Now I know why people hate Itunes

I had over 12,000 songs all categorized in playlists in my ITunes. It's something I've been working on for a couple of years now. (Im a DJ) Suddenly, this morning, I wake up to find that ITunes has wiped everything out. I was actually using ITunes when it happened. I hooked up one of my Ipods and poof, everything vanished. There's nothing listed. Nothing. I've tried everything but it's as if I uninstalled it and started over again.

Windows 7

Posted on Mar 7, 2010 10:56 AM

Reply
2 replies

Mar 7, 2010 9:25 PM in response to Christopher J. Basil

Search all your hard drives for files that end with .itl
That is the itunes database file that holds all the metadata like ratings, play counts, and your play lists.
If one of them has a fairly recent date, you might be able to recover at least some of your playlists.
Of course you will find one with today's date, but that is probably the new blank library.



I have never heard of this happening while itunes was running, the entire library getting deleted spontaneously by itunes.



For the future, make frequent backups of that ITL file. Just like you would with any other important file on a PC that you can't bear to lose.
c/..../music/itunes is the default folder
iTunes Library.itl is the file name
I copy mine over to a USB stick about once per week, after I've done a lotf of adds/edits, and ALWAYS before an itunes upgrade.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Now I know why people hate Itunes

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.