Sample Header Ad - 728x90

Ask Different (Apple)

Q&A for power users of Apple hardware and software

Latest Questions

1 votes
1 answers
58 views
Music 1.0.5.10 on MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 not showing 'Up Next' list in Mini Player
I click the 'up next' button, I get history. I don't see 'up next'. I see nothing in view, preferences or window menus. Available docs refer to this as the 'up next' button and do not indicate how to switch from/to history. Is there a mystery meat UI control I am missing? In IOS I note that the UI p...
I click the 'up next' button, I get history. I don't see 'up next'. I see nothing in view, preferences or window menus. Available docs refer to this as the 'up next' button and do not indicate how to switch from/to history. Is there a mystery meat UI control I am missing? In IOS I note that the UI provides a way to switch from history and up next: after scrolling to the bottom of the history list, the 'up next' list appears beneath it.
John (121 rep)
Nov 24, 2020, 12:33 AM • Last activity: Aug 1, 2025, 07:04 AM
0 votes
1 answers
162 views
Fix Music.app metadata from cloud?
Many of the songs in my Apple Music Library have inconsistent metadata (years missing, titles misspelled, etc.) This is weird, because it was once all correct. I suspect that Apple hasn't migrated my music properly over the years. Is there any way to "fix" the metadata by going to cloud databases?
Many of the songs in my Apple Music Library have inconsistent metadata (years missing, titles misspelled, etc.) This is weird, because it was once all correct. I suspect that Apple hasn't migrated my music properly over the years. Is there any way to "fix" the metadata by going to cloud databases?
vy32 (3564 rep)
Jul 1, 2023, 07:33 PM • Last activity: Jul 22, 2025, 09:04 PM
1 votes
1 answers
223 views
How get Mac Music to update its library data based on my folder structure?
I started my shift towards apple products over 17 years ago when I purchased my first iPod (yes the click wheel one). I started by using iTunes software for managing my music library, then I bought my first iPhone then switched to using mac book pro. Now, over all these jumps i moved my library from...
I started my shift towards apple products over 17 years ago when I purchased my first iPod (yes the click wheel one). I started by using iTunes software for managing my music library, then I bought my first iPhone then switched to using mac book pro. Now, over all these jumps i moved my library from one computer to another, letting iTunes manage files. Then came Mac Music... My current situation is that I have all my music in the /Users//Music folder but, within this folder they are all over the place. /Users//Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music /Users//Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Music /Users//Music/Music/Media.localized/Music (What does '.localized' mean?) I tried consolidating the library but I can still see many files/folder outside the media folder. I have manually moved the music files to the media folder now but, how do I get Mac Music to change the location of the files, in its library, based on what is on the hard drive?
A j (227 rep)
Oct 5, 2021, 06:27 AM • Last activity: Jul 18, 2025, 04:20 PM
3 votes
2 answers
1319 views
Large Apple Music MacOS library on external SSD - taking hours to save library on quit - how to troubleshoot?
I have a large music library (200GB/14.000 tracks), with files spanning well over a decade. I'm on a temporary Mac for the next month or two, so I'm keeping the files and library on an extremely fast external SSD (Sandisk Extreme Pro - Thunderbolt 3). When I quit the Music app on macOS, a popup aler...
I have a large music library (200GB/14.000 tracks), with files spanning well over a decade. I'm on a temporary Mac for the next month or two, so I'm keeping the files and library on an extremely fast external SSD (Sandisk Extreme Pro - Thunderbolt 3). When I quit the Music app on macOS, a popup alert window that reads "Saving Music Library..." appears, and then just... doesn't go away. The program is not unresponsive according to the Finder/the Force Quit dialogue. It's just trying to save, and it's taking forever. I don't know if this is an SSD issue or not. The library contains thousands of hours of work, so I'm apprehensive about cutting down the library. Setup: - MacBook Pro M1 Max - 64GB memory - Music Version 1.2.4. As a layman, I would hope I could look at logs or something, to see what may be causing these delays. Is there a way to isolate or troubleshoot this sort of problem?
