iMac, OS BigSur, All my Music (no subscription) Playlists have disappeared. The sidebar does not show the possibility to add new playlist. Playlist is greyed out. How can I recuperate my playlists. I have them on my iPhone and iPad. Thank you.
iMac 27″, macOS 11.7
Hey eau potable,
If we understand correctly, playlists in the Music app on your Mac are missing, but playlists are on the iPhone and iPad. Let's get a little more information to help narrow this down.
Are you creating these playlists or adding them from somewhere?
Try using the Menu bar to add a playlist. "In the menu bar, choose File > New > Playlist."
How to make a playlist in the Apple Music app - Apple Support
Please don't hesitate to let us know if you need additional assistance.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Have a good one.
Hello eau potable,
Thanks for that info. Is all the music still showing up? Just the playlists are missing? We ask because if the music is also missing, is it possible you have multiple libraries on your Mac?
Try opening a different library, and see if the music and playlists are there. Use multiple libraries in Music on Mac - Apple Support
If there is only one library, it's best to get this checked with an Advisor. Please contact Apple Support using this: Apple Support
Thanks.
Thank you mario49.
Playlists were made in iTune over the course of more than 10 years, with music that I bougth on it's store. With software updates, iTune was replaced by the Music app. When I opened it, all my library was just a string of titles or albums without the structure of folders of playlist. On the Apple site it says that in order to have the playlist organisation I would have had to take a subscription to Music, which I did not. So in the menu bar there is no File>New>Playlist available. I tried to import from my iPhone, but the only way to sync was from the iMac to the phone and not the other way around, so that I would just loose it from the iPhone also. The conclusion is that now if you don't subscribe you can still buy on the store, but the whole library is a mess and unusable. I think that's what we were warned of several years ago when Apple became governed by business only trained people. Everything is directly monetized whitout realising that customers were with Apple also for software functions that made the whole experience so valuable that they continued to buy their product. Same thing happened with our photos in Aperture, not mentioning connectors on iBook for many years. Very sad.
Depending on exactly how you upgrade or migrate to a newer version of macOS your iTunes library may get updated automatically, or you may need to press and hold down option as you launch Music to access and convert your old .itl database to the new .musiclibrary format.
tt2
Thank you. All the music is there but in just one long list. I'm not aware to have more than one library, but I'll check.
Hey eau potable,
If you do need further assistance, we believe it would be best to contact Apple support: Get Support
Have a great day.
It turns out I have only one library. I'll follow your advice and go to Apple Support.
Thank you very much for helping.
Music Playlists disappearead on iMac
