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All music disappears when opening iTunes Library.itl backup file

I've been using Apple Music for years, but have recently tried out Spotify. I didn't like it and re-subscribed to Apple Music to find my Library of 10 Years GONE.


I have backups of my Windows PC, from which I got a recent iTunes folder with the iTunes Library.itl (and additional files). From everything I read, I should be easily able to recovery my library by Shift-Opening (Win) or Option-Opening (Mac) my iTunes/Music and selecting my iTunes Library.itl.


And this works, when I open it I get my whole library which consists 95% of Apple Music Tracks and one local Album (which I also still have) and I can listen to all of them too.


Now here comes the Problem:

When I try to sync this library to my other devices by clicking "Update iCloud Music Library", all tracks instantly disappear expect my one local album and I get the following message:



When I first try to disable genius, by deactivating iCloud sync in the settings (which is always automatically activated when I open the .itl), the same things happens and this message appears and all my music is gone. Same goes when trying to "Update Genius".


Other things I've tried:


  1. Option-Opening the .itl on my Mac -> Library Opens for a second, and then everything disappears except the one local album, very similar like on Windows, but instantly and without error message.
  2. (Win and Mac) Try it without internet connection -> Same behavior.
  3. (Win and Mac) Try to disable "iCould Music Sync" before opening the .itl -> When opening the .itl, the iCloud Music Sync always comes on.
  4. (Win and Mac) Closing and opening iTunes/Music after opening the .itl, but before trying to sync -> Same behavior.
  5. Trying "Organize Library" -> Doesn't do anything.
  6. Clearing my library and disabling iCloud Music Sync on all other devices and deleting the Apps, as to not interfere with the Sync. -> Doesn't help.
  7. I don't have any other backups like Timemachine or iCloud Backups for iPhone.
  8. (Win and Mac) Try to "Export Library" before its gone, and Import the xml export in a freshly created library -> This kind of works, I get my whole library but all my tracks are greyed out and have the status "Waiting". Clicking "Update iCloud Music Library" or enabling/disabling iCloud sync doesn't help. The tracks do indeed sync to all other devices, but are greyed out everywhere.


I'm at a loss with this, I've curated this library for over 10 years. First my music is just GONE and then my backups don't even work...


Does anyone have any suggestion what else I can do?

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Dec 24, 2023 4:15 AM

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4 replies

Dec 24, 2023 4:29 AM in response to PhilippFr

What version of macOS are you running? Monterey has a bug that usually prevents it from converting .itl files to the .musiclibrary format. I can perform the conversion in Catalina if needed if you send me the file or a link to it in some form of cloud sharing location. My email address can be found in my profile here.


My understanding is that once an Apple Music subscription lapses you have 30 days to renew before the cloud library is wiped from Apple's servers. This shouldn't be an issue if you can restore a working version of your library linked to local media, after which you can enable Sync Library to match and upload your media again.


tt2

Dec 24, 2023 4:37 AM in response to PhilippFr

Similar issue. Library gets scrambled with each update.

I have Steven Wilson Album covers in place of 1950’s jazz/bop performer LPs, entire folders with hundreds of songs deleted down to only FOUR remaining songs, folder duplication (“Jazz” and “Jazz - 1”) but not consistently, deletions of PURCHASED music not just uploads from CDs.


This has caused me untold DAYS of reloading, redirecting, cutting/pasting, renaming and every call to Apple, every genius bar discussion has created further frustration. Every encounter leaves me thinking this experiment with Apple OS since 2006 has been a bad decision.


And no, I do NOT want to subscribe to Apple Music which makes me think the damage to my library of music is intentional on the part of the coders to leverage Apple Music paid membership.


But that’s crazy talk, paranoia. And entirely possible.


Dec 26, 2023 9:16 AM in response to PhilippFr

PhilippFr wrote:

I tried on the iTunes Windows Store Version 12.13.1.3 and on Apple Music Version 1.4.2.83 on my MacBook M1 Pro Sonoma 14.2.1 .

That is surprising to hear that they would delete your whole library after 30 days, essentially discouraging people to come back? The mind boggles...

Anyway, I have sent you an email :)


Hi,


The main .itl was declared not to be a valid library by Music in Catalina, and the second from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder opened with but a single album, Exmilitary by Death Grips, which I suspect isn't really what you were hoping for.


tt2

All music disappears when opening iTunes Library.itl backup file

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