John L Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 iTunes has me really pissed right now. This is the issue: As we all know, there are plenty of errors and inconsistencies in the music database accessed by iTunes. So we all edit the labels on the music that we download from iTunes as needed. Right? Fine. Well now iTunes also puts copies of all the music that you have downloaded from the store in an iCloud for you. Nice. Now the iCloud files use all of the original labels that went with the files, some of which are different than what you have labeled in your iTunes library. OK. I just changed to a new computer and loaded up my iTunes library. Evidently in an attempt to synch my iTunes library with the iCloud that it created, it somehow located all of the files that I downloaded from iTunes and re-labeled them back as they were before. So, for example, single artists discs that are mistakenly labeled "compilations" in iTunes were converted back into compilations in my iTunes library. :((((( All in all, I have a mess on my hands - multiple entries for single artists followed by "trio" "quartet" "with bra bla bra" Holy shit! I began changing the labels back again, which works temporarily. But then iTunes finds them and changes them back again. How can I stop this? I don't see anything in preferences for breaking the link between my iTunes and the iCloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Boy, I feel for you; I know how it is to put so much effort into your collection only to be waylaid by unthinking machines. As to how to break the link between your iTunes and the Cloud, you might try going to your account information in iTunes (in iTunes, go to the iTunes store, then click on your name in the upper right corner and choose Account Info); then explore the section "iTunes in the Cloud." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Thanks for the advice, mjzee. I didn't think of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Gonna buy a new Mac this weekend and (not) looking forward to the migration. All of my shit is on an EHD. Shawn has been very helpful with my problems before and I'm glad to see him weighing in here. He knows his stuff! I'll try to follow the directions in this thread, which is better than anything on Apple support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dolan Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 I've never had to do a Mac to Mac migration. Can't you just use Time Machine to set up the new one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 2 hours ago, clifford_thornton said: Gonna buy a new Mac this weekend and (not) looking forward to the migration. All of my shit is on an EHD. Shawn has been very helpful with my problems before and I'm glad to see him weighing in here. He knows his stuff! I'll try to follow the directions in this thread, which is better than anything on Apple support. Not sure what you mean by "All of my shit." My guess is you're referring to your music files, and the rest (operating system, apps, etc.) are on your old computer's hard drive. Assuming your old computer's operating system is up to date (OS X El Capitan version 10.11.2), you can follow Apple's instructions (found here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 On January 7, 2016 at 9:58 AM, clifford_thornton said: Gonna buy a new Mac this weekend and (not) looking forward to the migration. All of my shit is on an EHD. Shawn has been very helpful with my problems before and I'm glad to see him weighing in here. He knows his stuff! I'll try to follow the directions in this thread, which is better than anything on Apple support. BTW, I strongly suggest you get AppleCare. For $99, it stretches the tech support from 90 days to 3 years (and the warranty from 1 year to 3). They've walked me through many a situation, and you can stretch it to all sorts of peripherals (connectivity to an iPod or an EHD, for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 Yeah, I just picked up the new iMac and bought AppleCare. Will go back through and see if I can link up my EHD music to iTunes; I've already noticed that there is no "Music" folder on the computer by default. My old computer was running a very old OS X version btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 23 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said: Yeah, I just picked up the new iMac and bought AppleCare. Will go back through and see if I can link up my EHD music to iTunes; I've already noticed that there is no "Music" folder on the computer by default. My old computer was running a very old OS X version btw. From what I've learned from this thread, especially Shawn's 10/15 posting, your "iTunes Library.itl" file needs to be in this location: Macintosh HD/Users/(your name)/Music/iTunes. If you used the Migration Assistant, it should be there. Since it's the same EHD as before, iTunes should then open up smoothly. As a precaution, in iTunes open up Preferences, and make sure that under "Advanced" the iTunes Media folder location is correct. If you've bought any mp3's from the iTunes store, make sure your new computer is registered there correctly. It probably will be; the only hitch could be if you've already had 5 Macs registered, which is the limit. If that happens, deregister all of them, and then reregister the ones you use now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dolan Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 Once more, can't you use a Time Machine backup to migrate to a new machine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 I never used Time Machine on my old 2005 iMac. Properly pointed now, though I'm still not seeing the library. I'll figure it out when I have more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 okay, so I don't have a Music folder on this sucker somehow, though I do have iTunes. OS X 10.11.2 is what I'm apparently dealing with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonnymax Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 5 hours ago, clifford_thornton said: okay, so I don't have a Music folder on this sucker somehow, though I do have iTunes. OS X 10.11.2 is what I'm apparently dealing with. I think what you're looking for is the iTunes media folder. Once you're in iTunes, click on "iTunes" in the upper left hand corner at the top of your screen, then click on "Preferences". Next, click on the "Advanced" tab. Under "iTunes media folder location" you'll see where the music files should be on your hard drive. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Did that already... still no tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 OK, let's recap: Did you use Migration Assistant to move your files and settings from your old iMac to the new one? Can you now open your other programs and files as before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 I did not. All other programs from my old mac, which I moved over via my EHD, are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Just coincidently, I just now completed a somewhat similar task: I moved my music collection to a larger EHD. So I had a similar problem: my music was on a different EHD and iTunes couldn't find them. This Apple support page really helped me: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204668 To summarize what this page says: The iTunes Library.itl file is a database of the songs in your library. It must reside in a specific location: Macintosh HD/Users/(your name)/Music/iTunes (to find it, in Finder choose Go > Home > Music > iTunes). Your music is (or should be) in a folder named iTunes Media. This folder can be anywhere on your computer, whether on your iMac's hard drive or on an EHD, as long as the iTunes Library.itl file knows where it is. So first, open iTunes and go to Preferences. On the Advanced tab, in the top section ("iTunes Media folder location"), is where iTunes thinks your music is located. Since it can't see your music, it probably shows a location on your computer rather than your EHD. I solved my problem by clicking Change... and pointing it to the iTunes Media folder on my new EHD. Once I did that, it asked me something about letting it keep track of my library (the exact wording disappeared as soon as I clicked "yes", so, sorry, I can't reproduce it for you). I clicked "yes," it did some database thing really quickly on my screen, and that was it. The iTunes Advanced Preferences now shows my new EHD as the location for the iTunes Media folder, it can find any song I want same as before, and the info for any song shows all the data and artwork I've previously entered. I know that computers can be maddening, but I hope your process ends as successfully as mine did. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dolan Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Ah, so I just did a little search and it seems you cannot do a migration solely using Time Machine. It has to be integrated with the migration assistant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 thanks dudes, will give it a whirl when back home tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dolan Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 I wish I had all the info mjzee listed when I "upgraded" to iTunes 12 only to find all my ripped music had vanished. It took quite some time to solve that little problem. Apple has gone downhill as far as their software is concerned. And now with the rumor that the next iPhone won't have a headphone jack, that may soon apply to their hardware as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 tried what mjzee said above and no dice, though in theory it should work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Then call Apple tech support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 yeah will do that in a bit... thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Apple support call fixed me right up - something with the .itl file was weird so we made a new one and it's all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted January 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Great! Now make sure you back that sucker up regularly. Time Machine doesn't back up the data on external drives (I don't like Time Machine anyway - I find it slows the computer with its constant backup activity). I like an application called SuperDuper. It makes backups easy - you can schedule backups at night, and it does incremental backups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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