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Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
#53401 02/13/20 07:32 PM
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I have loaded all of my music on a secondary drive used for only data on my Mac and then did an import into Mac Music. Then I found I had a ton of dupes and tried multiple dupe finding programs and get very different results from each. Using finder it appears I have three areas where music is stored. How can I reduce the number of dupe locations for similar music? When checking files from inside music this is the location of my music being used, my player.

/Users/mymac/Music/itunes Music/Media.localized/Elton John/Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (deluxe edition)/1-01 Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.mp3

How do I determine exactly where this is because I seem to have a similar location on the secondary drive.

Wondering if a better way to handle this is to put all music on external hard drive and import from there and reduce the storage need and duplication of music on the computer. I would appreciate any ideas

My main problem is I have tried the Mac Music Dupe finder and a few other 3rd party apps to check and each provides totally different totals often very different. Right now I appear to have music and dupes in 3 main locations. 1. the location on the secondary drive where I loaded the music and where I imported from.

2. on the primary drive in a Music subdirectory as is show as default setting 3. in a similar layout of Primary drive in a Music folder but on the secondary drive., almost a mirror image of primary drive location So the problem is based on the link I sent in earlier email where is the music in the app actually is located I really can't tell because tree structure is similar to two locations so if I remove it doesn't remove from wrong location? Sorry for any confusion.

Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
dongreen #53402 02/13/20 11:38 PM
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Much even most of the answer depends on your settings when you imported the tunes into Music. In Music > Preferences > Files there is an option to "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library. If that was your setting then in all likelihood all of your tunes are in a single database and the solution is relatively simple...
  1. Go to Music > Preferences > Files and under Music Media folder location you will find the location of your current Music Library
  2. Then follow the instructions in this Apple Support Article on how to find duplicates in your Music Library without the need of a third party app. Be sure to use the Option Key version which will show you all of the exact duplicates in your Library and you can safely delete duplicates from there knowing there is another copy of the exact same Tune still in the Library.
  3. Once the duplicates have been eliminated you can copy the entire Music folder to another drive and then in Music > Preferences > Files change the location to that new location and you should be golden.
If that option was NOT selected when you imported your Music then those tunes can be scattered over multiple folders on multiple drives even extending to iCloud and recovery becomes more complex. One solution would be to
  1. Launch Music while holding down the Option key
  2. When prompted to select the Library select the option to create a new Library.
  3. Once the new Library has been created be sure the "Copy Files to Music Media folder" is checked.
  4. import ALL of your tunes to the new Library without regard for duplication
  5. Follow steps 1 through 3 to eliminate the exact duplicates and locate the entire Library at the location of your choice.
I do not contend this is the only solution, but it requires no third party apps, should clean up your Music collection, and definitely simplify future housekeeping.


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

— Albert Einstein
Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53408 02/14/20 06:47 PM
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Joe thanks for taking the time to respond. So again I imported my files and stored them in a folder called Media Folder then imported. After importing the files are stored on Primary drive but I wanted them stored on secondary "Data" drive. Can I cut and paste it to secondary drive without screwing everything up or change a setting in preferences - Files

Also concerning what are the Pros and or cons of using Consolidate Files and Reorganize Files in the media folder" Localized"

Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53409 02/14/20 07:22 PM
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a summary of my music setup


Mac Media
Status
1. Primary Dive has 246.8 GB of music files
2. Secondary Drive 278.6 GB of Music Files

3. Plus My core music files I started out with is on secondary drive
4. 281,5 Gb of music files.

Importing process
1. I loaded Core Files to secondary drive
2. Then Imported music with preferences in Music App configured to store music files on secondary drive.

The basic problem is why is there music on Primary drive 246GB worth. When I check info on any song the file infor directs me to secondary drive.

Also what does Media : localized mean?


Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
dongreen #53412 02/15/20 04:34 PM
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Originally Posted By: dongreen
1. I loaded Core Files to secondary drive
I assume that was a "drag and drop" operation and unless you held the command key (⌘) that was a "Copy" operation so you then had your Core files duplicated on both drives.
Originally Posted By: dongreen
2. Then Imported music with preferences in Music App configured to store music files on secondary drive.
Assuming you had Music > Preferences > Files set to "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library" AND you chose the tunes you had copied to the secondary drive, that would have consolidated those files into the Music media folder on the secondary drive. If Music > Preferences > Files was NOT set to "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library" then those files would have remained in place on the secondary drive and would have been indexed in place. In either case the files on the primary drive would have remained in place and unchanged.

