Hoping for some help with iCloud Music Library

[mic j]

The HD we had all of our music on was lost in a fire. However, I had uploaded all the tracks to the iCloud Music Library. When I go to iTunes, of course, it says it can't locate my local music tracks. And it does not give me the option to listen to tracks from the iCloud Music Library. I'm signed in to iTunes and have the iCloud Music Library turned on (Preferences>General). Can anyone help me figure out why my iTunes doesn't give me the option to listen to the music stored in my iCloud Music Library?

I can play my music from the cloud on my iPhone.

 

[Brookzy]

Select all the relevant tracks. Right click and select Remove Download. Then, download them again.

[To quickly identify all tracks in your library that are available in iCloud but which were lost in the fire, you can create a Smart Playlist with the rule 'iCloud Status is Matched'.]

 

[mic j]

Select all the relevant tracks. Right click and select Remove Download. Then, download them again.

[To quickly identify all tracks in your library that are available in iCloud but which were lost in the fire, you can create a Smart Playlist with the rule 'iCloud Status is Matched'.]

Matched and Uploaded, right?

 

[NoBoMac]

Matched and Uploaded, right?

Yes, but, believe the option in Smart Playlist is like "not on this computer" vs Uploaded.

EDIT: might not need the Matched condition.

 

[Brookzy]

Matched and Uploaded, right?

I was under the impression that if you lose the local copy, you can't redownload uploaded tracks, but hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[mic j]

I guess I wasn't clear in my description of what I am trying to achieve. Let me give it another go...

I don't want to redownload the tracks, just play them from the cloud. I have a backup of all the tracks but the MBP I have does not have a large enough internal HDD to house them all. So I was just wanting to play them, like I play them on my iPhone. Right now, I can play a track from the cloud but only one at a time that I select and tell it to Play. Then it comes up with the error that it can't find the original and asks me if I want to find it. I select cancel and then the track starts to play from the cloud. This process gets pretty tedious for a couple thousand tracks. So I am looking for a way to go from 1 track at a time to playing a batch of tracks from the cloud.

Hope this clarification helps.

 

[Rigby]

Right now, I can play a track from the cloud but only one at a time that I select and tell it to Play. Then it comes up with the error that it can't find the original and asks me if I want to find it. I select cancel and then the track starts to play from the cloud. This process gets pretty tedious for a couple thousand tracks. So I am looking for a way to go from 1 track at a time to playing a batch of tracks from the cloud.

It sounds like you are still using your original iTunes library, even though the actual music files are gone (were they on an external drive?). If that's the case, the library still points to the local files which aren't there anymore, which produces the error. Assuming you are certain that there are no local files anymore, try selecting all songs and using right-click/Remove Downloads on them. That should delete the references to the missing local files.

If that doesn't work, you can build a new library. Quit iTunes and rename your Music/iTunes folder to "iTunes-Old" or similar (so you have a backup). When you now start iTunes again, it should prompt you to create a new empty library. Turn on iCloud Music Library again if necessary, and it'll populate the new library with your cloud songs.

 

[mic j]

It sounds like you are still using your original iTunes library, even though the actual music files are gone (were they on an external drive?). If that's the case, the library still points to the local files which aren't there anymore, which produces the error. Assuming you are certain that there are no local files anymore, try selecting all songs and using right-click/Remove Downloads on them. That should delete the references to the missing local files.

If that doesn't work, you can build a new library. Quit iTunes and rename your Music/iTunes folder to "iTunes-Old" or similar (so you have a backup). When you now start iTunes again, it should prompt you to create a new empty library. Turn on iCloud Music Library again if necessary, and it'll populate the new library with your cloud songs.

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, the files were on an external drive hooked up to our AEBS. The library pointed to that drive but now points to the MBP internal drive, which does not contain any of the files but obviously iTunes still has all the original pathways. So I will try out your suggestion to repopulate the library with the iCloud Music Library files.

Fingers crossed.

 

[mic j]

It sounds like you are still using your original iTunes library, even though the actual music files are gone (were they on an external drive?). If that's the case, the library still points to the local files which aren't there anymore, which produces the error. Assuming you are certain that there are no local files anymore, try selecting all songs and using right-click/Remove Downloads on them. That should delete the references to the missing local files.

If that doesn't work, you can build a new library. Quit iTunes and rename your Music/iTunes folder to "iTunes-Old" or similar (so you have a backup). When you now start iTunes again, it should prompt you to create a new empty library. Turn on iCloud Music Library again if necessary, and it'll populate the new library with your cloud songs.

Thank you, thank you!! You're suggestion of doing the Remove Downloads solved the problem. From what you said (and what it did), I know that it removed the old track pathway but I have to say, I never would have thought to click on "Remove Downloads" to accomplish that.

Can you explain why that does what it does, since the files in the iTunes library were not downloads but actual files on a hard drive?

Have had to rebuild any Playlist that referenced those tracks, but I guess that's a small price to pay.

 

[Rigby]

Thank you, thank you!! You're suggestion of doing the Remove Downloads solved the problem. From what you said (and what it did), I know that it removed the old track pathway but I have to say, I never would have thought to click on "Remove Downloads" to accomplish that.

Can you explain why that does what it does, since the files in the iTunes library were not downloads but actual files on a hard drive?

For each song the iTunes library (the .itl file) contains a unique identifier (which is used to identify the song in the cloud library) and, if a local file exists, a path to that file. This essentially links the local file to the song in the cloud library. It doesn't matter if this file was actually downloaded or is one of your own original files that was used to seed the cloud library. If you use the "Remove Download" option it does two things: It deletes the local file if it exists, and it removes the path to the file from the library. The latter effectively unlinks the cloud song from the no longer existing local file in your case.

If you want to know more about the library format, you can export it to XML for easy viewing in a text editor.

 

[mic j]

For each song the iTunes library (the .itl file) contains a unique identifier (which is used to identify the song in the cloud library) and, if a local file exists, a path to that file. This essentially links the local file to the song in the cloud library. It doesn't matter if this file was actually downloaded or is one of your own original files that was used to seed the cloud library. If you use the "Remove Download" option it does two things: It deletes the local file if it exists, and it removes the path to the file from the library. The latter effectively unlinks the cloud song from the no longer existing local file in your case.

If you want to know more about the library format, you can export it to XML for easy viewing in a text editor.

Thanks for the explanation. You're always helpful!