doug from stratford upon avon
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Generic smartlists

All of the generic smartlists - recently added, most played, top 25, videos etc etc, the ones that are there  as part of iTunes, have all disappeared. Not the end of the world, I know, but why has this happened and should I restore them (how?) or just carry on?

 

Many thanks.

 

Doug

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 5:11 AM

by turingtest2,Solvedanswer
turingtest2 turingtest2
Level 10 (85,152 points)
iTunes
A:

See Restore Original Smart Playlists for the definitions, or Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash if you want to roll back to an earlier version of your library and don't have a backup that you can restore. Reinstalling iTunes won't fix any issues with the library. Unless something went very wrong our media is probably all still there.

 

tt2

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 6:50 AM

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doug from stratford upon avon

Q: Generic smartlists

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Feb 17, 2016 5:54 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon
    Level 9 (53,643 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 5:54 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon

    You can always re-create them if necessary though it is slightly disturbing they disappeared like that.

  • by doug from stratford upon avon,

    doug from stratford upon avon doug from stratford upon avon Feb 17, 2016 5:58 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 5:58 AM in response to Limnos

    Thank you for your reply. I did think I could re-create them but as you say it was more worrying that they disappeared. From memory, this happened at about the time support were trying to fix a problem with my Apple Watch but I can't see how it was linked. I did try to download iTunes again from the Apple website an I did this correctly although the lists still didnt appear. I suppose that the download would just update the version that was already on  the Mac.....

    I suppose that I could unindtsall iTunes and re-install but I wouldnt know how to get my music library back without copying all my CDs again. Not sure what you think....

    Thanks for your help.

     

    Regards

     

    Doug 

  • by turingtest2,Solvedanswer

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 17, 2016 6:50 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon
    Level 10 (85,152 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 17, 2016 6:50 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon

    See Restore Original Smart Playlists for the definitions, or Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash if you want to roll back to an earlier version of your library and don't have a backup that you can restore. Reinstalling iTunes won't fix any issues with the library. Unless something went very wrong our media is probably all still there.

     

    tt2

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Feb 17, 2016 7:54 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon
    Level 9 (53,643 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 7:54 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon

    The smart playlists are part of the library file (iTunes Library.itl). It may be easier re-creating them using the rules in the link turingtest2 provides rather than restoring the library file unless it is a very recent backup.  The application itself doesn't create these (well, maybe when you create a new library they automatically appear).  I don't know how they could disappear unless somebody accidentally deleted them or if a particular segment of your library file was corrupt (it would have to be very, very specific corruption to not damage the rest of the library).

  • by doug from stratford upon avon,

    doug from stratford upon avon doug from stratford upon avon Feb 17, 2016 7:59 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 7:59 AM in response to turingtest2

    Hello TT2

    Many thanks for your help. The article on restoring the lists is great. I use a Time Capsule for backups of my iMac but this is only recent and after the time when the lists disappeared so it won't be any good to restore from a backup. At this stage I only use music to create my own playlists or listen to music on shuffle. Therefore I don't need to create the lists but I will if I need to be more specific with music tracks. My concern was more with why they had gone!

    Many thanks for your great help.

    Regards

     

    Doug 

  • by doug from stratford upon avon,

    doug from stratford upon avon doug from stratford upon avon Feb 17, 2016 8:02 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 8:02 AM in response to Limnos

    Hello Limnos

    Many thanks for your help. You will see from my reply to TT2 that I won't create the lists again, unless I need to in the future, but thank you for coming back to me. The help from you both has been great!

    Regards

    Doug

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 17, 2016 8:10 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon
    Level 10 (85,152 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 17, 2016 8:10 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon

    You're welcome.

     

    And yes, it certainly is a mystery. I really cannot think why it might have happened by accident that just those lists were deleted. Glad to hear you now have a backup regime in place.

     

    tt2

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Feb 17, 2016 8:18 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon
    Level 9 (53,643 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2016 8:18 AM in response to doug from stratford upon avon

    You're welcome.