From the deadwax
Deadwax
Scratched into the run-out groove — practical guides to Apple Music libraries, artwork, metadata, and the engineering behind Private Press.
Start here
Find your next step.
Check what you own
Separate local files from subscription and cloud entries before you make a change.
Find the right edition
Compare release details when the album is right but the pressing may not be.
Keep artwork with your files
See why a cover can follow the app instead of the music file.
Repair a long-kept collection
Learn what legacy tags and embedded pictures ask of an editor.
All articles
A Lossless Decoder Needs More Than Successful Playback
A look at how experimental FLAC decoding checks sample integrity, complete streams, and the file it reads.
→An Update Is Another Thing Your Mac Has to Trust
Signed update information and artifact checks connect the offered release to the application your Mac installs.
→Your Folder Names Should Stay Out of Support Logs
Useful diagnostics can identify a failing collection source without printing its full folder path.
→What Leaves Your Mac When You Click Identify
Identification computes fingerprints locally, then sends specific metadata and identifiers to services that help find a release.
→The Drive Disappeared Halfway Through a Press
An interrupted file replacement needs a recovery record, access to the source, and an honest account of what can be confirmed.
→When Sync Complete Needs Evidence
A successful refresh request is only part of proving that Music has picked up the artwork pressed into your files.
→Twenty Years of Tags Deserve a Careful Editor
Legacy ID3 versions, text encodings, and multiple values need deliberate handling when you repair a long-kept collection.
→Replace the Front Cover. Keep the Booklet.
A cover repair should account for the back covers, booklet pages, and other pictures already stored in a music file.
→Why Plex Shows a Different Cover, and How to Keep Yours
Choose how Plex reads album art, then prepare the files that hold the covers and metadata you want to keep.
→Give Your Collection a Useful Queue
Turn a collection audit into manageable work with batch identification, saved filters, and checks for changed files.
→How Audio Fingerprinting Actually Works
Chromaprint summarizes musical features for identification, while release details still need separate evidence.
→The Right Album Can Still Be the Wrong Edition
Compare release details and distinguish the original album date from the date of the edition you own.
→Before You Cancel Apple Music, Check What You Actually Own
Check local files, subscription tracks, and cloud-only entries before your Apple Music subscription expires.
→Your Metadata Is a Mess (And You Don't Know It Yet)
An album can look complete while its tracks disagree on tags, numbering, and audio quality.
→What Apple Music Library Data Can and Can't Tell You
Apple Music library fields describe tracks and files, but they do not provide a complete ownership verdict for every entry.
→How We Built a FLAC Codec in Pure Swift
Inside Private Press's native Swift FLAC engineering, from shipped metadata editing to a full audio encoder and decoder.
→What Changed in Music.app Automation on macOS Tahoe
macOS Tahoe changed some AppleScript workflows in Music.app. Here is what those changes mean for file-based artwork and automation.
→Built for Collections Worth Protecting
A careful collection workflow starts by seeing what is in your files, reviewing the repair, and keeping the result portable.
→Why Apple Music Artwork May Not Travel With Your Files
Some artwork shown in Music comes from its library or catalog state rather than the audio file. Learn how embedded covers travel with files.
→Your Audio Is Never Re-encoded
How Private Press uses format-specific metadata editors to preserve encoded audio when pressing artwork into supported files.
→The Ecosystem Moved On
Streaming made listening easy. Local collections still need tools for artwork, edition identity, and metadata care.
→From the deadwax
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