OBSERVATION: Your first step, loading the core files on the secondary drive, was unnecessary. All you had to do was change the location of the Music Media folder in Music > Preferences > Files and import the Tunes from their original location on the Primary drive with "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to Library" checked (✓) and Music would have automatically copied your tunes to the new Music Media folder on the secondary drive. 😜 (It took me a while to realize that myself.)

CONCLUSION Once you are satisfied all of your tunes have successfully been copied to the secondary drive you can delete the Music Media folder and tunes on your primary drive. Be aware that Time Machine does not backup your secondary drive so I would advise you to synch Music with your iCloud account as a backup for your music.
Originally Posted By: dongreen
Also what does Media : localized mean?
Where are you seeing that?

GRUMBLE: In researching your question I realized my Music Library has gotten into pretty bad shape with lots of duplicates, errors, etc. so thanks to you I now have a major housekeeping chore facing me. Thanks! 😠


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

— Albert Einstein
Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53415 02/15/20 05:54 PM
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Again let me thank you for your time. To start with my MBP is being setup as a media hub only. So I moved all of my music from another computer to an external hard drive and the decided to put it all on the secondary drive on MBP because of quicker importing times vs importing from external....maybe this was a mistake which I will address in the future.

from secondary drive I then imported into Music App with preferences set to have files stored on secondary drive vs primary drive. Purely a space driven decision.

The main question as I stated earlier is why are the files also on primary drive. What I plan on doing is deleting a few artists from music and see which depositories are affected. The hopefully I can delete the entire pool of songs on primary drive.

localized? do a file info look. see link /Users/mymac/Music/itunes Music/Media.localized/Billy Joel/2000 Years - Millennium Concert/10 Allentown.m4a

what does it mean?

The main issues I have with the dupe options is lack of details. I have played with a lot of third party dupe finders etc and they all give me totally different numbers often large differences in numbers of songs. Plus most don't give you options to where the removed dupes go to other than trash can. I want to store in another location until I can verify they are actually the same or different song before deleting. The is a very powerful program called Simplify which does the best job but even that has limitations.

Thanks Again

Last edited by dongreen; 02/15/20 07:34 PM.
Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
dongreen #53417 02/15/20 11:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: dongreen
Again let me thank you for your time. To start with my MBP is being setup as a media hub only. So I moved all of my music from another computer to an external hard drive and the decided to put it all on the secondary drive on MBP because of quicker importing times vs importing from external....maybe this was a mistake which I will address in the future.

from secondary drive I then imported into Music App with preferences set to have files stored on secondary drive vs primary drive. Purely a space driven decision.

Where your music files are located is entirely your choice and there is no right or wrong decision. The primary difference I can see is whether or not the music files are backed up. Time Machine only backs up your primary boot drive so unless you have other backup arrangements the files on the secondary drive will not be backed up.

Originally Posted By: dongreen
The main question as I stated earlier is why are the files also on primary drive. What I plan on doing is deleting a few artists from music and see which depositories are affected. The hopefully I can delete the entire pool of songs on primary drive.


Understood.

Originally Posted By: dongreen
localized? do a file info look. see link /Users/mymac/Music/itunes Music/Media.localized/Billy Joel/2000 Years - Millennium Concert/10 Allentown.m4a

what does it mean?
You got me on that one. I have checked all the Macs I can conveniently get access to and I have yet to find a similar folder. 🤷‍♂️ All I can do is speculate that it is an artifact from some point in a previous version of iTunes or Music.

Originally Posted By: dongreen
The main issues I have with the dupe options is lack of details. I have played with a lot of third party dupe finders etc and they all give me totally different numbers often large differences in numbers of songs. Plus most don't give you options to where the removed dupes go to other than trash can. I want to store in another location until I can verify they are actually the same or different song before deleting. The is a very powerful program called Simplify which does the best job but even that has limitations.

In Music, hold down the Option key, then on the menu bar choose File > Library > Show Exact Duplicate Items and Music will show you the tunes in your currently selected music library that are EXACT duplicates. Additionally if you click on View > Show View Options (or while in Music press ⌘J) it will pop up a lost of the data columns that can be displayed which should help in identifying specific tracks. Unfortunately your only option from there is to DELETE one (or more) of the duplicates. The tunes are contained in a database and attempting to drill down into that database and manually move or remove a tune file risks damaging the entire database, potentially rendering it unreadable.

FYI: It is highly likely that many of those third party apps are based on APIs that provide access to the functionality built into Music and mainly provide a different GUI (Graphic User Interface).

