vilennon

Q: Why did iTunes 11.1 (126) delete all (SEVERAL HUNDRED) Podcasts?

I update to iTunes 11.1 (126), update my iPhone 4 to iOS7, synched my iPhone. iTunes began to load Podcasts onto the limited space of my iPhone until clicked "x" to stop. I had previously set my iPhone to be managed manually so that I can choose what to put in the limited space. I set iTunes to allow me to manually update my iPhone *again*, synched it and went on about my afternoon.

 

When I came back to iTunes I see that it has taken it upon itself to DELETE ALL OF MY PODCASTS! Everything is missing. All of my carefully cultivated selections are simply missing, not even retrievable from the Trash. Even if I had the patience to download and sort out the SEVERAL HUNDRED podcasts again I do not have unlimited bandwidth. I will have to repeat listen to hundreds of podcasts to determine which ones I've already heard. What will this do to the podcasters themselves when they wonder why loyal listeners are dropping off? Should I email each podcaster and say, "I can't take the time sort out your hundreds of episodes AGAIN, so I guess I'll just stop listening." ?

 

Honestly, how could anyone think this kind of faceless automation was a good thing? I have been an Apple user long enough to remember the phrase, "It's not a bug, it's a feature" but I don't know how you can fix this.

iTunes, Mac OS X (10.7.5), iPhone 4

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 6:12 PM

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Q: Why did iTunes 11.1 (126) delete all (SEVERAL HUNDRED) Podcasts?

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  • by FlameFlash,

    FlameFlash FlameFlash Sep 23, 2013 7:31 AM in response to mrkorb
    Level 1 (108 points)
    Sep 23, 2013 7:31 AM in response to mrkorb

    And the problem is it doesn't even have to be fully played.  A partial play will inspire it to be deleted too.

  • by millsii,

    millsii millsii Sep 25, 2013 11:20 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 25, 2013 11:20 PM in response to vilennon

    Try this link https://discussions.apple.com/message/23168763#23168763 these guys seem to have the same problem and managed to sort it.

     

    Good Luck!

  • by sfriday,

    sfriday sfriday Sep 27, 2013 7:23 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2013 7:23 PM in response to vilennon

    I had about 50 GB's worth of playlists removed from my computer as well. The main reason I stuck with the iPhone on my recent phone renewal is I loved iTunes' podcast set up.  Now with the update I can't even play podcasts from my phone without using an additional app and I have to re-download a ton of content to my computer (and then again to my phone via the app unless I want to stream them).  I REALLY wish I didn't just renew my contract or else I'd be jumping ship from Apple.  This is ridiculous and I couldn't be more disappointed.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Sep 27, 2013 7:32 PM in response to sfriday
    Level 10 (85,808 points)
    iPod
    Sep 27, 2013 7:32 PM in response to sfriday

    Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash covers the common post-update corruption of the library. This will normally restore missing playlists. However you should always have a complete backup of the library and media files so that you can restore everything in case of disaster.

     

    tt2

  • by Judy__,

    Judy__ Judy__ Sep 28, 2013 4:57 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 4:57 PM in response to vilennon

    I have the opposite problem. I cannot delete podcasts from this version of iTunes. If I do a shift delete to send them to the recycle bin they simply reload again. And if I put a pause all on the download process then it simply pauses for a little bit and after a minute or two it starts downloading them all again and any new ones that might be available. So I can add podcasts but cannot delete any. My line has a data cap that is not very generous so, needless to say, this does NOT make me a happy camper. Does anyone know of another  software package that handles podcasts/playlists decently?? This is the last straw for using iTunes. And their bug-fixes - er, feature fixes - take forever. I currently have over 8GB of podcasts that will not go away and I've tried just about everything including a reinstall.

     

    I guess if I had one of their phones it would be worse. 

     

    I have the library backed up on Carbonite so I hope that will suffice. Carbonite is worth its weight in gold.

  • by vilennon,

    vilennon vilennon Sep 28, 2013 8:18 PM in response to Judy__
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 8:18 PM in response to Judy__

    If iTunes can't delete the files you may have a permissions problem. You can try fixing permissions with the Disk Utilitiy app or AppleJack. See if that alleviates the problem.

  • by Lost in Asia,

    Lost in Asia Lost in Asia Sep 28, 2013 8:30 PM in response to Judy__
    Level 3 (623 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 28, 2013 8:30 PM in response to Judy__

    Judy_, I've found that to delete podcasts **in iTunes 11.1**, you need to mark them as played, and then resync. The podcasts should disappear that way. Don't delete them from your system at all - just mark them as played.

     

    Deleting them doesn't permanently remove them, presumably because Apple somehow decides "Oh, you've deleted that, and therefore you've made a mistake, so we'll just add it back to your library." Absolutely bizarre setup, but that's the way it seems to be now.

     

    I've investigated other podcast apps a bit, but it seems like there isn't anything out there that does a good job of syncing iTunes and iOS podcasts - if you want just iTunes, or just iOS, there are possibilities, but the ones that do both seem to have reviews only slightly more positive than iTunes.

