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Show Me the Music
#53428 02/18/20 05:01 PM
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Ira L Offline OP
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Fundamental Question: with your Music app (NOT iTunes) set up, what is the location of the file named "Music Library.musiclibrary"?

Problem: my file with that name repeatedly shows up on my Desktop as the sole occupant of a folder labeled "Music".

Scenario: I have my music on an external drive named "Music Folio". Under iTunes there was an "iTunes Library.xml" or "… .itl" file somewhere with the actual music tracks. After I recently upgraded to Catalina (and Music) this mysterious one item folder appeared on my Desktop. It should be noted that all my tracks, etc. are found and will play in Music after pointing to the folder using Music>Preferences>Files>Music Media folder location.

Non-solutions:
1. Delete the folder and the file. It just reappears on the Desktop the next time Music opens.
2. Move the folder and/or file onto the external drive Music Folio. Tried that, moving it into all possible locations, of which there are not too many. The hard drive contains a folder called Music; in that are folders called Music Folio and Album Artwork, and in the former are all the folders, by artist, that contain the actual audio files.

So where is your file?



On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Show Me the Music
Ira L #53429 02/18/20 05:26 PM
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So where is your file?

I would try copying the file to the proper location and then delete the file and see what happens? If it does work, I would move back or reimport music from that location

Re: Show Me the Music
Ira L #53430 02/18/20 06:08 PM
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I ran into the same exasperating, degenerating to infuriating problem with my secondary iTunes library.

First, that file should be at ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary, and it and ~/Music/Music/Media are now the only Apple created files in ~/Music in a standard Music installation.

To overcome the problem, already knowing that Music Library.musiclibrary was connected to my music library and functional, I booted into another volume and trashed the offending desktop folder and everything related to my existing iTunes library that had been placed by Apple...saved my music folder, artwork, lyrics, whatever. I then rebooted and option-launched Music and selected "Create Library...," because I was creating a second library, but if you've got only one, you should be able to simply launch Music and take it from there.

Yup, as usual, it never occurred to me to Google the problem, so there may be an easier solution.

Hope that's clear enough.

More: I'm pretty sure I tried dongreen's solution, but with no joy. (If it works, you're good to go, because, as you've already noted, Music Library.musiclibrary is already connected to your music library. You can then trash your extraneous iTunes stuff.)

By the way, I ran into the problem because my secondary library was on my external drive in its entirety and not linked to my internal drive. My main library was also on my external, but with a symbolic link to ~/Music, and ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary & Media were created alongside the link.

Forgot to mention that I changed the names of my iTunes libraries to "Media" to coincide with Music's new nomenclature.

Last edited by artie505; 02/19/20 09:37 AM. Reason: Clarification, cleanup, more

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
artie505 #53431 02/19/20 05:07 PM
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Ira L Offline OP
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Before posting here I did try Googling the issue, but nothing useful showed up.

My Music folder does not go as deep as yours (~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary), yet it still functions. ??

I do have a second library on the startup drive, in addition to the one on the external drive.

I think I will do the trash and recreate route and post back with some results.

Thanks.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Show Me the Music
Ira L #53432 02/19/20 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted By: Ira L
My Music folder does not go as deep as yours (~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary), yet it still functions. ??

Yours is as deep as mine was until I moved my Media folder to my external: I had ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary with a Media folder in the same folder as Music Library.musiclibrary.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
artie505 #53433 02/20/20 12:47 AM
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If you do a Show Package contents on Music Library.musiclibrary you will find it is a package file containing
  • Application.musicdb
  • Extras.itdb
  • Genius.itdb
  • Library Preferences.musicdb
  • Library.musicdb
  • Preferences.plist
Only Preferences.plist is directly readable as the others are all database files — I am guessing they use Apple's Core Data framework but they could be written directly in either PostgreSQL or SQLite.

As near as I can tell the tunes, album covers, etc. are all stored in Library.musicdb. (I say "As near as I can tell…" because my tunes are all stored in Apple's Music Library online and only download when they are playing.) In any case, the actual physical content of your Music Library is in Music Library.musiclibrary assuming they were imported with "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library" was selected. Otherwise all that is contained in the Music Library are pointers to the physical location(s) of the files on your system.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Show Me the Music
joemikeb #53434 02/20/20 07:20 AM
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It obviously never occurred to me to look, so I'm wondering what led you to do a "Show Package Contents" on Music Library.musiclibrary? Is there some sort of clue which, even knowing, I still haven't recognized?

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
As near as I can tell the tunes, album covers, etc. are all stored in Library.musicdb. (I say "As near as I can tell…" because my tunes are all stored in Apple's Music Library online and only download when they are playing.) In any case, the actual physical content of your Music Library is in Music Library.musiclibrary assuming they were imported with "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library" was selected. Otherwise all that is contained in the Music Library are pointers to the physical location(s) of the files on your system.

I may be misreading that, but I don't think it's correct.

My (old iTunes) "Music Library," now ~/Music/Music/Media (133 GB) is the repository for my actual physical music, and (I'll guess that) Library.musicdb (485 KB) contains the pointers. "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library " is selected and the wording itself supports my guess.

More: This is opposed to ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/originals where "originals" are the actual photos and are revealed by "Show Package Contents."

