Songs Disappearing from iTunes

@DR76. Thanks! That was one of the things I was advised was the cause of the problem as well. So I took my newly purchased Retina MacBook Pro back to my local Apple store who gave it a clean bill of health. So we come back to iTunes - have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zfEMmgcuNc and other posts. This is happening everyday to thousands and thousands of Apple customers

@Ukhutula Unfortunately that's the extent of my experience with this issue. Considering you've ruled out hardware, it's got to be software related. Wishing you the best with finding a solution or alternative music manager.

I'd agree that turing off the option to Keep iTunes Media folder organized is likely to be a good idea if this has happened, since that should be the only feature that tells iTunes it should move anything. What would be useful however is to find a concrete reproduceable situation in which the tracks are restored to a known path, then disappear again when played. This might help to pinpoint the circumstances in which it happens. Not having seen if for myself it is hard to guess what is going on, or why it only seems to affect some people.

One possible area I can see for confusion is that Windows can present the same file on multiple paths, via mapped network drives, symbolic links and junctions. This is an issue for a deduping routine that I wrote that expects two tracks with different file paths to be independent objects, but deleting one caused the other to disappear. I don't have access to the iTunes code, but as far as I know it should be using a file move command to move things around inside the media folder, if & when it determines that they need moving, and should only delete any folders emptied as a result of a file move.

I can see how this sort of thing might break links if there are duplicate entries in the library pointing to the same set of files, then the location is updated for one entry, breaking the other, but I still can't think of a mechanism that would discard files at random.

tt2

You've been very helpful on this thread, TT, but I think the issue is, Apple's customers shouldn't be the ones having to jump through hoops to solve a problem involving THEIR software. It's like having a radio that keeps changing stations and the manufacturer expects YOU to disassemble it and rewire the connections. I have a large library that includes 6,000 songs I downloaded from iTunes, along with thousands I've ripped from CDs. After spending weeks trying to remedy this problem, one fix morphed into another different kind of problem. It makes me wonder if some rogue code has gotten into their product.

I have abandoned my iPod and I plan to do the same for my iPhone and iPad mini when the time comes.

Anyone with this issue can send comments and suggestions to iTunes Feedback or sign up for a free Apple Developer Connection account and make use of Apple's Bug Reporter site. The problem is getting a precise handle on exactly what happens and when. If you can show that you make it happen repeatedly for a given set of conditions then there is something to report. Otherwise it is extremely difficult to get someone else to accept that the software is faulty when it, presumably, passes the in-house tests.

tt2

Personally, I've spent hours on the telephone to Apple Support trying to get to the bottom of it. It was during one of those calls when, having been told that this kind of thing has never happened to anyone else before, that I Googled the subject matter. The support person wasn't interested in the thousands of other similar incidents the search revealed and just ignored me when I suggested that they try the search themselves.

What is the point in a customer sending in comments and suggestions via I-Tunes Feedback? Clearly the company is aware of the problem and clearly the company does not want to acknowledge it.

I have posted repeatable steps (at least they're repeatable for me) to reproduce the problem. I have also sent them to Apple via the links for feedback. Problem is, Apple won't call me on the phone because my iPod is "out of service" and I'm not going to pay them to debug their issue. If / when I get a new Apple device I will try to reproduce the problem at that time and if successful I can call for support.

Apple only supports their hardware, they don't offer support of iTunes by itself.

You'd be suprised, or maybe you wouldn't, how difficult it can be to get a message through to someone who can actually take such an issue on board. Until some critial mass is reached it is all too easy to dismiss the problem as something the end user is doing wrong. If yours doesn't fit in the list of known issues their scripts let them discuss then your problem doesn't exist. I'm not saying it is right, just that it's like a flea trying to attact the attention of an elephant, and it doesn't matter if the elephant is Apple, Google, Microsoft, Ford, etc. it will always be the same. If Apple really are aware of the problem then I'd expect it to get fixed. Perhaps that critical mass hasn't been reached yet. They tend to be fairly tight lipped both before and after any fix. "Various bug fixes" may be the only indication that something has changed, but they've no vested interest in not fixing software which is causing problems for their customers.

tt2

Dave Rathbun wrote:

I have posted repeatable steps (at least they're repeatable for me) to reproduce the problem. I have also sent them to Apple via the links for feedback. Problem is, Apple won't call me on the phone because my iPod is "out of service" and I'm not going to pay them to debug their issue. If / when I get a new Apple device I will try to reproduce the problem at that time and if successful I can call for support.

Apple only supports their hardware, they don't offer support of iTunes by itself.