Sveinbjörn Pálsson (31 rep)
May 24, 2022, 07:07 PM • Last activity: Jul 16, 2025, 06:04 AM
0 votes
1 answers
127 views
macOS Music: Keyboard shortcuts: How to exit search? How to view library songs?
I'm used to viewing my library songs and hitting command-f to filter the list. Since upgrading from iTunes to Music this year, command-f triggers the bizarre new search that gives results as bubbles and grids. And I can't seem to exit it via tab or escape or command-shift-f for "filter". - What's th...
I'm used to viewing my library songs and hitting command-f to filter the list. Since upgrading from iTunes to Music this year, command-f triggers the bizarre new search that gives results as bubbles and grids. And I can't seem to exit it via tab or escape or command-shift-f for "filter". - What's the keyboard shortcut to exit this new search (is there one)? - Or, what's the keyboard shortcut to return to viewing my library songs? Apart from my playlists, it's the only view I ever want to see anyway. I don't subscribe to Apple Music or use iCloud to store my songs. - Or, what text can I enter into system prefs for these actions to create custom shortcuts for them?
5260452 (2188 rep)
Dec 28, 2019, 09:28 PM • Last activity: Jul 14, 2025, 01:07 PM
0 votes
1 answers
200 views
Batch modify metadata for local music files in the macOS Apple Music app using regex
I would like to batch modify metadata for local music files (mainly AAC in m4a, with some mp3) in my local music library from the macOS Apple Music app using regex. Specifically, I'd like to retitle tracks using matching groups from a regex on the existing title. Can this be done via any Apple scrip...
I would like to batch modify metadata for local music files (mainly AAC in m4a, with some mp3) in my local music library from the macOS Apple Music app using regex. Specifically, I'd like to retitle tracks using matching groups from a regex on the existing title. Can this be done via any Apple scripting facilities, like the Shortcuts app, the Automator app, or any other Apple-provided scripting? In Shortcuts, I tried to pass the output from a "Find Music" action to a "Run JavaScript for Mac Automation" action, but I keep getting errors (like The operation couldn’t be completed. (WFMacHelperErrorDomain error 1.) even when I don't modify the run function at all) no matter what I do. If not, do any third-party scripting facilities work with the Apple Music API such that the files get modified through Apple Music, instead of directly modifying the files, then having Apple Music scan the file system for changes? If nothing works with the Apple Music API, what third-party tools/libraries offer batch regex music metadata parsing & modification? For third-party scripting, I'd prefer JavaScript/zsh/Java/Kotlin/etc.
XDR (664 rep)
Sep 4, 2024, 09:44 AM • Last activity: Jun 29, 2025, 06:04 PM
7 votes
1 answers
4677 views
Can I add lyrics to songs and have them synced with the song?
As of now, I can just copy paste raw lyrics, which won't sync with the song! Edit: I'm on Windows 10 Pro, Version 2004, Build 19541. iTunes is the iTunes64Setup.exe file install, not the Microsoft Store version, version: 12.10.3.1 I've seen [other answers][1], and tried what they suggested, which wo...
As of now, I can just copy paste raw lyrics, which won't sync with the song! Edit: I'm on Windows 10 Pro, Version 2004, Build 19541. iTunes is the iTunes64Setup.exe file install, not the Microsoft Store version, version: 12.10.3.1 I've seen other answers , and tried what they suggested, which worked, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. See, what I could do right now is, go to a specific song in my song Library, right click it and go to Song Info, then Lyrics, and add Custom Lyrics. This works, and I'm able to view those static, unsynchronized lyrics on my iPhone. But I wanna see if I can go a step further, **adding *synchronized* lyrics**, see how in some services, Apple Music maybe, or Spotify, the lyrics will auto scroll, or slide to the next line/verse as the song goes on. Similar to how Subtitles work in movies. So is this something that could be done? Either using iTunes or any other software!
iBoolGuy (71 rep)
Jan 21, 2020, 01:32 PM • Last activity: Jun 28, 2025, 05:05 AM
