I will be upgrading from High Sierra on my 2011 iMac to Sonoma on my new M3 iMac. Of course, this means my old iTunes no longer exists on current Macs. So will the transfer of my music library simply be reorganized within the new Music app, and will it also carry over my existing playlists?
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iTunes (High Sierra) to Music (Sonoma) migration…
- Thread starter Warped9
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My content transitioned fine, and local Music app continues to use the local file structure, and auth'ing devices remains the same. On the other hand, desktop Music app is even more appalling to use, obviously designed by committee - whose members all hate each other.
For example (can't remember how much of this happened in High Sierra):
- The desktop Music app doesn't manage your iPhone (iPod?) content and sync -- that functionality has migrated to the FINDER.
- Search context constantly switches to the Music Store and Music+ streaming service (there is a setting to tone down the Music+ presence).
- Sort order is different on the desktop app than on the phone app.
- Iconography is vague and the pale grey is too pale.
- At some point, it became possible to end up with only the PREVIEW of a song, rather than the entire song you just purchased in the store.
Bummer. I’m so used to how iTunes works. Not being able to manage the content on my Phone (when plugged in) strikes me as incredibly stupid.
They need someone with a Steve Jobs‘ mindset: “How is this supposed to work? Then wtf doesn’t it work that way?”
Apparently you can still use iTunes. Someone posted this in another thread and clued me into it.
You can STILL USE iTunes with new m-series Macs, if you want to.
How to do it:
Use the free utility "Retroactive" to install and modify iTunes. I've tried it and it works all the way up to Sonoma (Retroactive may tell you that it's "untested" for Sonoma, but it still does the job).
Get it here:
Release Retroactive 2.0 · cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive
Retroactive 2.0 improves compatibility with macOS Ventura and macOS Monterey: Resolves a problem where iPhoto quits unexpectedly on macOS Monterey 12.3 or later Fixes an issue where Full Disk Acce...github.com
Please pardon my lack of clarity, here: You can most definitely manage your iPhone and iPod music content; it's just that particular toolset is now surfaced in the finder. The UI even looks like iTunes, so there's that. And the Finder is totally linked into Music, TV and Books apps. It's not altogether as good as I might have designed it, of course
. Give Apple's more modern implementation a fair try; it might gel for you. Retroactive was a decent effort, but I would not use it now, on any Mac connected to the internet. It might still work, but it gets deep into the relationship between your Mac and any phones you connect. You need to be super skeptical (perhaps paranoid?) about ANY APP that requires you to override Apple's Gatekeeper. Running old code is categorically like taping a "Hack Me" sign to your backside.
Back in the old days before they invented "Not Yours", I found out that if you put an Alias of the "iTunes" folder in the whatever folder it was in then. You could store the whole database anywhere. Mine were on central servers. We really didn't have NAS yet . . .
These days, I'd have no idea. Just a butt ton of music on Amazon Music. And just as many iTunes backups. But most all x.0 releases of the App would screw up my very carefully curated content. I've ventured thinking of looking into "Apple Music", but my ADHD gets in the way. That's the only excuse I can think of.
These days, I'd have no idea. Just a butt ton of music on Amazon Music. And just as many iTunes backups. But most all x.0 releases of the App would screw up my very carefully curated content. I've ventured thinking of looking into "Apple Music", but my ADHD gets in the way. That's the only excuse I can think of.
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