Mac / iPhone Wired Music Sync Empties Most Playlists in Both Devices

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Mac / iPhone Wired Music Sync Empties Most Playlists in Both Devices

I recently tried to sync my iPhone 13 Pro (iOS v17.1.2) to manually selected playlists on my M3 Pro MacBook 14”. Afterward, most of my Mac’s Music playlists show as “Empty Playlist” (and no playlists were transferred to iPhone).

I’ve found Apple help docs but they don’t solve the problem (see DETAILS below).

Note that this happened when I first tried syncing my phone to my new M3 MacBook (after years of syncing to an older Intel MacBook). When I plugged the iPhone in, I got the usual warning that the phone is synced to another device and requires deleting all current files and resyncing to the new MacBook.

After doing this, no songs/playlists were transferred to the iPhone AND some Playlists in Apple Music on MacBook are now completely EMPTY.

I have been syncing to an iPad for a couple weeks since I got the new MacBook WITHOUT problem (see DETAILS below for more info).

MORE WEIRD BEHAVIOR & DISCONNECTS

When the iPhone is plugged into the MacBook, it doesn’t see the same list of playlists as Mac Music does. I can plug iPhone in via USB wire > goto Finder window for the iPhone > check Sync Music onto iPhone 13 > Select Music tab > Playlists and the list that appears DOESN’T MATCH what’s in the MacBook Music app.

Worryingly, when I copy a backup version of most recent Music Library database file, I can point Music to it and then selecting a playlist in Mac Music app will cause it to stick. No matter what playlist I then select in the left column, the right column stays on the first playlist selected (though a couple times it was just some playlists that would update while others would). After restarting Music it will then revert to some other Library that doesn’t have all the playlists I created (as though it’s an earlier Library from months ago). This then will allow playlists to update when selecting, but some playlists are still empty. Surprisingly, I came back to Music after typing these note and the full library and all playlists were suddenly back (though some still are empty). TRULY SCARY & FRUSTRATING!

DETAILS

Signed out/back in to my Apple ID account on MacBook. All devices are signed into same Apple ID account. I have not signed out on iPhone because it’s painful and time consuming.
I haven’t had Apple Music nor iTunes Purchases enabled for years on any device attached to my account. My playlists are composed of local Mac files only. I never subscribe to Apple Music nor use iTunes Sync or Purchases or other iCloud features. I only manage actual files on my hard drive that I need synced to iPhone and iPad.
I found an Apple help doc about “Sync Library” which seems to be a similar issue, but it doesn’t help because it assumes Apple Music subscription. It shows a Sync Music toggle that doesn’t appear on my iPhone and a Sync Library checkbox for Mac Music app under Settings > General which is absent so it seems out of date.
Oddly, I also sync on iPad Mini 6 though I don’t remember it needing to delete and resync (I’m busy so maybe that happened and I forgot; still, if iPad did resync, it didn’t kill playlists in Music app on new M3 MacBook). I was also able to sync iPad multiple times to the new M3 MacBook without problems before trying the failed sync with iPhone.
I use an external mini SD card for Mac Music’s library (so, not on the same hard drive as the MacBook system). I’ve ensured Music is pointing to this drive for its library files. Also, the music files seem intact in their folders. I have lots of Compilation folders that the playlists point to and those files seem to be there so it’s likely just the library database affected and not the files.
I’ve tried backed up Music library file in hopes corruption was the problem, but that didn’t help. The library files are identical as far as I can tell. I even went back a couple weeks to an older library file that’s in Music’s “Previous Libraries” folder. If Library corruption was the problem, then these previous files would most likely solve it but it doesn’t help. Notably those library files were migrated from the Intel Mac.
Running MacBook M3 Pro 14” on latest OS 14.1.2; iPhone 13 Pro running latest 17.1.2; iPad mini 6 v17.1.2. All have been restarted repeatedly.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Dec 6, 2023 4:17 PM

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Answer 1

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sassy monkey Author

Level 1

67 points

Dec 12, 2023 3:08 PM in response to sassy monkey

TRICKY PLOT TWIST: EXTERNAL DRIVE PORT TYPE CHANGE

I resurrected a working Mac Music Library from a backup. The Music database is back to where it was before the iPhone sync round 2 breakage.

Then I remembered I changed the port type from USB-C adapter to an SD Card adapter for the external drive that holds Music and Photos databases. On my Intel Mac I could only used the USB-C adapter.

The new M3 Mac has an SD Card port. Using that instead frees a USB-C port (which is critical since there are only 3) plus the SD port is slightly faster on read/writes. Seemed like a no-brainer choice so I switched the M3 Mac ext drive access to SD port. It was working fine for a few weeks even with iPad sync until I tried syncing the iPhone.