0 votes
0 answers
9 views
automate getting ANY artwork for apple music (in 2025)
I have a large apple music library on my pc (around 180 GB). There's a LOT of missing artwork. There's a LOT of music that's not on Apple Music or Spotify in my library - a decent percentage of the music is from Bandcamp or Soundcloud or bootlegs and Music doesn't know how to find those artworks. I...
I have a large apple music library on my pc (around 180 GB). There's a LOT of missing artwork. There's a LOT of music that's not on Apple Music or Spotify in my library - a decent percentage of the music is from Bandcamp or Soundcloud or bootlegs and Music doesn't know how to find those artworks. I want to download any missing artwork, forcefully, so that every single song has an artwork of some kind baked in. In 2025 surely there's some service, or macos desktop app, or automator script, or AI that that speed up the process of getting missing album artwork on *tens of thousands* of songs.
frumbert (521 rep)
Jun 27, 2025, 11:10 PM
0 votes
1 answers
127 views
Is it possible to automate Music.app to play a random album by one specific artist?
I have lots of 'albums' in my library in Apple Music which are by a certain artist. I find these good to work to. They are all relatively similar (dance music mixes.) I would like to make an automation so that I can trigger Music.app to play one of these albums at random. I've been looking at the Ap...
I have lots of 'albums' in my library in Apple Music which are by a certain artist. I find these good to work to. They are all relatively similar (dance music mixes.) I would like to make an automation so that I can trigger Music.app to play one of these albums at random. I've been looking at the AppleScript dictionary from Music.app and I can't see any way to
every album by xxx
Is there any way to do this?
Diggory (808 rep)
May 17, 2024, 07:33 AM • Last activity: Jun 11, 2025, 11:43 PM
0 votes
0 answers
25 views
Mac OS Music app adding " 1" at the end of file names after refreshing track tags
I have a similar issue as this : https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/85695/itunes-put-a-1-at-the-end-of-many-of-my-song-and-video-titles-how-can-i-fix-t My Music app is renaming some files with the " 1" at the end, like "Highway to hell.mp3" becoming "Highway to hell 1.mp3". In my case it come...
I have a similar issue as this : https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/85695/itunes-put-a-1-at-the-end-of-many-of-my-song-and-video-titles-how-can-i-fix-t My Music app is renaming some files with the " 1" at the end, like "Highway to hell.mp3" becoming "Highway to hell 1.mp3". In my case it comes from refreshing the track on iTunes. I am using MusicBrainz Picard to tag my files. When the tagging is done, I have an AppleScript refreshing the tracks directly in iTunes. This refresh sometimes makes " 1" appear at the end of some files. Until now I have not been able to identify when it happens but by chance I found a way to clear the name back to original. My solution : in iTunes just get the info of the track which file name ends with " 1". As soon as the info window opens, the " 1" is removed from the file name. It is effective but slow because it needs to be done on the individual track. Get the info of the entire album would not work. I am glad if my experience can help others and would be interested to know if you have a better way to solve the problem. Cheers, Fabien
fab (1 rep)
Jun 9, 2025, 01:24 PM
0 votes
1 answers
233 views
How do you add an Apple Music track to your library with AppleScript?
Given an album ID (e.g. 1646945378) and a track ID (e.g. 1646945384), is there a way to add a track to the library using AppleScript/JXA? - macOS: Sonoma 14.2 - Music: 1.4.2.83 --- I know you can do something like ``` duplicate current track to playlist "Library" ``` Ideally, I don’t want to play th...
Given an album ID (e.g. 1646945378) and a track ID (e.g. 1646945384), is there a way to add a track to the library using AppleScript/JXA? - macOS: Sonoma 14.2 - Music: 1.4.2.83 --- I know you can do something like
duplicate current track to playlist "Library"
Ideally, I don’t want to play the track before adding it to my library, but I can’t find a way to get a shared track object from just the album and track IDs. I have figured out how to open the album and select the track:
set albumID to "1646945378"
set trackID to "1646945384"

