How do I make the Apple Music work on my iMac with all media files on an external SSD?

See Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community for some general post iTunes advice. Typically you would first copy your Music library from ~/Music/Music to your external drive, e.g. as <External>/Music, then hold down Option while launching Music so you can choose the library at <External>/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary. Next reset the media folder to <External>/Music/Media, consolidate if prompted, or use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files. After checking that your music files have been copied to the external drive and that your library is connected to these new copies you can set about cleaning the original copies from the internal drive. I would recommend backing up before you start deleting things just in case you make any mistakes that you need to be able to undo.

tt2

Gary Wright4 wrote:

@turingtest2, thanks for your reply. I have read (and re-read) your article at the provided link. That helps, but I am still trying to understand some points.

When you say, "you would first copy your Music library from ~/Music/Music to your external drive..." by "Music library" you mean only the file: "Music Library.musiclibrary", right? And not all the media files and folders, too?

No, I meant the whole folder and all it contains.

And by "copy" (as opposed to "move"), is it necessary or desirable to leave the original Music Library file on the iMac after putting a copy on the external drive?

Leaving the original in place means you can revert to it if the new copy of the library doesn't work, for whatever reason. Clean up of the originals is left until after you are sure the new version is working correctly.

I did copy (option drag) my entire ~/Music folder to the external drive. And I did select the "Music Library.musiclibrary" file on the external drive after Option-launching Music. Then I Consolidated to the external drive (more than once). But the old Music Library file on the iMac is getting the more recent Date Modified, so it looks like Music is not using the Library file on the new SSD? But maybe I would be better off keeping the Music Library.musiclibrary file on the iMac, but telling Music to keep all my media on the external SSD?

Odd. I assume you held down option as you launched Music and got the prompt to choose or create a library, then used the choose option to select the new copy of the .musiclibrary package on the external drive. If so then that should be the one that is modified as you make further changes.

Keeping both library and media on the same drive simplifies the process of backing up and migrating to a new drive or computer down the line.

tt2

If you signed into your Apple ID, or Apple Account as it is now called, in a new empty library then you should see your unhidden iTunes Store purchase history available to stream or download. If you also have an iTunes Match or Apple Music subscription account then you will see your complete Cloud Music Library if you enable Sync Library in Settings/Preferences.

When adding content to the library you can take advantage of an option under Music > Settings > Files that reads Copy files to Media folder when adding to library. This ensures that you don't end up with the library connected to random locations on multiple drives.

You can add content using File > Import, or move/copy items into the Automatically Add to Music folder inside your Media folder. Whichever approach works best for you. Note that repeatedly copying content from outside of the media folder will create duplicates if those items have been added previously, be selective. If your media doesn't already have consistent metadata it can pay to add items in smaller batches and tidy things up after each import.

tt2

You can try this but there are no guarantees

https://www.google.com/search?q=How+to+get+Apple+Music+work+on+my+iMac+with+all+media+files+on+an+external+SSD%3F&ie=UTF-8