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Music - Missing Features, Bugs, Issues & Troubleshooting
- Thread starter ErikGrim
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Had the same "loading artwork" and memory usage issues many other people had with the music app after upgrading to Catalina. Music App froze multiple times, spiked with 100% CPU usage, used over 100GB of virtual memory, etc. When the app finished up "loading artwork" a smart playlist showed over 3000 tracks missing album artwork. I downgraded back to Mojave - restoring from a pre-upgrade time machine backup - and only 50 tracks were missing artwork.
Usually try to keep my Mac up to date, but these issues with the Music App are deal breakers to me. I have a music collection of over 20,000+ local files, and I have put a lot of effort over the years to ensure the metadata/album artworks were correct. Going to have to hold back upgrading back to Catalina until there is a surefire way to transition to the Music App without experiencing issues.
Usually try to keep my Mac up to date, but these issues with the Music App are deal breakers to me. I have a music collection of over 20,000+ local files, and I have put a lot of effort over the years to ensure the metadata/album artworks were correct. Going to have to hold back upgrading back to Catalina until there is a surefire way to transition to the Music App without experiencing issues.
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I mean before I it was possible to sort by Artist,Album,Year at once united in the song view. Not as single attributes. Means it showed all Albums sorted by Artist and Year.
Artist A, Album A, 2000
Artist A, Album B, 2005
Artist A, Album C, 2008
Artist B, Album A, 2001
Artist B, Album B, 2003
This is not possible anymore.
When I sort Artists now it also shows artists which are in Compilations inbetween:
Artist A, Album A, 2000
Artist B, Album Compilation, 2005
Artist C, Album, A, 2001
Artist D, Album Compilation, 2007
Instead of:
Artist A, Album A, 2000
Artist C, Album, A, 2001
Various Artists, Album Compilation, 2005-2007
- Artist B
- Artist D
Sorry, quite hard to explain. I hope it makes sense
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Yes! I have one download waiting too and there's nothing to download... bizarre.
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I had to completely rebuild my music library from iTunes Music Library XML when I upgraded from Mojave to Catalina – because Catalina kept giving me an error -3201 about not being able to write to the library. Mind you, I have a complicated set-up whereby the entire Library and iTunes Music folder is in Dropbox (and launched from both my Mac and a Windows PC) so that might have caused it.
At least rebuilding from iTunes Music Library XML kept all my song play counts and playlists –– so all I lost is the date when a file was added to the iTunes library (dating back to 2003... RIP)
I know I'm going against the universal Mac rule of hating iTunes, but...I really hate now that I need two separate apps to update my podcasts and music on one device.
And I'm seriously considering downgrading because of this. Aaaaand...because of the missing Column Browser.
And I'm seriously considering downgrading because of this. Aaaaand...because of the missing Column Browser.
not sure whether anyone has mentioned this yet, but I looked at Music on my MBP today for the first time and my iPhone X wasn't showing any of its playlists
I was able to move a couple of songs onto the phone icon but couldn't put them into a playlist
it seems no longer possible to click on the phone icon and go to the separate screen as before
later I got into the car and Carplay was behaving strangely
the display was jumping around, and at first it wasn't showing any playlists
later the playlists appeared
I've never had any trouble with Carplay before so I'm wondering whether this is Catalina-related?
I was able to move a couple of songs onto the phone icon but couldn't put them into a playlist
it seems no longer possible to click on the phone icon and go to the separate screen as before
later I got into the car and Carplay was behaving strangely
the display was jumping around, and at first it wasn't showing any playlists
later the playlists appeared
I've never had any trouble with Carplay before so I'm wondering whether this is Catalina-related?
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Yes, the new and fresh Music app has lots of issues which doesn’t surprise me anymore.
Please, send feedback and report the issues to Apple. That’s the only way to get it usable eventually.
Please, send feedback and report the issues to Apple. That’s the only way to get it usable eventually.
First time poster so I apologize for the crudeness.
Situation: I had over 22k songs on my iTunes library before I upgraded to Catalina. I was informed that the music and playlists would carry over to 'Music' and I wouldn't have to worry about changing anything.
After installing Catalina, I go into 'Music' to see how much is changed. Here's the step-by-step process on how that went.
I created playlists for every CD I imported. This was made to simplify the organizing process for both the track placement and ease of selecting an album. All this work wasn't done in a single day, but over the course of 10 years since I owned iTunes. I always added one thing at a time and organized it all in a playlist that most of the time didn't match how it was organized in the album.
So, is there any way to make what I had did in iTunes come over in 'Music' without recreating and re-organizing every single playlist by hand?
Situation: I had over 22k songs on my iTunes library before I upgraded to Catalina. I was informed that the music and playlists would carry over to 'Music' and I wouldn't have to worry about changing anything.
