Macworld - USA (2019-09)

128 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

HELPDESK MAC 911

Where this get tricky,
though, is when you want
to delete an audio file from
iTunes. If you navigate to
the iTunes Music folder or,
for externally stored files, to
their location and then drop
it in the Trash, the iTunes
library is out of date. That
can lead to errors when trying to search for
and play back audio in iTunes.
Instead, you should select an item or
items in iTunes and choose Song → Delete
from Library. This is when you will see a
dialog that might leave you scratching
your head:

Do you want to move the selected song

to the Trash, or keep it in the iTunes

Media folder?

Then in smaller type:

Only files in the iTunes Media folder will

be moved the Trash.

The buttons read Cancel, Keep File,
and Move to Trash.
Apple is hedging its bets:

If one or more files are in the iTunes
Media folder, then clicking Move to Trash
will both remove the listing from the iTunes
library and move the items to the system
Trash.

> If one or more files is referenced by

iTunes, clicking Move to Trash only

removes the listing from iTunes. The file

remains in place.

The difference between Cancel and

Keep File is that Cancel stops everything,

while Keep File doesn’t touch a file if it’s in

the iTunes Media folder, but does remove

the listing from iTunes.

If you have iCloud Music Library

enabled and the file has been uploaded to

iCloud, iTunes displays a different

message which warns about deleting the

audio file or files from every linked device.

CAN’T DOWNLOAD AN APP

UPDATE? IT MIGHT BE TIME TO

UPDATE YOUR MAC

There’s got to be the name for the

paradox that occurs when you’re told by

the Mac App Store that you both have an

update for a free or purchased app and

you can’t install it. Maybe it’s the

Apprisoner’s Dilemma? You might

experience this no-win situation when

iTunes offers a dialog with too many conditionals to help fully

understand what the result will be.