Post them here. If I can reproduce the problem I'll file a bug report with the details. I'm also prepared to run follow up tests and update the report after each build is released until it is fixed.

tt2

turing, I believe I have posted them in this very topic, which is why I am still getting email reminders of replies. 🙂 I have resisted upgrading my iTunes lately because once I get something stable I have finally learned to avoid changes. In my case, the songs were deleted only during the sync process, and only if I had the "reduce bits to 128" setting turned on, and even then it would only happen the very first time I synced new songs that I had ripped. I even tried ripping the tracks and then marking them as "Read Only" which either (a) should have prevented iTunes from deleting them, or (b) at the very least I would have expected an error message. But no, the songs still got deleted on the first sync. After restoring them to my hard drive and removing them from my iPod and rerunning the sync process everything would work. So for a while my workflow would be:

1. Rip a disc

2. Update tracks / album / artwork as desired

3. Copy all of the .mp3 files to a "temp save" directory

4. Sync to my iPod to load the new music onto the device

5. Copy everything back from the "temp save" directory to restore those tracks that were deleted

6. Sync again

I thought there was a time / date issue because I discovered that my NAS device (from Netgear) was improperly modifying the clock for daylight savings time. I thought that since I was storing my music files on that device, and it was one hour in the "future", that the tracks were being deleted because iTunes refused to see them because their date/time stamp was off. I fixed my Netgear NAS device, and the problem persisted.

Next I thought I had fixed everything with an iTunes upgrade, but it turned out that the "128 bit" setting had been turned off during that process. I prefer to have that setting on so I can get more songs on my device; I didn't buy the 160GB model because I only wanted a few tunes, I wanted to have as many with me as I could. 🙂 As soon as I turned the 128bit setting back on, the problems came back.

So now I just leave that setting off, and I put fewer songs on my iPod.

I am running an iPod Classic 160GB on Windows. I could open a "file explorer" window and show the contents of one of the album folders, and I could watch the files disappear as iTunes sync'd them. I was going to offer Apple techs the ability to view my desktop to show them that, but it turns out that they can't do that on a Windows system, plus as I mentioned above, they weren't going to help without me paying because my hardware is outside of the free service window, and they don't support iTunes separately.

Ok, that might make it harder for me to create a similar set up. With luck I've got an old classic that will still connect to iTunes. Making a test library is easy enough but I run with an external drive, not a NAS. Is the NAS assigned a drive letter or a UNC path? Or worse is it both? I still have suspicions about what happens when the same folders are variously accessed via two different paths. Can I assume the files in question were located inside the designated media folder, and that Keep iTunes Media folder organized is/was enabled? I wonder where the temporary files that get synced to the device are stored? Could it be that the originals are being deleted in error after they are copied to the device, instead of iTunes deleting a downsampled copy? Anyway the link to the "reduce higher bit rate..." setting and the fact that you could see the files being deleted during the sync process is, for me at least, a solid bit of data to work with.

tt2

My NAS partitions are assigned a drive letter, "X" in this case. Also I believe (but can't specifically recall) that I thought to take the NAS out of the configuration and reset everything to my local "C" drive and the problem persisted, but I can't be sure because all of my testing was done over a year ago. That being said, the music partition could also be reached via a specific UNC path but it's never used that way. Everything is mapped as the X: drive and that's how I use it.

Yes, the files are placed into the designated iTunes media parent folder, and "keep organized" is enabled.

The trigger element for me seems to be the downsample selection.

[Edit] If you want to see where I posted the steps, go back to page 11, 12, and 13 of this same topic. I posted everything I tried then.

All my podcasts are disappearing along with any songs I add in. I have noticed this only happens when restarting my system. I always empty my recycling bin before logging off and when I log back in there are itunes backup files in my recycling bin!

The files are:

iTunes Library Extras

iTunes Genius

Both are database files.

I try restoring the files to no avail.

I look in my iTunes My Music folder and all my downloads are missing.

I am ready to start copying them over to another location every time so I don't loose my information that I've spent time in the slow iTunes Store for!

Press & hold down shift as you launch iTunes. Keep holding until prompted to choose or create a library. Click create and make a new library at the root of your C: drive as C:\iTunes, or another drive if you prefer. Add some tracks to it. See how it behaves after you reboot.

tt2

Many thanks to tt2...you've been a great help on these issues. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Jaden8 wrote:

افضل شركات التنظيف بالرياضافضل شركات التنظيف في الرياض شركات تنظيف بالرياضشركات تنظيف في الرياضشركة تنظيف بالرياضشركة تنظيف الرياضشركة تنظيف في الرياضافضل شركه تنظيفشركة تنظيف الموكيتشركة تنظيف موكيت بالرياضشركة تنظيف بجدةشركة تنظيف الموكيت بالرياضشركة تنظيف بالدمامشركة تنظيف السجادشركة تنظيف سجادشركة تنظيف الاثاثشركة تنظيف اثاث بالرياضشركة تنظيف الاثاث بالرياضشركة نظافة بالرياضشركة تنظيف بيوتشركة تنظيف شققتنظيف شقق بالرياضشركات مكافحة الحشرات في الرياضشركة تنظيف جدةافضل شركة تنظيف في الرياضنظافة فلل بالرياضشركات نظافة بالرياضشركه نظافه في الرياضشركات نظافة في الرياضشركة نظافة فللشركة تنظيف فللتنظيف فلل بالرياضشركة تنظيف منازلشركة تنظيف المنازلشركات تنظيف المنازلشركات تنظيف منازلتنظيف منازل الرياضافضل شركة تنظيف بالرياضشركة تنظيف منازل بالرياضشركة تنظيف المنازل بالرياضشركة تنظيف منازلتخزين اثاثتنظيف خزانات الرياضشركه تنظيف خزانات بالرياضتنظيف الخزانات الرياضشركات تنظيف خزانات بالرياضشركة تنظيف خزاناتتنظيف خزانات بالرياضمؤسسة تنظيف خزاناتشركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياضشركة تنظيف بيوت بالرياضشركة تنظيف بيوتشركة تنظيف البيوتشركات تنظيف البيوتابواب وشبابيكشركات سياحةمكافحة حشراتكشف تسرباتتنظيف مسابحشركة تسليك مجارى بالرياضنقل عفشنقل عفشعلى مودكشركة نقل اثاث بالرياضنقل الاثاثشركة نقل عفشنقل اثاث بالرياضتخزين اثاثمكافحة حشراتمكافحة حشرات بالرياضرش مبيدات بالرياضعزل خزانات بالرياضتنظيف خزانات بالرياضتنظيف خزاناتكشف تسرباتكشف تسربات بالرياضشركة التنظيفغسيل السجادتسليك مجارىتنظيف شققتنظيف شقق بالرياضتنظيف بيوتتنظيف فللتنظيف منازل شركة نقل اثاثنقل عفششركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياضشركة كشف تسربات المياة بالرياضشركة تنظيف فلل بالرياضنقل اثاثتخزين اثاث بالرياضشركة مكافحة حشراترش المبيداتشركة رش مبيدات بالرياضشركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياضعزل خزاناتتنظيف خزاناتشركة كشف تسرباتكشف تسربات المياه بالرياضشركة تنظيف بالرياضتنظيف فلل بالرياضتنظيف شقق بالرياضشركة تنظيف منازلغسيل مجالسشركة تنظيف بالرياضشركة تنظيف بيوتغسيل خزاناتشركة عزل خزاناتشركة نظافة فلل بالرياضعزل خزانات بالرياضشركة عزل خزانات بالرياضنظافة منازلافضل شركة نظافةشركة تنظيف بالخرجشركة نظافة منازلنقل اثاث من الرياضتنظيف خزانات المياهافضل شركة تنظيف خزاناتشركة غسيل خزاناتافضل شركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياضشركة نظافة خزاناتشركة نظافة خزانات بالرياضشركة تنظيف خزانات بجدةتنظيف خزانات بجدهشركة تنظيف خزانات المياهشركات تنظيف خزانات المياهتنظيف خزانات المياه بالرياضعزل خزانات المياهشركات عزل خزانات بالرياضعزل الخزانات الارضيةعزل الخزاناتشركه عزل بالرياضشركه عوازلشركات عزل مائيأفضل شركة تنظيف خزانات المياةكشف تسربات الرياضكشف تسرباتافضل شركات نقل العفش بالرياضأفضل شركة تنظيف خزانات مياهعزل اسطحكشف تسربات المياه الرياضشركه عزل مائي بالرياضشركة نظافة الخزاناتافضل شركات نقل اثاث بالرياضشركات نقل الأثاثغسيل خزانات الرياضافضل شركات نقل اثاثخزانات الفيبر جدةخزانات الفيبر جلاسغسيل خزانات بالرياضكشف تسربات المياه فى الرياضخزانات مياه استانلسخزانات مياه بولى إيثيلينشركة تسليك المجارى بالرياضشركة غسيل خزانات بالرياضشركة لرش الحشراتكشف تسربات المياه بالرياضشركة مبيدات الحشرات في الرياضخزانات مياه فيبر جلاسكشف تسربات المياةشركة تسليك مجارى بالرياضشركة شفط بياراتسليك مجارى بالرياضتسليك مجاري الدمامتسليك مجاريشركة مكافحة الحشرات بالرياضشفط بياراتشركات مكافحة الحشرات بالرياضشركة غسيل الخزاناتشركة مكافحة الحشرات في الرياضشفط بيارات الرياضنظافة خزانات بالرياضشركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياضشركة شفط بيارات الرياضشفط بيارات بالرياضشفط البيارات الرياضشفط البيارات بالرياضغسيل خزانات المياهشركات نقل العفششركات نقل العفش بالرياضشركات نقل الأثاث في الرياضتنظيف خزاناتشركات نقل أثاث بالرياضافضل شركة مكافحة حشراتافضل شركات رش الحشرات بالرياضشركات نقل اثاث في الرياضغسيل خزانات المياه بالرياضشركات تنظيف خزانات الرياضشركة تنظيف خزانات الرياضتطهير خزانات مياه الشربتطهير خزانات المياهشركات نقل العفش في الرياضشركات نقل الاثاث بالرياضشركات نقل بالرياضشركات نقل في الرياضشركات نقل العفش الرياضشركات نقل عفششركات نقل اثاثشركات نقل الاثاث الرياضافضل شركة ابادة حشراتشركات ابادة الحشرات فى الرياضافضل شركة مكافحة الحشراتشركات رش الحشراتشركه الحشراتشركات نقل الموبيلياشركه حشرات في الرياضافضل شركات مكافحة الحشرات في الرياضشركه رش الحشرات في الرياضشركات نقل وتغليف الاثاثشركة تسليك مجارىشركة تسليك المجارىافضل شركة لقتل الحشراتافضل شركة لمكافحة الحشرات الرياضافضل شركه مكافحة الحشرات بالرياضتخزين اثاثرش مبيداتكشف تسرباتتخزين عفشتنظيف خزاناتشركة تنظيفمكافحة حشراتشركة تنظيف منازل بالرياضشركة تنظيف بيوت بالرياضشركة تنظيف فلل بالرياضشركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياضتسليك مجارىشركة تنظيف فلل بالرياضشركة تنظيف شقق بالرياضشركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياضشركة تخزين اثاث بالرياضشركة كشف تسربات المياه بالرياضشركة تسليك مجارى بالرياضشركة تنظيف واجهات زجاج بالرياضشركة عزل خزانات بالرياضشركة تنظيف مسابح بالرياضشركة تنظيف مجالس بالرياضشركة تنظيف موكيت بالرياضشركة تنظيف بالرياضافضل شركة نقل اثاثشركات النقلشركات نقل الاثاثتخزين عفش بالرياضشركات المبيداتافضل شركة مكافحة حشراتشركة تنظيف خزاناتشركة عزل خزاناتكشف تسرب المياةشركة تنظيفشركة تسليك مجارى بالرياضشركة تنظيف موكيت بالرياضشركة تنظيف شققتنظيف بيوت بالرياضشركة تنظيف فللتنظيف منازل الرياضشركة تنظيف بيارات بالرياضشركة تنظيف مجالس بالرياضعزل اسطحغسيل خزانات علاج السمنة المرضية عملية الاستئصال الطولي للمعدة بالمنظاربالون المعدةعملية تحويل المعدة بالون التخسيسربط المعدة بالمنظارعملية تصغير المعدةزيادة عدد المعجبين لصفحة الفيس بوكشراء معجبين لصفحة الفيس بوكشركة مكافحة حشرات في الرياضشركة نقل اثاث في الرياضشركة كشف تسربات في الرياضشركة مكافحة حشرات في الرياضشركة نقل اثاث في الرياضشركة كشف تسربات في الرياض

