Migrated to new computer, now every song has a download icon

[Cliff Face]

I have iTunes library on 1TB external hard drive. The library is 14,000+ songs that are a combination of purchased and ripped from my CD collection. I thought having the library on an external hard drive meant moving to a new computer would be a breeze. I didn't even worry about it.

 

My computer is an iMac over 5 years old. It has been updated to MacOS and has the latest version of iTunes 12.5.3.17.

 

I got a new iMac with MacOS and iTunes 12.5.3.17.

 

I attached the external hard drive to the new computer. I opened iTunes. Under Preferences -> Advanced I selected the location of my iTunes library.

 

There are two problems:

 

1. Every song has a download icon.

2. A lot of ripped music isn't visible in the library even though I've confirmed it's still on the hard drive.

 

As a science experiment, I clicked the download icon on a ripped track. (This is a song I did NOT purchase through iTunes.) This seemed to fix the problem but created a new copy of the m4a file named -1, thus consuming double the disk space.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[kirkmc]

Try File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files. iTunes may not have correctly noted the location of the media folder.

[Cliff Face]

Thanks, Kirk! I'm backing up my 270GB library (since it's only on the external drive) and then I'll give it a try. I'll report back on how it goes.

[Cliff Face]

No joy. It accessed the external hard drive for about five seconds and finished. As far as I can tell, nothing changed. Every single item in the library still has a download icon (except my science experiment) and many ripped items are missing.

[kirkmc]

Perhaps your library file got deleted or corrupted. In the user/iTunes folder, do you see a Previous Libraries folder? If not, do you have a backup from before the update? You would want to replace the iTunes Library.itl file. The fact that everything shows a cloud icon suggests that iTunes is finding your library in the cloud, but that the library itself is empty (other than what's in the cloud).

[Cliff Face]

Thanks for the additional information. No, I do not find a Previous Libraries folder. Unfortunately, I didn't think to make a backup before connecting the external hard drive to my new computer.

 

AFAIK I never used the cloud with my old computer and/or iTunes. I don't like the idea of the cloud. When I first turned on the new computer, the initial setup connected to the cloud by default. I think this was still on when I first connected the external hard drive. As soon as I realized it was on, I immediately turned it off.

[kirkmc]

Well, somehow your library got nuked. Think about backups in the future. You can just drag the folder containing your music onto the iTunes sidebar to add it all.

[Cliff Face]

Yeah, I think the brief exposure to the "cloud" may have been the thing that did it in. I appreciate you thinking about my situation. During my research I saw something about deleting the library's ITL file, although it warned some information might be lost. Are there pros and cons to this approach vs. the folder drag? I'm reasonably sure the music all still exists as files, but I'm worried about losing my edits. Play counts and such don't concern me as much.

[kirkmc]

The music that's in the cloud will be re-added to your library once you launch iTunes and sign into your account. So deleting the library file won't change anything.

[UKenGB]

Sorry to butt in, but what was actually on the external HD? If that was just the media folder and the actual library file was on the internal HD of the old iMac, then you'd be trying to start with a new blank library file and probably would see what you're seeing.

 

If so, can you grab the original library file from the old iMac and copy it to the new machine (with iTunes off of course). Restart iTunes using that library file and with the external HD connected and therefore providing the same path to the music files, all 'should' be well.

[Cliff Face]

Hi, UKenGB. Not butting in at all. In fact, I believe you just solved my problem. I looked for the library file on the external hard drive and found none. I copied the library file from the old iMac to the new iMac and voila! Now, finally, I feel all moved in to my new computer.

 

I owe you a pint!

[UKenGB]

Glad I was able to help.