I can’t add songs to iTunes/Apple Music anymore

Duck Tape

Duck Tape

Platinum Member
I have a MacBook next to my kit, I use it to play music. Recently my music app (formerly iTunes) stopped allowing me to drag and drop files into it, meaning I can’t create new playlists or add any music to practice with. After some months of complacency I rang Apple and was told that Apple has done this deliberately - you can only play songs you purchase in iTunes and to add your own music you have to use another app (itunes match) and that requires a $25 annual subscription.

Has anyone else experienced this? And have you found a 3rd party music player that allows you to play whatever you like?
 
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youtube is honestly your best bet, free music and more tracks than any other streaming service. if you want offline access too and want to use it on your phone also then spotify or apple music are the way to go but it’s a few bucks per month
 
Duck Tape said:
I rang Apple and was told that Apple has done this deliberately - you can only play songs you purchase in iTunes and to add your own music you have to use another app (I forget its name) and that requires a $25 annual subscription.
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Hahahahaha PERFECT. Of course this was coming. I expect them to announce a new proprietary format sometime, and a couple of years later announce that their software will stop playing the old format, and you have to buy everything all over again.

What I do is I go to the record store, I get a used CD for 6 bucks, and I listen to it as much as I want, any time I feel like it, for the rest of my life.
 
Which version of Music /iTunes is it ? Which OS?
i don’t have this problem.
My iTunes library has followed me since Mac OS9, iMac G3. Still work perfectly on Catalina.
 
Tamaefx said:
Which version of Music /iTunes is it ? Which OS?
i don’t have this problem.
My iTunes library has followed me since Mac OS9, iMac G3. Still work perfectly on Catalina.
Click to expand...
Catalina 10.15.7
Music 1.0.6.10

Have you tried dragging and dropping a new audio file lately?

I hope the apple support guy was wrong, he did have to look it up.
 
Right click on the audio file : open with Music app. ? It should copy it in the media library as well. Depending on your settings.

My iMac has exactly the same app / software version as your MacBook and I can drag and drop / copy audio files to my library.
Are you sure that in the left column, your library is selected (sort by artist, albums, ...) ?
 
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Tamaefx said:
Right click on the audio file : open with Music app. ? It should copy it in the media library as well. Depending on your settings.

My iMac has exactly the same app / software version as your MacBook and I can drag and drop / copy audio files to my library.
Are you sure that in the left column, your library is selected (sort by artist, albums, ...) ?
Click to expand...
It seems to work with certain files. Like the free drumeo playalongs I downloaded from their site. But if I download something like a "free drumless track" from youtube, it won't open in music, whether I right click and "open with" or drag and drop. Seems to be like an anti-piracy thing perhaps, except I'm just downloading shared content and I think apple has no right to prevent me using it.
 
Does the file open with another app ? QuickTime or VLC ? If so you can try to convert it in another format, Personally I use Adapter, very nice app, to convert any audio / video file.

Anyway, the guy from apple you got on the phone, told you BS.
 
Tamaefx said:
Does the file open with another app ? QuickTime or VLC ? If so you can try to convert it in another format, Personally I use Adapter, very nice app, to convert any audio / video file.

Anyway, the guy from apple you got on the phone, told you BS.
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I can preview them in viewer/finder. And they are all mp3 format. But I wonder if that adapter program can make them into a format iTunes/music will accept.
 
Try to convert them in .m4a. But mp3 is of course compatible with music app. IMO, the files are corrupted.
 
I've never had an issue with this. I download purchased music from Bandcamp, open the .zip file in my Downloads folder, copy the extracted folder and just paste (using the keyboard shortcut) directly into Music. Works every time. I suspect the files are also corrupted or there is very, very odd metadata.

I'm on Music 1.1.4.110, Big Sur 11.3.1
 
iTunes Match is not a program. It’s just a subscription service that allows you to store your music from your Apple Music library, ripped cd’s or whatever, on Apple’s servers so you can stream that music on any of your Apple devices. iTunes Match is included with an Apple music subscription or you can subscribe to it alone for $25 a year. That’s practically free for the ability to listen to your own cd’s anywhere, anytime.

I am able to add all songs, from anywhere, no problem. Not sure what’s going on with yours.
 
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