Deleting old iTunes playlists if iTunes folder doesn't exist

Roon Core Machine

MacOS 12.4
Roon Core latest version from 10 May.

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Connected Audio Devices

Number of Tracks in Library

Description of Issue

I refer to an older thread

where #Jamie signalled “solution”, while in reality they did not provide a solution.

It is a pity and actually depressing that moderators and also #Jamie don’t read what users reply to their suggestions.

I asked for help regarding deleting old “smart” playlists that were created by iTunes in Roon when the old .xml files don’ exist anymore. Everybody knows that on Macs AppleMusic replaced iTunes and former folders and iTunes files became obsolete and were deleted. So #Jamie requests me to delete iTunes’ .xml files that don’t exist. Given that Roon obviousy preserves an old information about such playlists, while in reality they don’t exist anymore, makes the problem a problem of Roon and not of the depricated iTunes.

This issue is not resolved, I am very sorry.

Hi @WKW,

We sincerely apologize for the miscommunication and for the delay in responding to your previous thread.

It will illuminate the problem if we know your watched folder settings. When you have a moment, in Roon, please navigate to Settings → Storage and take a screenshot of the window that appears when you edit your watched folder/storage location. Specifically, have you selected the option to automatically import iTunes playlists? See below for an example:

Thanks #Connor. Import iTunes Playlists is off. Other playlists was on, but I don’t have other playlists anyway.

There is no upload button for the screenshot, but my answer is hopefully clear.

Upload

Here it is even though it doesn’t contain more information.

Hi @WKW,

I assume you’ve tried a forced rescan of the watched folder already? You can do so from the same popup menu on your watched folder where you opened the screenshot you sent.

Unless there are .xml files which happen to be hidden or the playlists remain in Apple Music, they shouldn’t linger. One reliable troubleshooting option is to set aside your Roon database:

  • Create a Backup of your current database
  • Exit out of Roon
  • Navigate to your Roon Database Location
  • Find the folder that says “Roon”
  • Rename the “Roon” folder to “Roon_old”
  • Reinstall the Roon App from our Downloads Page to generate a new Roon folder
  • Verify if the issue persists on a fresh database before restoring the backup

Let me know if that helps.

A more risky and heavy-handed troubleshooting step would be to manually override files in the watched Music folder with an .xml export from the Apple Music app.

Use these directions to create the XML file export for your Apple Music files.

Name the file Library.xml and save it directly inside the watched folder containing your Apple Music files. You may want to create a backup of Roon and your Music library before proceeding, just for due diligence.

I recommend trying the former option first, resetting your database. We’ll be here to support.

1 Like

Thanks so much anyway. I see that this is going to be a sensitve process that I will do when I have more time.

Hi @WKW,

We’re happy to support if you have any questions. We’ll be paying close attention to this conversation.

While it appears technical, you’re really just renaming the database folder so Roon is forced to create a new one. On Mac OS, this requires the additional step of displaying hidden folders.

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