Exporting Music files

[Bob Marsden]

Catalina [10.16.3] changed iTunes to Music. I can get track files into Music, but not out. I converted an aiff-c track to MP3 (the music student I want to listen to the track can’t play .aiff tracks), but I can’t get it out of Music onto the desktop or into any folder. When I drag it out it just twangs back. If I copy, it makes a blurgh sound and nothing happens when I paste it. Can anyone tell me how I can get the tracks I own out of Music?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

-When dragging out of the iTunes window, do you wait a moment for the icon to have a green circle with + in it before trying to drop it?
-Can you copy other files to those locations?

Sounds like it may be some form of permissions issue, as it should work the same as it did in iTunes.

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

I went to “View” and opened “View Options” to show “File kind” (because hitherto I couldn’t tell which track file had been converted to MPEG audio).

I tried dragging a file from Music/Songs to a desktop folder, and no green circle appeared, only a red one with ‘1” inside it. The file twanged back when I dropped it.

However, when I copied the file, it pasted into the destination folder when I dropped it, which it wouldn’t do before.

So half the problem is solved if I can send the track [“It don’t mean a thing”: Getz/Gillespie/Peterson - staggering virtuosity] to Joshua, the rock guitar proponent, who has just got into Hull University to study music, and he can play it (not on one of his guitars, yet). [9.50pm GMT: file emailed - I’ll let you know the response]

 

[Bob Marsden]

File transfer successful. Thanks Cory for your suggestions - iTunes/Music presents me with byzantine unintuitiveness. The drag n' drop twangback is mysterious to me. Perhaps it's because I don't "consume" music commercially the way we're supposed to.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries.

Does the song file have the / forward slashes in the name - “It don’t mean a thing”: Getz/Gillespie/Peterson - staggering virtuosity? If so, that may affect the drag and drop, since slashes are used by the OS to signify directories.

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

The file title is “It Don’t Mean A Thing” - the rest are my complementary [& complimentary] addenda not appearing in the title in Music.

In “Recently Added” the title is exactly as written above inside the inverted commas. In “Songs” there’s an ellipsis after it - “…”. Whatever the ellipses indicate are omitted aren’t available to me - I have no way of filling them in. [all titles in “Songs” have ellipses; none in “Recently Added” do] There are no slashes in any titles. Baffling.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

The ellipsis are probably there, because the Name column isn't expanded all the way to see the entire song title. If you position your mouse on the bar at the right of the name column, it will change to a line with a left and right arrow - you can double-click, and it will expand the column to the maximum size of the longest song title.

Still strange you can't drag and drop the song though. Maybe make a folder on your Desktop and try to drop it there?

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

I have expanded the name column, and even “Bartók: The Wooden Prince, SZ 60 - 6. The Princess Pulls & Tugs At The Wooden Prince & Tries To Make Him Dance …” has an ellipse, as does “Track 14 …”. Ellipses don’t expand so I don’t know what they’re there for.

It was a folder on the desktop that I tried unsuccessfully to drop the file into, but successfully pasted the copied file into.

Perhaps iTunes and Music were designed to be obnoxious, thwarting and incomprehensible.

If I can keep on copying & pasting I should be OK to compile a packet of good melodies from the past 3 centuries for my great nieces who are 6 and 8. They’ll dance to them.

 

[Cory Cooper]

That title is quite long...maybe it actually reached the "limit". I know that many classical pieces have very long names, due to having the composer, symphony, movement, key, etc.

You should still be able to drag and drop, as it works on my Catalina Mac. At least the copy/paste is working for you. I still think there must be something with permissions, but diagnosing that can be tricky and there may be some changes in Catalina that I am not yet aware of.

C