One "belt and suspenders" precaution you could take before deleting the Music folder on your primary drive would be to Zip the entire music folder before you delete it. That way you could have some assurance that all of your files are preserved before deleting the Music folder on your primary drive. CAUTION: the zip compressed Music folder will likely be larger than the uncompressed folder. The reason for that is a subject for a different discussion. For now suffice it to say media files do not compress well — if at all.


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

— Albert Einstein
Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53419 02/16/20 12:03 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: dongreen
localized? do a file info look. see link /Users/mymac/Music/itunes Music/Media.localized/Billy Joel/2000 Years - Millennium Concert/10 Allentown.m4a

what does it mean?

You got me on that one. I have checked all the Macs I can conveniently get access to and I have yet to find a similar folder. 🤷‍♂️ All I can do is speculate that it is an artifact from some point in a previous version of iTunes or Music.

This ancient, i.e. 2014, and off-topic article closes with
Quote:
The folder name may end with .localized which simply identifies that the folder’s name will change depending on the language in use on the Mac.
Sounds pertinent, but how it got into dongreen's library may be anybody's guess.

To add some positivity to what dongreen hopes to do, I'll mention that I've maintained my entire ~/iTunes folder on a separate partition, symbolically linked to my boot volume, for many years and with nary an issue.


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: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53421 02/16/20 06:10 PM
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Thanks for your update. I did a complete deletion of all songs and did a new import without having the copy to the media folder and that solved the storage problem Thanks! The biggest thing I noticed with the Music app vs Itunes is I think it does a much better job IDing songs and adding album covers etc than Itunes did in the past. As for dupes, the main problem is the dupe program has no filtering, For example it will find the same titles by the same artist but the songs are either a different version or the same version on different albums such as original album and also on greatest hits. It would be nice to be able to filter out some of the results upfronts. Overall I am pleased and will continue to tweak my music thanks for your time.

Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
dongreen #53423 02/17/20 02:12 PM
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Originally Posted By: dongreen
Thanks for your update. I did a complete deletion of all songs and did a new import without having the copy to the media folder and that solved the storage problem Thanks!
⇐——snip ——⇒
For example it will find the same titles by the same artist but the songs are either a different version or the same version on different albums such as original album and also on greatest hits. It would be nice to be able to filter out some of the results upfronts. Overall I am pleased and will continue to tweak my music thanks for your time.
Glad you got what you wanted. The exact match option should find the true duplicates and turning on additional columns of information can help you identify different versions.


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

— Albert Einstein
Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
joemikeb #53424 02/17/20 05:01 PM
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Update: Like you, I couldn't find any .localized files in Music, but this thread prompted me to reorganize my music configuration, which resulted in my re-importing the contents of one of my libraries, and during the course of re-importation I was prompted to (more or less) rename my music in connection with "Keep Music Media folder organized," and I OK'd it (apprehensively, because I had absolutely no idea what would happen), and this morning, as Carbon Copy Cloner was doing its work, I noticed a bunch of .localized files flash across its progress bar, so I went looking and found this.

(Corrected) Although I can't see it in Finder, the paths (as reported by XtraFinder) to individual songs all include .localized, such as "/Volumes/HD2/Music 2/Media.localized/Alison Krauss/O' Brother Where Art Thou__Soundtrack/04 Down To The River To Pray.mp3."

Since none of my old iTunes music appears to have ".localized" (as similarly seen in CCC and reported by XtraFinder) included in its path, I guess it's a new thing that affects only music newly imported into Music.

Last edited by artie505; 02/17/20 05:29 PM. Reason: Corrected

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: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
artie505 #53425 02/17/20 06:59 PM
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artie

Thanks for taking the time to research my questions. I am now using Gemini 2 software to do dupe checks of my music and seem to do a pretty good job and more importantly, I have removed the so-called dupes and place in a separate folder for future checking.

Re: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
artie505 #53426 02/18/20 12:50 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Since none of my old iTunes music appears to have ".localized" (as similarly seen in CCC and reported by XtraFinder) included in its path, I guess it's a new thing that affects only music newly imported into Music.

I just checked, and it doesn't affect music newly imported into my (pre-Music) iTunes library.


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: Organizing my music files in new Music app on MBP
artie505 #53427 02/18/20 04:40 PM
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For those of you following this thread, I have a similar but different question and I did not want to hijack this thread. If you are interested, please see my post "Show Me the Music", in this forum. 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.

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