Lost a 20+ year iTunes library when upgrading to iPhone 17 Pro Max...

[FluffyDog6]

I recently moved a library of music from an older iPhone to a new one via the built-in process in the "Music" App running on an M5 MacBook Pro.

Now, all the album art is scrambled and none of the lovingly-curated playlists, made over 20+ years, have survived the transition.

All the music themselves files made it across (with scrambled art), but over 7500 songs without the playlists is almost useless.

I still have the (I think they are labeled) .MU8e playlists on the old phone.

How can I get this all back together? (Most concerned about getting the playlists relinked to their files -- not that worried about the art.)

Is this what finally drives me into the warm, loving embrace of Spotify? Is it?

Thank you.

 

[Basic75]

Please also go to apple.com/feedback and tell them about your experience.

 

[FluffyDog6]

Please also go to apple.com/feedback and tell them about your experience.

OK; I have done that. However, I doubt they will be reaching out to me anytime soon.

My experience at the Genius Bar at Crabtree Mall in Raleigh is that it takes weeks to get an appointment, and I work nights. (Need my beauty sleep.) Being the typical first-world consumer, I want it and I want it RIGHT-NOW.

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My frighteningly limited insight into this is that the playlist files are not referencing the same file locations on the new phone. The playlists are on the new phone, but they don't show up in the Music App, only the song files themselves.

I may have cried. Not gonna' lie.

 

[Basic75]

Unfortunately Apple doesn't document the iTunes database format, but there are third-party tools like iMazing that might be able to help.