Martin Nadeau Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Hi, I’ve had to rebuild my iTunes library yesterday by deleting the iTunes Library.itl file in my iTunes folder. It worked fine, but now all my songs have an "arrowed cloud" download icon and I would have to re-download every song from iCloud Music Library. However, I have all those files on my hard drive already. Is there a way to point iTunes to those files on the HD so it knows there’s no need to re-download everything? This is especially important for those songs where I have lossless files on my HD and now I'll have to replace them with 256k AAC versions from the cloud... Thanks. Link to comment
kirkmc Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 You don't rebuild your library by deleting the .itl file. You have to do this: How To: Rebuild Your iTunes Library I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville. Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps. Co-host of The Next Track podcast. Link to comment
Martin Nadeau Posted April 12, 2017 Author Share Posted April 12, 2017 You don't rebuild your library by deleting the .itl file. You have to do this: How To: Rebuild Your iTunes Library Hi Kirk, Yes, I had found that page and this is exactly what I did. I received a message from Apple Support after posting here and they said the only option is to dowload everything from iCloud Music Library. Awful design from them if that's really true. Link to comment
kirkmc Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 If you rebuild the library using the XML file, and if the files are in the correct location, you shouldn't have any problem. All the files show download icons? I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville. Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps. Co-host of The Next Track podcast. Link to comment
Martin Nadeau Posted April 12, 2017 Author Share Posted April 12, 2017 If you rebuild the library using the XML file, and if the files are in the correct location, you shouldn't have any problem. All the files show download icons? Yes, they do. I'm wondering if I should go into preferences and turn off iCloud Music Library before starting the rebuilding process? Not sure if that would help. For now, I've reverted back to the old xml and .itl files from backup, but that created a mess of its own. I didn't get my library back in exactly in the condition it was in before the rebuilding. Link to comment
Martin Nadeau Posted April 12, 2017 Author Share Posted April 12, 2017 Holy crap, the more I look at it, the more it's a mess. Songs missing, tags I had edited have been automatically re-written, etc. I think I would normally have to restart my collection of 30 000 songs from scratch (mostly Apple Music stuff). Such a big endeavor since it was very well "curated", I might take the opportunity to look into Spotify just to keep all this separate from my own files in iTunes. iTunes is such a mess. The things I was trying to fix are probably just bugs introduced in the latest version(s). Sigh... Link to comment
kirkmc Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 The biggest problem I've found with iCloud Music Library is the way tags get arbitrarily changed. I don't use the cloud with my personal music library; I have a second library on my MacBook for iCloud Music Library, plus my iPads use it (my iPhone doesn't; I sync to that). I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville. Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps. Co-host of The Next Track podcast. Link to comment
bubbamike Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 I had a corrupt ITunes data base. I tried to use the XML file but the database it loaded was 2 years old. I checked my time machine back up but it had nothing newer. I need to nuke it and start over, I think. Any suggestions? Link to comment
cambridgehank Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 On 4/13/2017 at 7:17 AM, kirkmc said: The biggest problem I've found with iCloud Music Library is the way tags get arbitrarily changed. I don't use the cloud with my personal music library; I have a second library on my MacBook for iCloud Music Library, plus my iPads use it (my iPhone doesn't; I sync to that). Hi Kirk. Just listened to the Next Track #77.I have had the same issue with iCloud corrupting my music especially my playlist. i spent 3 hours with Apple support trying to correct the duplicate playlists and duplicate files from the cloud. I ended up missing entire albums, no the songs were moved to different albums. Tech support said it was because Apple did not have rights to those albums, even though I own the cd. Thanks to #77 and this forum, I will not use iCloud Music Library , but will use Apple music. My library is just over 12,000 songs and a pain keep reinstalling. Again thanks to your book, I have a copy on my MacBook Pro that is untouched by iCloud. Link to comment
kirkmc Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Apple told you BS. One of the main points of iCloud Music Library is that it can match and upload music from your library, music that they don't have in their catalog. iCloud Music Library is just a disaster; this experience is common enough that it's best avoiding it if you want to mix your own library with Apple Music tracks. I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville. Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps. Co-host of The Next Track podcast. Link to comment
cambridgehank Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 I agree, total BS. I signed up for Apple Music trial period and will leave iCloud turned off. Thanks to The Next Track. kirkmc 1 Link to comment
semente Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 If you have the original files then you can create a new Library and import them into it. But you'd have to redo any playlists. "Science draws the wave, poetry fills it with water" Teixeira de Pascoaes HQPlayer Desktop / Mac mini → Intona 7054 → RME ADI-2 DAC FS (DSD256) Link to comment
cambridgehank Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 On 11/11/2017 at 5:27 PM, semente said: If you have the original files then you can create a new Library and import them into it. But you'd have to redo any playlists. That is what I had to do. Thanks Link to comment
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