Last edited by artie505; 02/20/20 11:21 AM. Reason: More

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
Ira L #53435 02/20/20 07:32 AM
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Ira, in light of joemike's recent post, I think the idea of trashing your entire iTunes installation needs to be reconsidered, because it may contain info that, if it were present on your Mac, would go into a newly created Music Library.musiclibrary.

I haven't noticed any data loss, but then again, I've got neither album covers nor lyrics for my music, nor have I ever used "genius."

I THINK you maybe ought to start by trashing no more than the recalcitrant folder and (I think it's) iTunesLibrary.itl, possibly have to create a new library, and trash the rest of your old files ONLY when you're certain that you've got all of your data; you may end up having to command-O re-import your music, but it was almost instantaneous in my case.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
artie505 #53437 02/20/20 03:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
It obviously never occurred to me to look, so I'm wondering what led you to do a "Show Package Contents" on Music Library.musiclibrary? Is there some sort of clue which, even knowing, I still haven't recognized?

The clue was long memory going back several years to the time when Apple went from keeping the iTunes music and iPhotos images as individual files to incorporating those folders into packages. Since then subsequent versions of iTunes and more recently Music have "reorganized" or "rebuilt" that Library several times. The Library file that used to be an index to the contents of the Library but outside the library has disappeared along with several ancillary folders that were associated with iTunes. So I right clicked on Music Library.musiclibrary and sure enough "Show Package contents" appeared on the context menu.

FURTHER TESTING:
  • I first zipped the iTunes Library and any other folders in ~/Music except Music, in case I needed to recover them, then deleted the originals. All of my tunes, album covers, playlists, etc still show up in Music when the only places they could be physically located are in ~/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary and Apple's music library in iCloud.
  • I have also noticed that when I add a tune to my Library ~/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary/Library.musicdb is updated
  • If I disconnect from the internet, Music no longer displays anything under Apple Music but tunes I have downloaded to my computer still play normally. Which proves that at least some tunes are physically stored on my computer and not coming from Apple's Music Library on the cloud.
Originally Posted By: artie505
More: This is opposed to ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/originals where "originals" are the actual photos and are revealed by "Show Package Contents."
That has always been the case with iPhoto/Photos. Photos are obviously a different media with lots of different storage requirements and there is no logical or technical reason Photos and Music should use the same database structure.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Show Me the Music
artie505 #53439 02/20/20 05:11 PM
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Ira L Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: Ira L
My Music folder does not go as deep as yours (~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary), yet it still functions. ??

Yours is as deep as mine was until I moved my Media folder to my external: I had ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary with a Media folder in the same folder as Music Library.musiclibrary.


The above is the partial solution. I renamed the folder containing all the tracks to "Media" and Music Library.musiclibrary now happily resides next to the Media folder. This is on my internal drive. I also deleted the iTunes related files, and it did not seem to cause any problems.

On the external drive, where I have even more music, the path that seems to work is Music Folio [name of the HD]>Music>Music Library.musiclibrary. Also with this file are the folders Folio Music (contains all the tracks) and Album Artwork; no Media folder. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I did "Import…" all the music from the internal drive to the external drive, and that also progressed satisfactorily.

Thanks one and all for the suggestions.



On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Show Me the Music
joemikeb #53443 02/21/20 08:47 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
It obviously never occurred to me to look, so I'm wondering what led you to do a "Show Package Contents" on Music Library.musiclibrary? Is there some sort of clue which, even knowing, I still haven't recognized?

The Library file that used to be an index to the contents of the Library but outside the library has disappeared along with several ancillary folders that were associated with iTunes. So I right clicked on Music Library.musiclibrary and sure enough "Show Package contents" appeared on the context menu.

I'm disappointed in myself for not having been that intuitive! frown

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
FURTHER TESTING: I first zipped the iTunes Library and any other folders in ~/Music except Music, in case I needed to recover them, then deleted the originals. All of my tunes, album covers, playlists, etc still show up in Music when the only places they could be physically located are in ~/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary and Apple's music library in iCloud.

That relates back to my most recent post in Mysterious images in Music. (I don't use iCloud.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
Ira L #53444 02/21/20 09:46 AM
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Happy to hear that you're up and running.

This was a particularly frustrating problem, and I've got no idea why your fix worked, but all's well...

As per joemike, the iTunes related files have been incorporated into Music Library.musiclibrary.

I've got both of my libraries in "Media" folders so if a Music update needs to address them, it can find them...but I'm not certain that it wouldn't find them anyway.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Show Me the Music
artie505 #53451 02/21/20 05:25 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I've got both of my libraries in "Media" folders so if a Music update needs to address them, it can find them...but I'm not certain that it wouldn't find them anyway.

My Library is NOT in a "Media" folder per. se., simply ~/Music and Music has no difficulty finding or updating it. Music looks at the library pointed to in Music > Preferences > Files wherever that is located to see where the tunes are located whether they are encapsulated in Music Library.musiclibrary or scattered in folders scattered across the system or on Apple's music library on the internet.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Show Me the Music
joemikeb #53453 02/21/20 05:45 PM
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Although I didn't really think there'd be any problems leaving things as they were because of the "Files" pref and because iTunes had already seamlessly transitioned to Music, it was an easy change, and it also changed iTunes formatting to Music formatting...not at all necessary, but pleasing to my eyes.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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