Just recently updated itunes from 10 to 11 and found all my old playlists and all my my non purchased music has disappeared from my library. I went through irip for hep and using my ipod all my music showed up again. The problem is now it's in a file that itunes says is not for my ipod to access so can't get my music back into my library. I feel angry that all myCDs, many of which are no longer available have just disappeared or unaccessible...this seems illegal...a form of careless theft.

Any suggestions how to open the file and back into my library for playlistswithout downloading everything back onto my ipod?

PS.

I went through irip on the suggestion of a 'genius' at the Apple store... It initially worked but as mentioned before, the next days all my music was in a file 'not for my ipod'... What the....?

The frustrating thing is all the hoops that have to be jumped through to get basic functionality from such a popular software product and the expertise needed to figure out problems and workarounds.

I've now got a Zune but haven't done anything with it. I've read mixed reviews of the Zune music management software. Has anyone used a management product called MusicBee? That seems to get the best reviews for overall simplicity and functionality. Right now, my plan is to try to salvage my music collection, move it to MusicBee, and use my new Zune player.

I mentioned before that all of my music library appears to be almost intact with three problems....

First, all my ripped music had vanished but I was able to restore how it's listed in the library with tt2's help. Thanks again.

Second, all of my iTunes Store purchases have been downloaded twice. I have no idea how that happened but I assume I'll have to manually delete about 3,000 songs.

Third, I had a fair number of video clips. Some were music videos along with a couple of SNL bits I downloaded from the iTunes Store. Except for the two SNL episodes, all of the purchased and ripped videos are gone. The SNL episodes show up in the "TV Shows" listing in the iTunes library but there is nothing in the "Movies" category where most of the videos used to be. They are gone from the library listing and from my hard drive.