After installing Catalina, I go into 'Music' to see how much is changed. Here's the step-by-step process on how that went.
- I open 'Music' and there is nothing. Just an 'Add Music' at the center of the screen like I just started the original iTunes for the first time.
- I double check the contents of my music in my user's folder and everything is still there, so I try closing 'Music', opening it again with the option key held down and selecting the library in my music folder. It asks me to create a new library so I do.
- After 'Music' loads, the only music it lists are the ones I purchased through the iTunes store. It didn't even import the ones I had downloaded into my iTunes library. So basically 'Music' is looking at iTunes account purchases and leaving it at that.
- I go to Apple Support to try and get some assistance but they are at a loss at how to help. We try choosing an older iTunes library that was made before Catalina, same result. They than say to simply drag and drop my entire music library onto 'Music' and just let all the music load. This works, but here's the problem.
I created playlists for every CD I imported. This was made to simplify the organizing process for both the track placement and ease of selecting an album. All this work wasn't done in a single day, but over the course of 10 years since I owned iTunes. I always added one thing at a time and organized it all in a playlist that most of the time didn't match how it was organized in the album.
So, is there any way to make what I had did in iTunes come over in 'Music' without recreating and re-organizing every single playlist by hand?
After updating my MacBook with Catalina I can see my Iphone and Ipad in Finder, but I can't manually transfer music to my Iphone. If I click sync I'm asked if I want to remove my existing library/songs, which I don't want to. I just need to drag and drop the files (albums/tracks) manually, as I used to do in Itunes.
Any idea why it won't work? Syncing photos worked fine.
Any idea why it won't work? Syncing photos worked fine.
This has been the worst update with this Music app nonsense. Unfortunately I did not play with it on my desktop before upgrading my laptop too. My main thing is I cannot organize my iPod (yes I still like using my classic). The iPod shows up but not all the playlists I created in it. Fortunately I had parallels installed on my iMac and I can organize it through their itunes since it still works there. But why?? If the whole main purpose was to make this strictly a music app, just take away the Movies/TV features... and leave everything else as is. This version is just the poor man's version of iTunes.
Not sure if I have encountered a bug or iCloud is down. All of a sudden Music won't attempt to log into iCloud services and my Match isn't working.
Anybody else?
Anybody else?
Hello, would anyone be able to share a screencap of their Music directory in Finder? I am interested in seeing the expanded folder structure down to the individual Artist level. Do all Artists have their own directory under the Media directory?
I experienced a similar issue, where Music opened seemingly successfully but didn't read any of the files I have on a network drive that previously showed up fine in iTunes.
Rather than chase down whether it was an issue with my iCloud sync, etc. I just opened up terminal, mv'd all artist directories out of the old iTunes location, created a new .musiclibrary, and am hoping to rebuild without copying every single file into the library. I am assuming that if I just mv the directories to the place Music expects them, it might all ~just work~.
Feel free to tell me I'm doing this a very bad way also, thanks.
edit. Assumed it's the same structure as before then decided to go ahead with the library rebuild. So far so good.
I experienced a similar issue, where Music opened seemingly successfully but didn't read any of the files I have on a network drive that previously showed up fine in iTunes.
Rather than chase down whether it was an issue with my iCloud sync, etc. I just opened up terminal, mv'd all artist directories out of the old iTunes location, created a new .musiclibrary, and am hoping to rebuild without copying every single file into the library. I am assuming that if I just mv the directories to the place Music expects them, it might all ~just work~.
Feel free to tell me I'm doing this a very bad way also, thanks.
edit. Assumed it's the same structure as before then decided to go ahead with the library rebuild. So far so good.
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As another user with over 28k songs and a lot of manual organisation, like many others here, I'm sorry you had to go through all this.
I've a solution for you. I've done this at least a dozen times both in the beta and final version so I'm sure this should work. You were right about option clicking to pick a library. But instead of picking the library in Music pick the one in"iTunes" folder which ends in .itl. Music had a different library format but will open and import old iTunes libraries like this. After you do this, go get a coffee, call up your spouse, tell them how much you love them, go on a date, if you have kids, meet them too and take them to the playground and play for a while, com back home, sleep for a night not touchingly your computer, wake up in peace the next day with Music having loaded all your music with album art. Yes, it takes time for large libraries especially with all the album artwork. So be patient.
P.s. don't forget to tell the kids how much you love them too! Essential step here.
It's version 1.0.1.22 compared to 1.0.0.426, so there have been some changes made. If I spot anything I will report it.
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Further to my post. I am now convinced this is not a specific iCloud problem affecting everybody but a nasty bug in Music. Music refuses to log into the Apple servers and so does not register my iTunes Match data. It was working previously. No particular changes made, just happened to open Music one time and it was gone.
I have tried logging in and out of the Store and iCloud with no result.
