Question Music Library transfer

[petemott]

If I follow your advice to consolidate files in my iTunes Library (not iMusic) before transferring them to an external hard drive, will they still appear as playable albums and not just songs that need to be played individually?
Thanks. Peter.

 

[EdwinG]

Hi @petemott …

I’m not sure which advice you’re referring to.

In theory, consolidating an Apple Music library moves (or copies, I do not recall which operation exactly) your music files into Apple Music library folder to make sure they are in the same folder.

It should not prevent music from being as albums or as individual songs.

 

[Annie_M]

If I follow your advice to consolidate files in my iTunes Library (not iMusic) before transferring them to an external hard drive, will they still appear as playable albums and not just songs that need to be played individually?
Thanks. Peter.

Hello and welcome to iMore. If you could give us more detailed information, we'll be able to understand and hopefully help you better!

 

[petemott]

Thanks for the reply.
To clarify.. I have been attempting to transfer my iTunes music library (about 256GB) to an external hard drive . If I drag the library over to the SSD icon in finder I end up with a list of songs for each album which I then have to play one song at a time.
I'm trying to find a way to transfer so that I can click on an album and have the whole thing play, just as happens on my Mac.
I did see a suggestion on iMore that if I go into the music library and check "Consolidate Music" I will be able to transfer whole albums and not just a list of songs.
I need some advice first, tho', before i mess up my library!
Thanks. Peter.

 

[EdwinG]

Hi,

I have checked on my Mac. Here's what I would do.

1. Consolidate all my music files into Apple Music library. In other words, only use Apple Music to manage my music.
2. Consolidate all the files on the drive into the Music folder, using the Apple Music app, in the File menu, Library submenu, Organize Library option.
   This will copy the files into the Music folder on the drive.
3. Quit Apple Music using the Command + Q shortcut (or the Music menu, followed by Quit Music)
4. Copy the Music/Music folder onto my external storage media.
5. Click on the Music icon on the Dock while holding the Option key on the keyboard, which should show a "Choose a Library" prompt like this one:
   
   
   
   
6. I would choose Choose Library, and select the Music/Music Library.musiclibrary package.

Do note that steps 5 and 6 persist across app restarts. So if you want to change your active library, you will need to repeat steps 5 and 6.
The default library location is ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary, where ~ is your user folder.