Apple Music (app) crashing when searching for particular text string

[exi]

Short version: using Apple Music (1.2.0.273), also with the online service, on Monterey (12.0.1), I've noticed that if I search for the text string "bal" -- as in a classical music ballade or anything else -- Apple Music freezes. Spinning pinwheel/beachball of death. Ultimately will crash.

Searches for "__ bal" where anything precedes the letters "bal", or "lade" as in the suffix of ballade, do not cause the same problem.

Songs that have ballade in them do not properly appear in search results. For instance, "Chopin ballade" does not return multiple relevant findings in my library nor does it cause a crash, though the songs are there.

Issue repeats after restarts, both of the app and the machine.

Have not noticed any other issues with Apple Music.

Anyone have any ideas on this one?

 

[streetskooler]

I don't use the online service Apple Music, I could not replicate your issue on Monterey 12.0.1.

I'm having an issue where I'll edit anything in a file and when I'm done it will randomly bring me to another song. It gets very frustrating.

 

[exi]

I don't use the online service Apple Music, I could not replicate your issue on Monterey 12.0.1.

I'm having an issue where I'll edit anything in a file and when I'm done it will randomly bring me to another song. It gets very frustrating.

1 - Since my original post, I also tried to replicate this on a second machine, same software -- this "bal" thing does not recur. Works as expected. Interestingly, "chopin ballade" shows nothing -- "ballade chopin" shows results correctly.

I don't get it.

2 - I tried to replicate your bug. A test edit to an existing MP3 worked as expected. Weird.

 

[exi]

Additional troubleshooting:

1. Apple Music > Preferences > uncheck "Sync Library" did not do anything;
2. Manually removing the Music Library.musiclibrary file from its location to auto-generate a new one upon app start did not do anything;
3. Signing out of Apple Music (the cloud service) within Apple Music (the app) did not help -- noticed that the second "l" is when the crash occurs, such that searching for "bal" doesn't crash Music, but "ball" as in "ballade" does;
4. Searching within Apple Music on the problem machine for the same string works as expected;
5. With or without being logged into Apple Music (the cloud service) on Apple Music on the problem machine, searching for the same string within my library causes the crash;
6. I again tested the same exact situation on a second machine running the same software, logged into the same Apple Music account, synchronized. That machine works as expected.
7. Running Onyx as a cleaning utility did not help, though I don't know why it would have.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm stumped.

 

[exi]

And additionally: noticed that when searching, if I type any letter, then switch view to "Songs" specifically as opposed to the mixed search results page including matching artist/album/song names, I can make it through the whole word as a search string. Instant crash if not in that view.

Both the problem machine and the functional machine were in-place upgrades from Big Sur to Monterey. Neither was a clean install.

 

[vseera]

Hey did you ever figure this out? I've been having this exact problem and have never looked for a solution, but I think it's been going on for a while.
In place upgrade on my machine too and it's really annoying.

Your workaround to select Songs and then put in the full search term works but is annoying as hell.

 

[exi]

Hey did you ever figure this out? I've been having this exact problem and have never looked for a solution, but I think it's been going on for a while.
In place upgrade on my machine too and it's really annoying.

Your workaround to select Songs and then put in the full search term works but is annoying as hell.

No, I never did. Just going to leave it to a clean install with the next version of macOS to hopefully fix.

 

[vseera]

Thanks! I am sad to hear it, as I feel this is such a stupid issue and I feel like there is some corruption in our libraries that's causing it.

So I think that even with a clean install, I will eventually just copy the Music folder over rather than download everything from scratch so this problem may remain. But hopefully not.

 

[EricGrafland]

Another workaround? Exi, I have exactly the same problem on my Monterey iMac with Fusion disk, but not on my Monterey Macbook Pro. My search freezes on ball, like yours, but also on Mil and Davi (of Miles Davis) and some other things that I tried. I also tried several solutions on your list, without result.

--> My workaround now is the Filter field. Get your cursor out of the Search field, e.g. to "Recent" and then press Option-Cmd-F. Top right, the filter field will appear and it works fine for me. The downside of it is that it will disappear as soon as you switch views, and you have to take care that your cursor isn't in the search field, but for the rest it seems okay to me.

 

[exi]

Interesting option there, thanks for posting. Planning on a clean install with Ventura - hoping that resolves this. If not, will update.

 

[vseera]

Another workaround? Exi, I have exactly the same problem on my Monterey iMac with Fusion disk, but not on my Monterey Macbook Pro. My search freezes on ball, like yours, but also on Mil and Davi (of Miles Davis) and some other things that I tried. I also tried several solutions on your list, without result.

--> My workaround now is the Filter field. Get your cursor out of the Search field, e.g. to "Recent" and then press Option-Cmd-F. Top right, the filter field will appear and it works fine for me. The downside of it is that it will disappear as soon as you switch views, and you have to take care that your cursor isn't in the search field, but for the rest it seems okay to me.

Thank you! This is a great trip and mostly solves the issue for me. I did not know about the filter field and how to activate it but will be using this from now!