You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Restore iTunes library

A couple weeks ago I had an issue with my Mid 2014 iMac (running macOS Catalina). It wouldn't start up past the black loading bar at restart even after reinstalling the software or doing disc recovery/first aid so I enlisted my friend to do data recovery and restore the iMac. 


He was able to successfully recover my data (and not my applications) onto my SSD. Unfortunately, this means that my iTunes library is on my SSD but isn't it iTunes. I found a couple iTunes libraries from past computer transfers. In iTunes, many songs were repeated and it wasn't my most updated library that I developed on my iMac (But a library from my old PC laptop). When I tried to delete the duplicate songs it found in the itunes library, it seemed to also delete the originals along with the copies. Id like to start over again to not mess up itunes library any further and start from clean slate of 0 songs on iTunes.

I am looking to do a couple things...


1. Determine the most updated iTunes library from my iMac out of all the itunes libraries on the SSD. First before doing that though, I would like to know how to easily insert a library/delete it from iTunes so I could figure out which one is correct.

2. How to delete the iTunes library inside iTunes but not from the computer itself so I can try out different libraries to see which one is correct

3. Is there an easier way to restore a playlist or library that I already have on my phone to the computer? Like a reverse sync? Or maybe a way to restore through iCloud?



Thank you for all your help and time!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 26, 2020 11:02 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 26, 2020 11:11 AM

iTunes Libraries are typically called iTunes Library.itl, Music libraries are called Music Library.musiclibrary. Modification dates should tell you which is the most recent. In Catalina you can hold down option as you launch Music, click the option to choose a library and then browse to a .musiclibrary or .itl file to open it. When opening an .itl file Music will further prompt for a location to save the converted .musiclibrary file it makes from the iTunes database.


See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community.


tt2

Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 26, 2020 11:11 AM in response to lolaya

iTunes Libraries are typically called iTunes Library.itl, Music libraries are called Music Library.musiclibrary. Modification dates should tell you which is the most recent. In Catalina you can hold down option as you launch Music, click the option to choose a library and then browse to a .musiclibrary or .itl file to open it. When opening an .itl file Music will further prompt for a location to save the converted .musiclibrary file it makes from the iTunes database.


See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community.


tt2

Jul 28, 2020 5:14 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you very much. I found the correct library. Only issue is that 99% of album artwork is missing. The file/image is still embedded in Get Info but not showing up as album artwork.


I am very grateful for your help and for all the help I saw you provide in all the articles I've read today on this apple community page. Community is lucky to have someone like you helping!

Jul 28, 2020 6:01 PM in response to lolaya

You're welcome. 🙂


Artwork seems to a particular issue with the switch from iTunes to Catalina. Music should rebuild an artwork cache from embedded images but it may take some time. Alternatively it may be a case of deleting the existing cache and allowing it to repopulate. See https://dccxi.com/posts/album-artwork-missing-catalina/ for a possible method for this.


tt2

Restore iTunes library

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.