Simple Fixes to Can’t Add Music to iTunes Issue

According to the customer feedback from our support team, many of our users are faced with “Can’t add music to iTunes”, or “Can't drag music into iTunes” issues when importing music into iTunes library. I looked up for related information at discussion.apple.com, Quora and some similar forums for an overall solution – There isn’t any. The reasons that iTunes won't add music to library vary, so do the solutions.

Cause 1. iTunes Unsupported Music File Types: If the format of the music file is not supported by iTunes, then it can't be added to iTunes.

Cause 2. Corrupted Music Files: You won't be able to add music to iTunes or any other players if the music file is corrupted.

Cause 3. Misoperation on the Music to iTunes Addition: You add the music to iTunes in the wrong way.

Cause 4. Haven’t Updated iTunes for a Long Time: The outdated iTunes version may contain bugs that cause you to have problems when adding music to iTunes.

Cause 5. Rights-managed AAC Files: If the music does not have a copyright, iTunes will not let you add it.

Cause 6. iTunes Slow Response: No problems with the file format or other operations, just the issue with iTunes itself.

Rare as it might be, it happens. Have you processed your audio files with some unreliable converter? Some accident happened during the audio recording? The audio files are downloaded from websites and they are oddly small in size?

Ring a bell? That could be your cause.

Seek for the back-up with intact data, if there is any. If isn’t, try to repair your corrupted music files so that they can be properly recognized by iTunes.

Recommended audio repair tool software:

Free: VLC

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Paid: Accusonus ERA Bundle Pro (Discontinued)

https://accusonus.com/products/audio-repair

See also: Repair MP4 File | Audio Sync Problem

For some users who are not quite familiar with iTunes and just transfer music to or set ringtone for iPhone with it occasionally, misoperation would be a common mistake. Here are the correct steps to add music to iTunes. Check whether you’ve done wrong and follow the right steps as follows to re-add your music and see if that works.

Step 1. Open iTunes, sign in your account (Tips: Account > Sign out > Re-sign in. That fixes the issue in some scenarios).

Step 2. Select “File” tab > Select “Add File to Library” or “Add Folder to Library”.

Step 3. Navigate to the corresponding folder and add the right file/folder.

Step 4. Select Music from file types section > Check the newest addition at library – “Recently Added”

With iTunes in extremely old versions, it’s a frequent problem that you can’t add songs to iTunes. There are several optimizations every time iTunes updates. The later the version, the less problem you might come across. So, keep up with the latest version is a good habit.

iTunes > Help > Check for Updates, to get the latest version.