tell application "Music" to open location "itmss://geo.music.apple.com/album/" & albumID & "?i=" & trackID & "&ls=1&app=music"
However, I can’t get the selected track. This code logs empty lists:
tell application "Music"
  log (get browser window 1's selection)
  log (get selection)
  -- Because an album, not a playlist, is being browsed, ‘get browser 1's view’ doesn’t work either
end tell
As a last resort, I thought I could try manually clicking the add to library button, but I can’t figure out how to tell if a track is selected or not as all of the UI elements seem to have selected:missing value.
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Music"
    set tracksList to get window 1's splitter group 1's scroll area 2's list 1's list 2
    set trackGroups to tracksList's groups

    -- With the example track above, the first track is selected

    set t1 to get trackGroups's item 1
    set t2 to get trackGroups's item 2

    -- Each group has one child UI element: another group. This group contains stuff like
    -- the track number, name, buttons, etc.
    log (get t1's properties) -- focused:missing value, selected:missing value
    log (get t2's properties) -- focused:missing value, selected:missing value

    log (get t1's group 1's properties) -- focused:false, selected:missing value
    log (get t2's group 1's properties) -- focused:false, selected:missing value
  end tell
end tell
I could use the Apple Music API to get the track number of the track I want to add to my library (or in my specific use-case I wouldn’t even need to use the API to do this) and click the add to library button that way. However, this all seems quite tedious and annoying for something that I believe should be a builtin AppleScript command. Is there a better/easier way of doing this? --- Related: - [Applescript play music from iTunes URL](https://stackoverflow.com/q/49647648/8289918) (using system events to click, answer doesn’t work anymore due to new(ish) Music app) - [Applescript to cause iTunes to play an album by Apple Music URL?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/58583420/8289918]) (no answers)
cherryblossom (364 rep)
Dec 31, 2023, 09:24 AM • Last activity: May 25, 2025, 12:03 PM
1 votes
1 answers
67 views
Music app keeps launching on login after update to sonoma 15.4
After recent update to Sonoma 15.4, the Music app keeps launching on login. I do not have the Music app in login items. but it keeps launching upon login. and if I quit it, it will launch again. Tried removing the preferences of com.apple.Music.* in ~/Library/Preferences and there doesn't seem to ha...
After recent update to Sonoma 15.4, the Music app keeps launching on login. I do not have the Music app in login items. but it keeps launching upon login. and if I quit it, it will launch again. Tried removing the preferences of com.apple.Music.* in ~/Library/Preferences and there doesn't seem to have anything in /Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchDaemons I have no bluetooth device speakers or headphones connected. only keyboard and mouse. Any ideas to prevent Music app from launching?
Mitch (11 rep)
Apr 14, 2025, 10:43 PM • Last activity: May 23, 2025, 12:08 PM
3 votes
1 answers
38 views
"Show In Playlist" CatalinaOS
I've created a custom keyboard shortcut for the "Show In Playlist" command in the Music app. When I use the shortcut, I can see the menu bar is selected, but it does not open a menu showing the playlists. I am aware this is possible by right/cmd-clicking on a song in the library, but this is a tedio...
I've created a custom keyboard shortcut for the "Show In Playlist" command in the Music app. When I use the shortcut, I can see the menu bar is selected, but it does not open a menu showing the playlists. I am aware this is possible by right/cmd-clicking on a song in the library, but this is a tedious process for a large library. Thanks!
chadnoidea (31 rep)
Sep 14, 2020, 05:52 PM • Last activity: May 22, 2025, 12:00 PM
-1 votes
2 answers
228 views
How Import xml file in music
I have a folder containing the xml files of playlists exported from itunes. How do I automatically import them into music with a script?
I have a folder containing the xml files of playlists exported from itunes. How do I automatically import them into music with a script?
George (1 rep)
Aug 8, 2024, 01:27 PM • Last activity: May 5, 2025, 07:05 PM
16 votes
0 answers
795 views
Music on macOS: hide huge playlist title area, when viewing playlist “as Songs”?
In the macOS Music app (formerly iTunes), when viewing a playlist or smart playlist “as Songs”, there’s a huge playlist title/header area. **Is there any way to hide or shrink this header area?** At least in my usage, it’s an obnoxious waste of space: it takes up about 1/3 of my whole screen height...
In the macOS Music app (formerly iTunes), when viewing a playlist or smart playlist “as Songs”, there’s a huge playlist title/header area. **Is there any way to hide or shrink this header area?** At least in my usage, it’s an obnoxious waste of space: it takes up about 1/3 of my whole screen height to very little purpose, and leaves the column browser and playlist contents very cramped (see screenshot). When viewing “as Playlist”, you can scroll this header area up offscreen, but when viewing “as Songs” (which I prefer, as a fan of the column browser) and in most other views, it stays fixed. Screenshot showing huge header area I’m currently using Big Sur 11.6, using Music 1.1.6.)
PLL (1064 rep)
Nov 9, 2021, 11:31 PM • Last activity: May 4, 2025, 03:13 AM
1 votes
1 answers
71 views
AppleScript (Music.app) error: Can't get duration of current track
I have a simple AppleScript for starting a random video on a random position in Music.app as Automator application and as a startup login item. In the half of cases I get an error: **The action "Run AppleScript" encountered an error: "Music got an error: Can't get duration of current track."** If I...
