Catalina Music App doesn't. Apple removed the functionality. Hell, I can't even stream between these two machines and there's only 1 year of difference between the two. I love Apple usually but in this instance I'm annoyed. I bought Apple computers because of the ease when using music files, editing music, etc. Apple computers used to be the industry standard along with Pro Tools. These computers are built like tanks, I just hate the idea that Apple is taking away functionality to drive Forced Obsolescence and hardware upgrades. I don't have a reason to upgrade my desktop just yet. I have an SSD and 32 GB of RAM in it. Other than the end of OS support by Apple, I see no reason to upgrade. Let's see how the end of support goes for Mac OS High Sierra...then I will have some decisions to make.
Also, I tried the RetroActive App from GitHub. Unfortunately, the versions of iTunes in that App also don't allow Home Sharing.
Also, I tried the RetroActive App from GitHub. Unfortunately, the versions of iTunes in that App also don't allow Home Sharing.
Last edited:
I was not aware that you could transfer the actual music files (MP3's or AAC) - I thought it just allowed them to be played (streamed) on other devices - that is how it seems to work for my network and ATV etc
Anyway, I agree with you and this thread is filled with similar thoughts about managing "Purchased Music" or even managing your own "created music" (even if created by yourself as a musician) - it has certainly gone down hill since Mojave and many would say that has been going downhill longer that that.
32 gb of RAM is a lot - and tells me you have a High End Apple product ? and paid a premium for "quality ease of use" - too bad apple seems to taking away some some features that were so appreciated by music fans and users for so long
One thought about your comments above - For music - at this time (IMHO) Mojave is the best OS for music files since it has the last working version of iTunes - I know there are work arounds like retroactive and hacks to install iTunes on Catalina and Big Sur - but these have many problems and issues too - iTunes on Mojave still functions reasonably well - perhaps move up from High Sierra to Mojave and stop short of Catalina?
@mikzn
The 2011 Mid iMac can't update beyond High Sierra. I wish I could run Mojave but I think the problem lies with Mac OS Catalina. All previous versions of Mac OS and the iTunes versions that came with them would allow me to transfer files between machines. Mac OS High Sierra got an update in July to make that version of iTunes compatible with the latest iOS, allowing you to update your iPhone via iTunes. That functionality was gone for about 1 year. iTunes 12.8.2.3 is the latest version on High Sierra and it works great. I hate the Music App in Catalina, but the DJ software that I use, Serato, was patched pretty quickly to ensure interoperability with the Music App in Catalina.
This is definitely a first world problem, but losing functionality is not good for business. I can transfer files from my MacBook Pro, running Catalina to my iMac, running High Sierra, but not the other way around. I typically make playlists on my iMac and then transfer the music files over to my MacBook Pro for DJaying. I guess my USB thumb drive will be getting used a lot until I upgrade.
Zeesh Apple, you should fix this before you end support on High Sierra in November 2020!!!
The 2011 Mid iMac can't update beyond High Sierra. I wish I could run Mojave but I think the problem lies with Mac OS Catalina. All previous versions of Mac OS and the iTunes versions that came with them would allow me to transfer files between machines. Mac OS High Sierra got an update in July to make that version of iTunes compatible with the latest iOS, allowing you to update your iPhone via iTunes. That functionality was gone for about 1 year. iTunes 12.8.2.3 is the latest version on High Sierra and it works great. I hate the Music App in Catalina, but the DJ software that I use, Serato, was patched pretty quickly to ensure interoperability with the Music App in Catalina.
This is definitely a first world problem, but losing functionality is not good for business. I can transfer files from my MacBook Pro, running Catalina to my iMac, running High Sierra, but not the other way around. I typically make playlists on my iMac and then transfer the music files over to my MacBook Pro for DJaying. I guess my USB thumb drive will be getting used a lot until I upgrade.
Zeesh Apple, you should fix this before you end support on High Sierra in November 2020!!!
I reply you in other thread. Complementing, you need iTunes 12.9.5.5 to be compatible with Music. There is this guy that claims to make a Mojave and Catalina install for non compatible Macs: http://enosafo.website2.me But is a paid version.
You can try a Windows 10 or some Linux in this old macbook, however, the "iTunes" for Linux is non official and Windows is, you know, still Windows... welcome back to the 90's...
