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#1 2008-07-07 3:26 pm
Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
Here's a weird one... Today, I noticed I couldn't change info on a few songs in my iTunes library. Never noticed anything like that before... so, I checked permissions on the actual file and found some weirdness.
There are three users and I'm not one of them:
_unknown Read & Write
(unknown) Read only
everyone Read only
For some reason, I can only change the permissions on the music files one at a time. Clicking the folder they're all in and applying the permissions to enclosed items doesn't work.
Also, when I make myself the owner of the file, the _unknown user disappears.
How can I change the permissions on all of my music files to make sure they work properly!? Apparently, I've had the wrong permissions on a few files for over a year, which means changes I made to the songs in iTunes didn't happen. I should mention that all of my iTunes files are on an external drive (and backed up to another external drive)
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#2 2008-07-10 8:11 pm
- ColourClassic
- Now in Colour
- From: OZ
- Registered: 2004-05-19
- Posts: 743
- Website
Re: Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
I'm pretty sure those files are DRM protected.
Last edited by ColourClassic (2008-07-10 8:12 pm)
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#3 2008-07-10 8:55 pm
- mrreet2001
- Member
- From: NW Ohio
- Registered: 2005-05-25
- Posts: 2751
Re: Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
ColourClassic wrote:
I'm pretty sure those files are DRM protected.
Drm has nothing to do with the file permissions
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#4 2008-07-10 11:23 pm
- ephemeron
- Member
- Registered: 2003-06-23
- Posts: 225
Re: Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
ColourClassic wrote:
I'm pretty sure those files are DRM protected.
DRM'ed files should have the .m4p extension rather than .m4a.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what could have caused the permissions issues. As for fixing them, have you tried "Apply to enclosed items" from the gear menu in the enclosing folder's "Get Info" window?
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#5 2008-07-11 11:43 am
Re: Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
Just for the record, The files in question are MP3s. I tried countless times to use the finder to fix permissions on all files enclosed within my main music folder. I always got a progress bar that appeared to show the changes being made, but the permissions on the individual files remained unchanged. I could only fix them one at a time. Bizarre!
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#6 2008-07-11 12:03 pm
- Chickenhawk
- Friends don't let friends hunt drunk
- From: The bad air state
- Registered: 2005-06-01
- Posts: 4993
Re: Can't change permissions on some m4a music files
If you're not too afraid of the terminal...
Navigate to the directory your files are within in the terminal, and enter:
sudo chown [username] *.m4a
chmod 755 *.m4a
These should do the trick if you navigate to the folder they're within in the terminal. replace [username] with your username. It will first give ownership to all m4a files in the folder you're in to you, and then it will give owner rwx permissions, group rx permissions, and guest rx permissions.
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