I have a simple AppleScript for starting a random video on a random position in Music.app as Automator application and as a startup login item. In the half of cases I get an error: **The action "Run AppleScript" encountered an error: "Music got an error: Can't get duration of current track."** If I run it in the Script Editor it executes correctly. I tried to add "delay 5" before the line "set Y to duration of current track" but it didn't help. Also tried to add "if" condition to quit Music.app if it is running before starting the script, but it also didn't change anything. enter image description here
tell application "Music"
	run
	set song repeat to all
	set shuffle enabled to true
	play playlist "Music Videos"
	delay 1
	set Y to duration of current track
	set X to random number from 0 to Y
	set player position to X
	activate
end tell
The error often appears on the next day if system was shutdown with the script:
tell application "Finder" to shut down
I guess this is somehow related to the running state of Music.app on the moment of shutting down the system, since after system startup all apps return to the same state they were before shutting down, e.g. if I close all my apps and restart the system using Apple logo > Restart the script will be executed correctly and I won't see any errors on the screen. macOS Ventura 13.4 Thanks a lot
Dmitry (67 rep)
Apr 3, 2024, 07:38 AM • Last activity: Apr 9, 2025, 05:08 PM
0 votes
1 answers
106 views
Apple Music Get Info no longer updates more than one songs metadata when has been modified by another application
iTunes and Apple Music create a cache of the music metadata when songs are added, this means that if we modify the metadata of songs with another aplication that Apple Music is unaware and continues to use the old metadata However, there was an easy workaround for this. Within Apple Music simply sel...
iTunes and Apple Music create a cache of the music metadata when songs are added, this means that if we modify the metadata of songs with another aplication that Apple Music is unaware and continues to use the old metadata However, there was an easy workaround for this. Within Apple Music simply select all songs, right click and select *Get Info* that forces Apple Music to reread the metadata from the song files and now current metadata is displayed. However, I tried this recently and it only seems to update the metadata for the first song selected, it does not update the metadata for any other of the songs. Can someone plese confirm this is now the behaviour, and if this is a known bug or is it by design?
Paul Taylor (91 rep)
Mar 25, 2025, 11:57 AM • Last activity: Mar 30, 2025, 04:18 PM
3 votes
1 answers
584 views
Don't auto-start music on iPhone/car when audio ends
I connect my iPhone to my car's stereo system via a Lightning-to-USB adaptor. If I listen to something that plays audio (e.g., Youtube), then as soon as the audio ends, the Music app immediately starts playing music. Specifically, it starts playing from some kind of auto-generated playlist that cont...
I connect my iPhone to my car's stereo system via a Lightning-to-USB adaptor. If I listen to something that plays audio (e.g., Youtube), then as soon as the audio ends, the Music app immediately starts playing music. Specifically, it starts playing from some kind of auto-generated playlist that contains all songs on my device, in alphabetical order, by song title. (This happens even if I had been previously playing some album in the Music app and paused it; it doesn't resume its previous playback, but switches to the all-songs playlist.) I find this annoying. I would like to have silence after the audio stops. Is there a way that I can change this behavior, to not auto-play music the moment something else stops playing audio?
D.W. (4097 rep)
Jun 26, 2023, 06:59 AM • Last activity: Mar 20, 2025, 11:19 AM
2 votes
2 answers
361 views
Apple Music as a server
I have a home server (MacMini M4) to which i can connect from the outside through an IP address managed by a VPN server. I want my Iphone to be able to play my music, stored on my server, wherever i go, without having to download the music to my iphone. Can Apple Music + Iphone Music do this? If not...
I have a home server (MacMini M4) to which i can connect from the outside through an IP address managed by a VPN server. I want my Iphone to be able to play my music, stored on my server, wherever i go, without having to download the music to my iphone. Can Apple Music + Iphone Music do this? If not, what would be the best setup - Mac software + Iphone App, to do this?
André Alçada Padez (237 rep)
Jan 29, 2025, 11:41 AM • Last activity: Jan 30, 2025, 08:29 AM
6 votes
1 answers
6396 views
How to stop Music app from automatically launching when CD is inserted on MacOS Catalina
I am presently running MacOS Catalina (10.15.1). 1. Within System Preferences, I have set CD's to do nothing upon being inserted: [![System Preferences, "CD & DVD" settings][1]][1] 2. Within the Music app preferences, there is ***NO*** option to disable the app from opening when a CD is inserted: [!...
I am presently running MacOS Catalina (10.15.1). 1. Within System Preferences, I have set CD's to do nothing upon being inserted: System Preferences, 2. Within the Music app preferences, there is ***NO*** option to disable the app from opening when a CD is inserted: enter image description here The only options available in the highlighted dropdown are: * Show CD * Play CD * Import CD * Import CD and eject * Ask to Import CD. Why Apple would have one setting that informs the computer not to do something, but another that overrides that confounds me. My issue is that I don't want the app to start when I insert a CD and I don't know how to resolve this, short of deleting the entire app because it's getting to be _very_ annoying.
Anil (895 rep)
Nov 22, 2019, 01:03 AM • Last activity: Jan 18, 2025, 05:30 PM
Showing page 1 of 20 total questions