Well, one thing I suspected that I can now say is a problem with the new "Music" app...there were some songs that it refused to transfer to my iPod Classic. I posted the back story in another thread, but to sum it up, in the same session, I used XLD to rip the Beatles' new Abbey Road box set in Apple Lossless, and Chicago's Chicago Transit Authority (50th anniversary remix), also to Apple Lossless. Well...Apple Music had no problem transferring the Beatles stuff to my iPod, but it wouldn't let me transfer Chicago. If I dragged the songs over to the iPod in the sidebar, the little red box disappeared. (It would still let me transfer to my phone.) If I right-clicked on the songs and chose "Add to Device," the iPod wasn't an option. Even after I used the Apple Music option to convert the files to MP3 format: even the resulting MP3s wouldn't transfer.
On another thread there's a script that allows you to install iTunes in Catalina. Well...I just did that, and guess what: iTunes properly transferred the Chicago album that Music refused to.
So...instead of one master app to transfer music and podcasts, Apple wants me to use separate apps: one that refuses to copy artwork over, and another that might not actually want to transfer all of my songs over. Sure. This is a wonderful idea.
EDIT: Okay, maybe Catalina was trying to tell me something about Chicago Transit Authority. I finally got a chance to listen to it. The 50th anniversary remix is effing TERRIBLE!! Ughhgh. So maybe I should give Apple a pass on this one.
On another thread there's a script that allows you to install iTunes in Catalina. Well...I just did that, and guess what: iTunes properly transferred the Chicago album that Music refused to.
So...instead of one master app to transfer music and podcasts, Apple wants me to use separate apps: one that refuses to copy artwork over, and another that might not actually want to transfer all of my songs over. Sure. This is a wonderful idea.
EDIT: Okay, maybe Catalina was trying to tell me something about Chicago Transit Authority. I finally got a chance to listen to it. The 50th anniversary remix is effing TERRIBLE!! Ughhgh. So maybe I should give Apple a pass on this one.
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Has anyone with Missing / loading artwork errors tried simply replacing the artwork folder with the folder that you backed up right before upgrading to Catalina? I’m curious if I could quit this music app and replace that folder with everything from the old iTunes without any spiders lurking / issues? - is this loading artwork pulling from the internet? furrently I’m not connected to internet and it says “loading artwork” and I see no progress. I have 11GB of artwork backed up a few hours before upgrading to Catalina
Okay, the iTunes hack is not good for devices. I transferred everything over with iTunes, and after synching my podcasts, it corrupted the iPod. I'm going back to Mojave. I use my iPod all the time, and this is enough to not make the so-called upgrade worth it. I've dutifully kept my Macs up-to-date since Leopard, but...nope. Screw you, Apple.
Music stores artwork in a different location and in a different format. It's hidden somewhere in the Library folder now but it's actually stored a shortcut actual images as opposed to some random blob before.
This one is annoying regarding Sorting.
Anyone notice that sorting carries across Artist and Album view?
For example, in Artist view I like to have the albums sorted by Year, Descending so the latest album is at the top.
That works until I look at Album view and it's also sorted by Year/Descending but since it doesn't group by the Artist, it retains the Year/Descending sorting. What?!? It just lumps all 2019 albums together, etc. That doesn't work, so I change the sorting for Album view to sort by Artist, Descending and it shows the album sort starting with the letter Z? I have to change it to Ascending to get my "A" artist to show at the top sorting alphabetically to Z. Isn't that Descending? Maybe I'm confused on that aspect.....
Anyway, back to the original problem - now that I've fixed the sorting in Album view, if I go back to Artist view my albums for each artist are now sorted ALPHABETICALLY!
I can't set one sort view for Artist and another for Album view!!
Which wouldn't bother me so much if Song view only had the View Album Cover/Show Always option which "grouped" the artist/album together.
Anyone notice that sorting carries across Artist and Album view?
For example, in Artist view I like to have the albums sorted by Year, Descending so the latest album is at the top.
That works until I look at Album view and it's also sorted by Year/Descending but since it doesn't group by the Artist, it retains the Year/Descending sorting. What?!? It just lumps all 2019 albums together, etc. That doesn't work, so I change the sorting for Album view to sort by Artist, Descending and it shows the album sort starting with the letter Z? I have to change it to Ascending to get my "A" artist to show at the top sorting alphabetically to Z. Isn't that Descending? Maybe I'm confused on that aspect.....
Anyway, back to the original problem - now that I've fixed the sorting in Album view, if I go back to Artist view my albums for each artist are now sorted ALPHABETICALLY!
I can't set one sort view for Artist and another for Album view!!
Which wouldn't bother me so much if Song view only had the View Album Cover/Show Always option which "grouped" the artist/album together.
Some ui updates to selecting playlists and the back button. Nothing of note otherwise. Most glaring issues still persist (unlike the filter between playlists).