Music App only playing half or part of imported songs

[noiseboy]

Hello -

Running MacOS Monterey 12.2.1, Music v1.2.2.40 on MBP M1 2020

I do not subscribe to Apple Music, and all my music files are available locally in my computer's HD.

Over the past months, I've noticed that files that have been added via "drag-and-drop" as well as using the menus import function (File Menu, Import) will add the songs into the Music app, but the app is only playing HALF the track or so before skipping to the next track.

I've checked the start and stop times for each track, and I've also opened the file in Finder to find that the full track plays in the preview window of Finder.

I'm at wits end about this - I've used iTunes/Music since 2008 with the same library file and have hundreds of playlists and smart playlists that are based on track plays etc - so I do not want to start all over again.

Any help here?

 

[cjmnews]

The usual culprit for this is a dying drive.

You could try using the Apple Diagnostic to test it. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731

There should be a Disk Utility that could show there are bad sectors or something similar.

You can also look at the System Information in the Storage section to see it SMART Status has an error state. There is also a Logs section under the Software section. There may be errors in Disc recording log or Filesystem repair log.

An Apple Store will be able to help more. If you don’t have a backup, you should try to make one immediately. Though I am not sure it will be successful.

 

[noiseboy]

I've used Apple Diagnostic and also checked my HDD via Disk Utility, and SMART functions are verified, so it's not the drive that I can see.

The problem does replicate in safe mode.

Also, just to be clear - the full tracks play outside the Music app, so they are being imported into my Music folder correctly and the full track is available. This does not, however, affect any of my files from years past, just something from the past couple months.

 

[cjmnews]

That is the typical cause, not the always cause. Hopefully you got a backup anyway.

The problem replicating in Safe mode indicates it is not likely an external process interrupting the audio stream. Probably something in the operating system itself, a down side of embedding applications in the OS.

It is odd that only the new music has this issue. I would think this would replicate with any music, pointing to an issue in the Music app or Finder itself.

Being new music indicates there may be a codec difference, or if your "older" music is very old, encryption versus not-encrypted or lesser AAC vs better AAC.

I assume you can replicate the issue when offline (no WiFi or Ethernet connection active), if you can play the entire track inside Music and outside Music offline, the track is fine.

When I was failing to replicate the problem, I was using 256 bit AAC music I had imported from my primary iTunes Library that imported the tracks from a disc.

Are these MP3 files? Are they Variable Bit Rate or Constant Bit Rate? What is the quality level? What was used to rip the tracks? What is the source of the tracks?

There used to be code in iTunes (now Music) to recognize tracks from LimeWire and refuse to play them (now I am showing my 16 years here on this site). There have been problems with low quality VBR MP3 tracks in the past. If you can't replicate offline, it could be Music talking to Apple (uploading data about your library) that could be causing the issue.