Problem playing music in PHOTOS slideshow

Hi Leonie!

Thanks for your help!

In another topic, I remember you share with us an AppleScript to help users sort their photos and videos by Size (https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-12211?login=true)

I was trying to edit your script to be able to Sort videos by Resolution (4k vs 1080 and below) but I had no success, do you think you can help me do it?

Thanks a lot!

The rules for the music you can use are changing between system versions.

I do not remember what has been allowed on macOS 11 Big Sur. But I think you could thennot use music downloaded from Apple Music, only music you purchased from the iTunes Store without any DRM attached.

You may want to look at this page in the user guide: Create slideshows in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

1. To select music for the slideshow, click the Music button , click the down arrow next to Music Library, then select a song or songs.
2. Choose Theme Songs from the pop-up menu to see music included with Photos, or choose Music to see music from your Music library. Drag the songs you selected to change the order they play in. To delete a song, select it and press Delete.
3. Note: If you don’t see music from your Music library listed, close Photos, then open Music and sign in if you haven’t already. With Music open, open Photos again, then select your slideshow. Click the Music button  and choose Music from the pop-up menu to see your music list appear.

Help! I have...

• purchased the two songs I want to use in my slideshow
• played each of them in the music app
• Clicked the download arrow next to each song
• Closed and re-opened the photos app

And I am still getting the "DRM-protected audio cannot be used in slideshows. Choose another audio track." Message.

Is there some other ways to ensure that the music library in the photos app is synched with my Apple Music library so that it understands that I've paid for both those songs?

Maryam

I wrote that script in 2017 for High Sierra, when scripting Photos has been much easier. The upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina and later has made some tasks much more difficult. I have to check, if I can script the video resolution at all.

For the time being, you could use the free trial version of PowerPhotos to sort your albums.

I like the list view in PowerPhotos, where we cab see the metadata of our photos and videos in columns. clicking the header of a column, will sort the album by this metadata tag. It is a very useful companion to Photos

For example, the "media type Videos" album sorted by the dimensions, descending, in PowerPhotos:

The key phrase is "previously". It is referring to older songs, before Apple switched to iTunes Plus at the iTunes Store - that happened long, long ago.

I had no problems at all to use all my songs in my Music Library in a slideshow up to macOS 10.15 Catalina. But starting with Big Sur I could not even use any audio file I had recorded myself with GarageBand (songs I played on my guitar and have been singing along to - no digital rights attached to the songs at all).

It remained this way until macOS 13 Ventura. It has been impossible to use any audio I recorded myself as a soundtrack for a slideshow. On Ventura I can use my own recorded songs and the songs purchased from the iTunes Store, but I have to ensure, that the songs have been downloaded from the cloud, as I am syncing my Music Library with Apple Music between my devices. I keep Music open and force a download for the songs I want to use, before I try to add them to a slideshow music track.

For me, the music pane in a slideshow looks like this, when I view my Music Library to select a song:

The songs that are dimmed need downloading, they will be available after playing them in Music:

Can your Mac be upgraded to Ventura?

Thanks a Lot Leónie!

For sure I will try the app you recommended!