‘DJs shouldn’t update to macOS Catalina’

MacOS Catalina launched on 7 October, replacing iTunes with Music. However, Music does not have XML file support, which means DJs can't export music libraries to apps like Serato and Traktor.

Serato and Traktor have already added support for the Music app in their latest public beta versions. But DJs are advised not to update yet until a stable version of the software is rolled out. These apps are especially popular with EDM DJs because they have native libraries that can be translated from one software package into another. This means that an update to macOS Catalina would erase all the data.

Apple has already said there were some major issues with the new update. Therefore, affected consumers should refrain from updating the OS until the issues are addressed. However, Apple says that the change only affects those who use Mac devices; iTunes for Windows has not changed, so DJs using iTunes-connected, XML-centric software on Windows machines are safe.

Fact Magazine reported that Apple had earlier asserted that there would be a way to manually export the XML file from the new Music app, though the operating system software proves this isn’t possible, yet.

With the previous versions of macOS, it was possible for DJs to manually export an XML file with all the songs added to iTunes listed and organised. Any third-party applications could also access that file.

Michael Simmons of the Algoriddim DJ software company told MacRumors that Apple launched an software development kit for circumventing access to iTunes’ XML library several years ago. This means that a fix is possible in theory – it just may take some time for developers to catch up.

Meanwhile, Adobe is recommending that Photoshop and Lightroom Classic users hold off on updating their computers to macOS Catalina.

"You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved and strongly recommend that customers do their own testing on a non-production partition to ensure that new operating systems work with their current hardware and drivers (printing and so forth)," Adobe said.