Songs disappearing from iTunes playlists even after backup restore - HELP!

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Songs disappearing from iTunes playlists even after backup restore - HELP!

I've made several playlists over the years on iTunes (combining newly purchased music from iTunes with imports from my own collection). Three months ago I joined Apple Music - I don't know if that is related to this problem.

On the playlists created prior to joining Apple Music, several or all of the songs have disappeared from the playlists - and even my library. It doesn't matter if they were purchased from iTunes or not. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it.

I have read many, many threads here about what to do. It does seem there's a corrupt library. So now I've tried replacing the iTunes Library .itl file with one from Time Machine from a few months ago. At first, all the playlists were intact - I had one open in front of me - but then in an instant, all the songs but one disappeared again before my eyes.

I tried the same thing, but this time I disconnected from the internet (like this post recommended: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6561), turned off iCloud Music Library, replaced with the older .itl file, started iTunes ... everything looked great again. Then I connected to the internet, turned on iCloud Music Library, and the playlist songs just vanished again within 20 seconds. HELP!

How do I get out of this endless loop, so that iCloud Music Libary doesn't keep replacing my "fixed" library with the corrupt one?

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 22, 2019 1:08 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,179 points

Apr 22, 2019 1:37 PM in response to Jack in Denmark

Did you follow this advice?

Additional steps for iCloud Music Library users

Optional, use if content has been removed from iCloud Music Library in error

If you have access to iCloud Music Library as part of an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription disconnect from the Internet before restoring the old database, turn iCloud Music Library off, then close iTunes, reconnect to the Internet, open iTunes and turn iCloud Music Library back on again. These options can be found under Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or iTunes > Preferences > General (Mac OS X).

The step highlighted in bold should mean that iTunes merges what you have restored with what is in the cloud instead of replacing it. Failing that you could export the restored library as an XML file, reconnect to iCloud Music Library, then import the exported XML file.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,179 points

Apr 27, 2019 11:06 AM in response to Jack in Denmark

See About iCloud Music Library icons and status - Apple Support and check on the status of your tracks once iCloud Music Library has been enabled. If they all register as removed, for example, you would need to add them to iCloud Music Library before the playlist would be eligible for iCloud Music Library.

tt2

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

278,179 points

Apr 28, 2019 1:01 PM in response to Jack in Denmark

I can't think offhand of a way change the way that iTunes behaves. It will do whatever it has been programmed to do. They may be ways to repair the issues you have with playlists and playlist folders afterwards. For example if you have multiple confused playlists folders then you're probably going to have to make a new empty folder, drag in one copy of each unique playlist that it is supposed to contain, and then discard the original playlist folder, and repeat until cleared. Have you still got duplicates in the library? See this post on duplicate songs. The script cannot read iCloud Status and is best run where there are no cloudy items shown. If you can show me what you have in terms of items marked as duplicate, removed, etc. I might have ideas on how to improve the behaviour here.

tt2

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Answer 4

Apr 27, 2019 4:51 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi, yes, thanks. And I've tried it a few more times on the first part above.

When that didn't work, I tried exporting the restored library as XML, reconnected to iCloud music library, then imported the XML. Did not work. Not only that, now all my own playlists (made mostly with songs purchased from iTunes) have a cloud with a line through and come with this message:

Each time, it's not merging with the iCloud music library ... Whatever was on the iCloud Music Library seems to override what is in my own library. And now this.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with Apple Music subscription? Because as soon as my saved Apple Music playlists appear in the sidebar (when I turn on iCloud Music Library), the songs in my own playlists disappear. A few songs remain - but it seems to be all the songs I've purchased over iTunes that disappear.

Or could there be another setting that is causing this?

It's really frustrating, because we have bought a lot of music from iTunes and made these playlists, which the whole family listens to frequently. And we also now pay quite a lot for Apple Music .. and extra iCloud storage. Suddenly we're wondering if it's all worth it......

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Answer 5

Apr 28, 2019 11:52 AM in response to turingtest2

I've tried something else now, since nothing else was working. iCloud Music Library kept taking precedence and changing the new, fixed library back, with missing songs in playlists.

So I tried just creating a new library with the exported XML file from the backup. The playlists are there, but in triplicate or quadruple. I have a lot of playlists, and now I have each one times three or four.

Also, if the playlists are in folders, the main folders each contain all 21,764 items in the library. And I cannot delete those items.

Plus, I'm missing about half of the original library. I got a message that it could not be imported due to an error.

So QUESTION 1: Is there an easier way to do this, so that my initial library comes out intact?

QUESTION 2: To restore the initial way as you describe above in the first answer, is there a way to make sure my own iTunes Library takes precedence - and not iClould Music Library? (So that iCloud Music Library simply merges with the iTunes library, but does not change it?)

QUESTION 3: Do you have another suggestion? ...

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Songs disappearing from iTunes playlists even after backup restore - HELP!

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