To test, I ejected the ext drive, pulled it from the SD Card adapter, and inserted drive into USB-C adapter/port. The iPhone started syncing music playlists immediately and all songs are now present on both devices.

The Photos sync kind of worked too. It synced over half of the 160 photos/videos I set it to transfer. This partial sync situation has happened for years. Some larger transfers occasionally fail in Photos while working at other times so maybe nothing new.

TENTATIVE CONCLUSION

Seems like either that the SD port isn't good for accessing music and photo assets and databases via Mac apps over an external drive OR that starting on the USB-C port (perhaps also affected by the previous Intel Mac use too) then switching to SD port confuses the Mac.

I'll see if the success sticks across multiple device syncs via USB-C going forward.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,319 points

Dec 7, 2023 10:53 AM in response to sassy monkey

sassy monkey wrote:

<snip>

• I’ve tried backed up Music library file in hopes corruption was the problem, but that didn’t help. The library files are identical as far as I can tell. I even went back a couple weeks to an older library file that’s in Music’s “Previous Libraries” folder. If Library corruption was the problem, then these previous files would most likely solve it but it doesn’t help. Notably those library files were migrated from the Intel Mac.

How are you accessing these older/alternate library files? Double-clicking a library file in Finder opens the app, with the most recently accessed library file, not necessarily the file clicked on. Try the option-start-Music method where you choose a different library and then browse to the file.

tt2

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Answer 3

sassy monkey Author

Level 1

67 points

Dec 12, 2023 11:24 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the helpful reply, turingtest2!

I tried again this Option-Launch Music method on a recent backup of the Music Library file with success. It seems to have worked even though I tried this before on multiple Library files. (When I reselected the broken one, the result was missing playlists exactly as before; then returning to the backed up Library it worked again. Obviously the Library file was the issue.)

Now the playlists seem intact (all except for one but that one empty smart playlist that was a duplicate so… I dunno what that means).

REALLY WEIRD BEHAVIOR CURED & NEW ODDNESS

I notice that I'm NOT seeing the really weird behavior I mentioned where I'd select a playlist and then the right column would stick after selecting multiple other playlists in the left col (and then become unstuck for SOME playlists). Maybe after restarts of Mac and Music, finally saw the light and came back.

However, there were multiple duplicate Smart Playlists such as Recently Added, Recently Played, and a couple others. Oddly they seemed to have the same smart parameters set but were showing different results. I just dumped them.

RE-SYNCING PHONE HANGS

After fixing the Music Library, I tried re-syncing my phone but that permanently hangs.

I can plug it in to my MacBook, set the Sync as Selected artists..., and then choose the playlists to sync. Yet, once the Sync button is selected, the feedback bar creeps forward forever hanging on "Syncing (Step 2 of 4) – Preparing to sync".

I left that for over 2 hours with no change. Selecting the tiny "x" button to stop the sync in the Finder left column Locations list for the iPhone never works either. It seems permanently stuck and I have to remove the USB cable to try again.

This happened both before and after latest MacOS 14.2 and iOS 17.2 updates, including after multiple device restarts. If it ever gets to Step 4, I'll see if the corruption happens again. Seems like it's not getting far enough to do anything to the MacBook Music Library database.

PHOTOS SYNC PROBLEMS TOO

Photos on my MacBook is having problems syncing from my phone too.

I can plug in the phone and Photos app sees the photos and videos there as usual. However, selecting one or more for syncing is a crap shoot where none or just a few actually transfer to MacBook Photos app.

The tiny sync feedback circle icon in the upper left of the Photos app shows briefly and seems to start making progress but then it disappears and the syncing stops with no error or other alert. It just dies silently. Repeated attempts has the same result.

FORUM SUPPORT

Apple Support and community users report restarting devices as the best solution. I’ve done that multiple times with no improvement.

DISHEARTENING

All this understandably makes me nervous about the stability of this new gear. But I’ve been around Macs long enough to make the switch from OS 9 to OS X and the initial switch to Intel. There were odd behaviors and persistent difficulties with those major changes too. It cleared up eventually.

Probably going from Intel to Apple Silicon is the issue. Yet, I waited for M3 in hopes more bugs would be ironed out. Perhaps that’s not the case. But for how long…?

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Answer 4

sassy monkey Author

Level 1

67 points

Dec 12, 2023 12:42 PM in response to sassy monkey

Ffs: after unsuccessfully syncing iPhone photos to Mac Photos app a few more times, I noticed that most of the playlists in Mac Music are empty again. Arg!

Note that I didn't try selecting playlists and syncing iPhone to Music again. I was only trying to sync Photos.

Note also that both Mac Photos and Mac Music are using the same external drive to hold their assets and databases. I've been using this method on my old Intel MacBook Pro for many years without issue.

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Mac / iPhone Wired Music Sync Empties Most Playlists in Both Devices

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