  • by August Berkshire,

    August Berkshire August Berkshire Sep 28, 2013 9:43 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 9:43 PM in response to vilennon

    My solution has been to unsubscribe to all podcasts in iTunes. Then, to update them, click on the podcast title, do control-click, then select Refresh Podcast (second one down on the drop-down menu). This is a laborious process, having to do the podcasts one by one, but remining unsubscribed seems to keep the Apple Store from meddling where I don't waht it. Then I sync it with my iPhone and I'm set.

     

    In your iPhone, in the Podcasts app - select a podcast, go into its Settings, and shut off Subscriptions. Under Episodes to Keep select All.  Don't worry, you can still delete them manually on your iPhone or in iTunes and they'll stay gone so long as Subscriptions are turned off in both iTunes and on the iPhone.

     

    I have been saying iPhone because that's what I use, but this should work for iPad and iPod Touch as well.

  • by Judy__,

    Judy__ Judy__ Sep 28, 2013 10:17 PM in response to Lost in Asia
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 10:17 PM in response to Lost in Asia

    I've tried that and a number of other strategies too. It doesn't stop the problem. I currently have all podcasts set to only manually update... a pain but better than the bizarre setup of 11.1.0.126 which uses vast amounts of my data cap and hard drive..

     

    I've tried VLC and Tomahawk but resetting all my playlists in either would be a formidable task. Both are written for purposes that are not my purposes. They are wonderful considering they are produced by volunteers but neither is  business oriented. Tomahawk does not have very many fields for setting up smart  news playlists - like release date for example.. VLC has some of the same types of limitations even if I wanted to redo all my smart playllists.

     

    iTunes can export playlists as OPML but I can't figure out how to import that info into VLC or Tomahawk. If I have some time free  I may read the manuals -- none of the keywords  I have tried have pulled up the relevant info.

     

    Maybe Windows Media Player is worth a try next. 

  • by Judy__,

    Judy__ Judy__ Sep 28, 2013 10:21 PM in response to August Berkshire
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 10:21 PM in response to August Berkshire

    The key word is laborious. Ugh! But that is essentially what I have also had to do. This dumb stuff is what the devices are supposed to do - not the humans.

  • by MrThorley,

    MrThorley MrThorley Sep 30, 2013 11:03 AM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2013 11:03 AM in response to vilennon

    I followed turingtest2's advice a couple of times but to no avail.

     

    In my case, the problem seemed to be that iTunes would always insist on picking up the .itl library file in the default location (ie. on my C drive) rather than on a different interal drive. Even after changing the location of my iTunes Media folder I still couldn't get iTunes to recognise the backup copy of 'iTunes Library.itl'.

     

    1. So, I deleted the iTunes folder from my C drive because this was only created after a fresh install.
    2. I then restarted iTunes by holding down the 'shift' key. This allows you to select the library file before iTunes opens.
    3. I then selected my original 'iTunes Library.itl' from the D drive where I have all my music and previous iTunes installation stored.
    4. After a few seconds iTunes loaded and everything's back to normal.
    5. Sigh.

     

    Hope that helps!

  • by Mike SM,

    Mike SM Mike SM Sep 30, 2013 7:58 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2013 7:58 PM in response to vilennon

    iTunes for windows physically deleted all the podcasts (70GB) leaving the podcast menu and podcast folder on the hard drive absolutely empty. I have already been hurt by buggy iTunes versions, and I saved iTunes library folder by Memeo backup software and the system image including user/music/iTunes folder by windows build-in backup.

    After a few hours of computer restore work I reverted back to iTunes 11.0.5 and I recovered the erased podcast folder.

    Hopefully Apple software team acknowledged the impact on the user community. Hopefully they are working on the fix and more robust QA process will be implemented.

    Waiting for more stable iTunes 11.1.x before upgrading the devices to iOS 7.

  • by Terrorsteel,

    Terrorsteel Terrorsteel Oct 4, 2013 7:35 AM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 4, 2013 7:35 AM in response to vilennon

    Well, it looks like Apple finally fixed it. However, having gone through this horrible experience with Apple, I will be waiting a few days before installing. Right now, I can deal with the devil I've downloaded. Apple Computers has made me wary of the devil I may yet install. Watching this thread to see if people braver (or with better back-ups) than me report good news or/and bad news.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Oct 4, 2013 7:49 AM in response to Terrorsteel
    Level 10 (85,808 points)
    iPod
    Oct 4, 2013 7:49 AM in response to Terrorsteel

    The new build fixes the problem of all old episodes being displayed, but still allows you to access them if you want to. I'm not sure if any change has been made to the Sync podcast subscriptions, settings and stations behaviour but I'm not about to test it again.

     

    tt2

  • by Mike SM,

    Mike SM Mike SM Oct 4, 2013 8:10 PM in response to vilennon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2013 8:10 PM in response to vilennon

    The files are physically deleted. It is not a display issue. It tells that software architecture is terrible. It should ask for delete confirmation like when a song is deleted from music database. It deletes podcast files silently from hard drive while user is not aware.

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