Why did Apple Music delete a playlist? Can I recover? How to avoid it again?

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Level 1

101 points

Why did Apple Music delete a playlist? Can I recover? How to avoid it again?

I've spent years building up playlists and music like many folks. I recently subscribed to Apple Music. Tonight, I added a few tracks to one particular playlist and then that playlist alone (out of many) would not sync up. I read to uncheck "sync devices" so I did that on my iMac then toggled it back. This step made all of the playlists sync to my phone again. Good stuff. But then I noticed on my iMac a single playlist just disappeared. When I glanced down at my phone, the playlist was still there and then, just like that, "poof" it was gone. I guess it synced up.

Why did Music delete that playlist when I know I didn't? It had 750 tracks in it and it looks like I have no choice but to try to recreate it.

I don't want it to happen again. Is this a known problem with Music?

Thank you.

Posted on May 8, 2020 11:09 PM

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Answer 1

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

101 points

May 10, 2020 8:27 AM in response to jeremy_v

Jeremy,

Appreciate the response but I've done this basic stuff. This was an existing pre-Music playlist I've had created for years. I added Apple Music tracks to it. It then disappears when synced. I have only one other device, my phone. I have to constantly "toggle" the sync library to keep stuff disappearing.

One playlist was completely wiped and lost for no reason that I can ascertain. Another playlist that existed with my own music and then I added Apple Music tracks.

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Answer 2

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

101 points

May 10, 2020 10:49 AM in response to turingtest2

Ok--I think I understand I guess. The software is doing what it was programmed to do, whether good or bad. From my perspective, I'm not doing anything wrong. It's pretty simple to check "sync library" and expect it to sync. One time I literally watched as 2 playlists just disappeared during syncing for no reason I can discern. It's happened repeatedly in a few days after multiple times of apple support telling me to sign out, sign back in, toggle sync, toggle it back, etc. Frustrating. Not a smooth experience.

Thanks for the notes.

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Answer 3

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

May 10, 2020 7:53 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Hello Ramblinmanva,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

I understand from your post that a playlist you created using songs downloaded from Apple Music disappeared after syncing with your Mac. To have all your music available on all your devices, you will want to enable Sync Library using the steps from this article:

Turn on Sync Library with Apple Music - Apple Support

Best Regards.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

277,949 points

May 10, 2020 8:03 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Do you keep your computer backed up? A possible line of recovery would be to take your computer offline, restore a backup version of the library that contains the lost playlist. Open Music and export the playlist as an XML file. Close Music and revert back to the most recent version of the library, go back online, then import the playlist you exported earlier.

tt2

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Answer 5

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

101 points

May 10, 2020 8:28 AM in response to turingtest2

Turingtest2: Yes, I keep my computer backed up. I'd like to figure out whether Music going to continue losing my playlists or am I going to have to keep doing this. Really stinks to have these glitches. Thanks.

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Answer 6

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

101 points

May 10, 2020 10:27 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the note. To confirm, you mean all of these programs lose music when they sync? That's depressing if so. I certainly am not deleting my own playlists by mistake multiple times that I've had for years.

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

277,949 points

May 10, 2020 10:43 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

No, I mean that all software does exactly what it is told to do, even when that isn't necessarily what the user intended, or is a response to an inadvertent command, or is a bug in the software. Word users lose documents, Excel users lose spreadsheets, iTunes users find songs that are supposed to be in their library are missing or not where iTunes is looking for them. Those with a decent backup regime can recover from such issues, those without not so much. Clearly Music isn't supposed to discard playlists at random. Determining exactly what happened at this point however is nigh on impossible. Stuff happens.

tt2

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

277,949 points

May 10, 2020 1:00 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

For security you might want to export all of your playlists as XML files. Under normal circumstances if a playlist that is synced to a device is later removed from it that could potentially be mirrored in the library when the device is next synced. Begs the question how it might have been removed from the device if you didn't do it, but could perhaps explain how syncing caused a playlist to be deleted.

tt2

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Answer 9

turingtest2

Level 10

277,949 points

May 10, 2020 10:26 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

As far as I'm aware Music is no better or worse than other software when it comes to allowing content to be deleted in error.

tt2

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Why did Apple Music delete a playlist? Can I recover? How to avoid it again?

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