iTunes keeps syncing the same songs to iPod at every sync

Question

iTunes keeps syncing the same songs to iPod at every sync

Hello,

I have Windows XP + iTunes 7.6 + iPod Classic 80GB (1.1 firmware). All the music is on an external USB2.0 drive.

The problem is as follows. Every time I sync my iPod Classic, iTunes deletes approximately 2000-3000 tracks (seemingly at random, i have not found a pattern) and then resyncs those same tracks back to the iPod. So basically, I end up with the same songs after a sync but it takes forever to sync and I'm beating up both my external drive and the ipod's drive doing the actual sync.

I've never had this problem with my iPod 4G. I just got the iPod Classic 2 weeks ago.

Any ideas?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.11), plus dell winxp + a half dozen debian boxes

Posted on Jan 16, 2008 1:24 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Jan 16, 2008 1:27 PM in response to popmonkey.com

Try this...

Select the iPod in iTunes.
Tick Manually manage music.
Click Apply.
Quit iTunes and relaunch it.
Select the iPod and uncheck Manually manage music, then Apply.
Let it sync.

Disconnect it and reconnect it.

Does it sync everything again?

Reply

Answer 2

Jan 16, 2008 10:21 PM in response to Chris CA

it's still syncing 😟

out of curiosity: why do you think this would help?

i was thinking about another possibility. i use Picard to fill in the correct track into from musicbrainz.org db. it never caused a problem before but now i've started embedding album art in the id3 tags. maybe there's a problem there?

Reply

Answer 3

Jan 16, 2008 10:33 PM in response to popmonkey.com

just to clarify. i have not touched the files on disk in 2 weeks. but 2 weeks ago i did add cover art to stuff that itunes couldn't find artwork for... but here's the thing. when i click on the Music link on the ipod while it's syncing, the little sync icons are all over the place. you'd think if the tags were a problem, all the songs from the same album would want to sync. but it's completely random and different every time!

Reply

Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Jan 17, 2008 8:31 AM in response to popmonkey.com

out of curiosity: why do you think this would help?

Because it has worked for me as well as others in the past.

it never caused a problem before but now i've started embedding album art in the id3 tags.

If you change any of the ID3 tag info (including adding album art), it will resync that song.

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 17, 2008 9:24 AM in response to Chris CA

yes i realize that if you change the ID3 tags the files will resync. but i only changed them once. 2 weeks ago. and the songs keep resyncing (random files, nothing predictable) everytime i do a sync. i don't want to muddle the issue, i only brought up the ID3 tag thing in case maybe itunes was having issues with the ID3 standard or something (it wouldn't be the first time).

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 17, 2008 10:00 AM in response to popmonkey.com

Try this. Enable the read-only flags on all the files. Re-synch. Then completely eject the iPod, get out of iTunes and re-connect the iPod. See if it synchs again. The read-only flag will prevent any other programs on your system to inadvertently change the files. All my media files on my system have the read-only bit enabled.

Reply

Answer 7

Jan 17, 2008 11:40 AM in response to SithLordDarth

hey that's a great idea. i think that itunes is having trouble with the embedded artwork touching the files or something whenever itunes loads. i have a file system watcher, i'll set up a filter to show me the writes itunes attempts on startup and during the sync.

great suggestion.

btw, i'm running a tag editor to remove all the artwork right now as well. it'll take a few hours i'll report back when i get this figured out.

Reply

Answer 8

Jan 21, 2008 9:35 AM in response to popmonkey.com

Great!

Besides not allowing iTunes to change my media files, there is also another reason I keep the read-only bit enabled, and that is to track when my initial conversion from CD took place.

Glad it was helpful!

Reply

Answer 9

Jan 21, 2008 12:04 PM in response to popmonkey.com

I solved my problem and wanted to share what I found.

The main thing that I learned was that iTunes does not like artwork embedded in the id3 tag. I used mp3tag ( http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) to remove the artwork from all my mp3 files. I then used iTunes to "add" artwork to all my music again (yes, this was incredibly painful although i had some help from some javascript i wrote to at least automate part of the interface)

This fixed the problem I was having. Syncs are now very fast again and I only have to sync new or changed stuff.

I highly recommend using the read-only flag as suggested by SithLordDarth as a general way to keep your stuff clean.

Reply