Simple question: I have a 400gb library on external SSD from Mojave. How do I make my precious collection work on my new iMP (Catalina). I have read "point it to the the .itl file" but the most recent one I see is a year old although I use the library every day! I hope this is a no-brainer by now. Thanks!
I just migrated from a 2013 MBP to a 2020 iMac, and in the process upgraded from Mojave to Catalina. I have a moderately sized iTunes library, that seems to have transferred into Music ok.
But why is every single track a *slightly* larger file size? Every single track I've checked is about 5-10% larger. If it used to be 3.3MB, now it's 3.5MB. File type, bit rate, sample rate, etc. is identical. Everything else on the "File" tab of the track's info is identical. Same for purchased tracks, ripped tracks, tracks with no artwork at all. Every single one larger.
My whole library went from 178GB to 192GB. I have plenty of space, but I'm very curious why this is the case. Can anyone explain?
But why is every single track a *slightly* larger file size? Every single track I've checked is about 5-10% larger. If it used to be 3.3MB, now it's 3.5MB. File type, bit rate, sample rate, etc. is identical. Everything else on the "File" tab of the track's info is identical. Same for purchased tracks, ripped tracks, tracks with no artwork at all. Every single one larger.
My whole library went from 178GB to 192GB. I have plenty of space, but I'm very curious why this is the case. Can anyone explain?
That is really weird! Thanks for the heads up. How did you get the library working on the new iMac?
Migration Assistant via a Time Machine backup. My old MBP was on Mojave so my iTunes library was automatically transferred into Catalina/Music during the migration. It all worked just fine, aside from this.
I've done a little bit more digging. It's even more odd now!
The files, when I navigate to them in Finder, are exactly the same size on both systems. For example, one individual track:
Mojave/iTunes
info from iTunes: 12.2MB
file in finder: 12.7MB
Catalina/Music
info from Music: 12.7MB
file in Finder: 12.7MB
So strange! Though I guess the problem seems to be with iTunes in Mojave, not Music. My only guess was that it had something to do with embedded artwork, but I look at some tracks that have no artwork and never have, and it's the exact same story. Every single track in my library.
Space occupied is a relative question, iTunes might be counting the total file space, just summing the sizes (will be different), counting metadata or not, etc.. It seems they are now following the same criteria than Finder now.
My iTunes keeps duplicating files and losing albums that I buy, the difference from Music is that there is some tricks to solve it, in Music we still don't know all workarounds yet. But I haven't decided if will come back to Catalina yet...
My iTunes keeps duplicating files and losing albums that I buy, the difference from Music is that there is some tricks to solve it, in Music we still don't know all workarounds yet. But I haven't decided if will come back to Catalina yet...
That particular case looks like a simple question of number bases: Finder shows file sizes in powers of ten (1 MB = 10^6 bytes = 1000000 bytes) whereas some software (including Finder prior to Snow Leopard) shows file sizes in powers of two (1 MB = 2^20 bytes = 1048576 bytes).
Looking on my own Mojave system running iTunes 12.9.5.5, I see the same pattern: iTunes is reporting song sizes that are about 4% to 5% smaller than the size reported by Finder (for file sizes in the order of MB; anything under 1 MB would be displayed in KB and would have about a 2% difference; anything over 1 GB would have about a 7% difference).
It therefore looks like iTunes never got updated to report file sizes in power-of-ten megabytes, whereas Music has changed to that standard (and therefore matches Finder).
Net result: your songs are actually exactly the same size as before (in bytes), and should be occupying the same amount of disk space (assuming allocation block sizes are the same on the two file systems), it is just a question of how the numbers are displayed.
I hadn’t paid enough attention before now and upon properly using Catalina for the first time yesterday evening on my (mostly lovely in other respects) new iMac, I was shocked just how much they’ve completely gutted the various parts of what was iTunes. I’m astonished anyone thinks this is an improvement in any way, for any part of what iTunes used to do. Utterly baffling to me.
I guess I have a lot of research to do... and my old macs with iTunes are going to continue to be very useful to me!
Oh Apple... smh. Always two steps forward, one step back. Or some combination of that dance.
I guess I have a lot of research to do... and my old macs with iTunes are going to continue to be very useful to me!
Oh Apple... smh. Always two steps forward, one step back. Or some combination of that dance.