earthsenshi
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Q: Songs and playlists gone from itunes, but files still there

I opened up my itunes today and found that all of my custom playlists, in addition to my non-itunes-store-purchased music, have disappeared from the listings.

All my song files are still in the "itunes media" folder, but only the purchased songs still appear in the program. Does anyone know how to fix this?

 

I was running some version of itunes before the icon changed to red. I updated to the latest version, and the problem persists.

Currently using windows 7.

Windows 7

Posted on Feb 22, 2015 3:12 PM

by turingtest2,Solvedanswer
turingtest2 turingtest2
Level 10 (85,885 points)
iTunes
A:

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

 

tt2

Posted on Feb 22, 2015 5:48 PM

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earthsenshi

Q: Songs and playlists gone from itunes, but files still there

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  • Helpful answers

  • by turingtest2,Solvedanswer

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 22, 2015 5:48 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 22, 2015 5:48 PM in response to earthsenshi

    See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 22, 2015 8:35 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2015 8:35 PM in response to turingtest2

    Thank you, that probably would solve the problem.

    However, the last time the library was backed up was July 2014. I have made so many changes since then that a lot of content is still missing or needs to be updated. At least this is a start. Thanks again!

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 3:10 AM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 3:10 AM in response to earthsenshi

    There have been several updates to iTunes since July. Have you passed on those? Did you check for .tmp files?

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 23, 2015 2:58 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 2:58 PM in response to turingtest2

    I only open itunes a few times a month and tend to ignore updates. So, yes, I believe I have passed on most of them. The .tmp files reflect that.
    Oh well, I was considering revamping my whole library anyway. The way itunes organizes music doesn't really work with what I have, so there's a lot to fix.

     

    itunes libraries.JPG

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 3:07 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 3:07 PM in response to earthsenshi

    What are the file sizes of those last few files? By all rights one of them ought to be a valid version of the library. If not the most recent .tmp file of a similar size to the largest .itl file in that folder.

     

    Either way see Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for advice to protect your library in future.

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 23, 2015 3:12 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 3:12 PM in response to turingtest2

    The July 2014 file is the largest at 636 KB. Any .tmp file after that date is missing everything I changed since then. The next most recent is Nov of 2013 at 448 KB.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 3:22 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 3:22 PM in response to earthsenshi

    Then the July file and add the media folder or use iTunes Folder Watch. If you have any Apple devices I have tools for importing ratings, play counts and playlists.

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 23, 2015 4:09 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 4:09 PM in response to turingtest2

    What do you mean by "add the media folder"? All my songs are still in the media folder. I'll look into Folder Watch.

    I have a 2nd gen nano that still has my playlists, but they're not important.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 4:15 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 4:15 PM in response to earthsenshi

    Use File > Add Folder to Library and choose your media folder to add in any new songs not currently listed in the recovered library database. iTFW also has a feature that can scan for and remove any dead links.

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 23, 2015 4:37 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 4:37 PM in response to turingtest2

    Since I did a huge overhaul of my library in October, most entries are coming up as ! (need to locate file). So, I did the File > Add Folder to Library with my media folder, and now I have duplicates of most things with the ! entries with the info, but not actually linked to the file and entries linked to the file with no info. This has turned into a giant mess.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 4:42 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 4:42 PM in response to earthsenshi

    Apple's official advice on duplicates is here: Find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls such as lost ratings and playlist membership, or that sometimes the same file can be represented by multiple entries in the library and that deleting one and recycling the file will break the other.

     

    Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created.  If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.

     

    Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.


    (If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)


     

    The most recent version of the script can tidy dead links as long as there is at least one live duplicate to merge stats and playlist membership to and should cope sensibly when the same file has been added via multiple paths.





    See also Make a split library portable for some thoughts on best practice when it comes to organizing the library and media files.

     

     

    tt2

  • by earthsenshi,

    earthsenshi earthsenshi Feb 23, 2015 6:10 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 6:10 PM in response to turingtest2

    Backed up with SynchToy and used the DeDuper. There are still some duplicates and broken links, but it's at least manageable to do by hand now.

    I still have to redo the clean up I did the past few months, but at least all the new files are still here.  Thank you.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 23, 2015 6:13 PM in response to earthsenshi
    Level 10 (85,885 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 23, 2015 6:13 PM in response to earthsenshi

    You're welcome.

     

    tt2