Taffam

Q: Deleted Song Keeps Reappearing!

Hi all

 

I downloaded a track onto my iPhone whilst out and about via iTunes.  I now want to remove the song, but it's proving to be ridiculously tedious.

 

In iTunes I see the song in my music library, so I highlight it, CMD Del and remove the file.  When I click on my iPhone in the menu, I go into music and I see the track in manually added songs at the bottom - I remove it from there.  I go into Purchased on the left hand side - I delete it from there.

 

My songs are 'Sync only checked songs' and the song doesn't appear in any of the other lists, so it's not checked.  At this point, there should be no trace of this track on my mac.

 

As soon as I sync it though to get the song off my phone library, iTunes puts it back in to the library and it wont leave my phone, I just cannot get rid of it!

 

Does anybody know where I am going wrong?!

 

 

Thanks

 

PS:  I am running the latest version of iTunes, iPhone 4 on iOS 5.

iPhone 4, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 1:16 PM

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Q: Deleted Song Keeps Reappearing!

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  • by jayleni,

    jayleni jayleni Dec 9, 2011 9:40 AM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2011 9:40 AM in response to Taffam

    Heres the solution!!!!!  You need to delete the file from your phone and your computer before you sync up.

    1)  Locate the file on your phone in your library.

    2)  Swipe your finger from left to right over the song and manually delete the file.

    3)  Locate the file in itunes and select delete.  Make sure that when your prompted with option, you delete the file from your computer.

    4)  Sync Up!!!!!

     

    ***If you have 2 of the same song on your phone (ex. an MP3 format and a M4A format) You will need to delete the M4A file.  If you delete the MP3 the file will continue to reappear.  There is no way to check the ID tag through your phone so you will need to guess.***

     

    Your problem should be fixed and the mysterious ghost files will be gone.  Just an FYI, anytime you purchase music on your phone the new os creates a back up file.  You will always need to delete the file from your phone as well.  (Hopefully Apple fixes the nucance with the next update.)

  • by tim•,

    tim• tim• Dec 23, 2011 7:53 AM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2011 7:53 AM in response to Taffam

    I experienced a similar problem after editing a number of fields via Get Info > Info.  I would delete the songs from iTunes only to see them get copied back from the iDevice during the next sync, regardless of sync settings or connection method.  Resetting warnings didn't help.

     

    In the end I fired up my iDevice and deleted the whole album that contained the effected files.  Then I deleted the problematic files from iTunes.  Finally I forced a sync from within iTunes.  The problem was gone.

  • by iBuchon,

    iBuchon iBuchon Dec 24, 2011 12:03 AM in response to enamic5
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 24, 2011 12:03 AM in response to enamic5

    I had been just syncing with the problem songs not checked. Saw this solution and looked on my phone, they were still there even though I had "Only sync checked songs" selected. Deleted from phone and iTunes and they're gone. I'm guessing this only happens if you purchase the songs on your phone? Either way, thanks for the tip.

  • by Scottyboy99,

    Scottyboy99 Scottyboy99 Dec 29, 2011 7:07 AM in response to iBuchon
    Level 1 (79 points)
    Apple Watch
    Dec 29, 2011 7:07 AM in response to iBuchon

    Sounds like I have a similar issue. I noticed alot of things since IOS5. Certain songs when I sync my iPhone are not updating the 'last played / playcount' on iTunes. Playlists not in the same order as listed on iTunes etc. etc.

     

    And now similar to this. I wanted to remove some songs from my iPhone upon my next sync. So as I have always done in the past I unchecked the songs in my iTunes library. However this does not work anymore! I don't want to delete them from my laptop, just the iPhone. Something has gone a bit wrong in IOS5.

     

    It seems to only happen with songs that were purchased on the iPhone. Frustrating!

  • by Nightrain,

    Nightrain Nightrain Jan 3, 2012 10:56 PM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 3, 2012 10:56 PM in response to Taffam

    Also having the same issue

     

    I had bought an album from my iPad at the Mobile iTunes site, but didn't like a few songs I bought so I deleted them.

    I go to iTunes to delete the files, sync my iPad to make sure the music is gone, the music comes back like a bad night mare.

    I uncheck the music files, delete them, then delete the music from my iPad. Sync the iPad and the music is back!

    I reset the settings to "Sync only checked songs," and "Manually manage Music and Videos" Sync, the music returns
    I find the media folder and delete the files, turn off auto synching, delete the music from both iPad, and computer, delete the files from iTunes, securely empty the trash... and do a hard sync from iTunes to make sure that did anything

     

    Nope! The music is back! ... I want it gone! I did everything I know how... and I don't use iCloud...

     

    Come on!... I guess fingers crossed I'll just uncheck them for now... *sigh*

  • by Jigger47,

    Jigger47 Jigger47 Jan 13, 2012 10:40 AM in response to jayleni
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2012 10:40 AM in response to jayleni

    Thanks Jayleni this worked for me. I've been trying to get rid of a bunch of songs and they kept on magically reappearing.  Your info worked perfectly.  Hopefully Apple will fix this issue.  Thanks again. I was starting to get fustrated at my Mac and that doesn't happen too often.

  • by timotheos,

    timotheos timotheos Jan 23, 2012 2:53 AM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2012 2:53 AM in response to Taffam

    Count me also having the same problem.

    Very magical indeed. You delete a song and keeps coming back. Now I have to remove the song from ALL my devices? And if I have 4-5 devices? Is this the new "simple" way of doing things Apple is proud of introducing? I think they have to look this annoying bug (and many others similar to this) as it makes our life difficult rather than simpler.

  • by janfromwilliamson,

    janfromwilliamson janfromwilliamson Feb 20, 2012 2:10 PM in response to jayleni
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 20, 2012 2:10 PM in response to jayleni

    Nice!!!  Thanks very much. It was driving me nuts. (Ipad user)

  • by edenj33,

    edenj33 edenj33 Feb 28, 2012 12:03 PM in response to jayleni
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 28, 2012 12:03 PM in response to jayleni

    Yay! I'm finally free of the horrible music I've been attempting to delete for weeks now! It seems that deleting from your iOS and Mac at the same time does the trick. I'm glad my journey of pain and frustration has finally come to and end.

  • by flaviorodrigo,

    flaviorodrigo flaviorodrigo Mar 1, 2012 4:27 AM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2012 4:27 AM in response to Taffam

    I am having the same issue and excuse me but having to delete the song on all the devices is just a dumb solution. If you have to do that all the time, why in the world you will need to sync anything ? That is just ridiculous.

  • by tjgs,

    tjgs tjgs Apr 2, 2012 11:06 AM in response to jayleni
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2012 11:06 AM in response to jayleni

    Finally, something that worked! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

  • by GuitarDad73,

    GuitarDad73 GuitarDad73 Apr 14, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Taffam

    This is how I fixed my issue:

     

    As most people know, you can delete songs directly from your iPhone by swiping to the right and selecting Delete.  However, every time I synced to my computer, the deleted (purchased directly on my iPhone) songs were reappearing.  When I sync, I only sync selected Music playlists.  What I didn't realize (until today), is that my purchased songs were automatically being checked in the Albums section (on the Sync Music page only seen when your iPhone is connected to your computer).  Make sure your unwanted songs are not checked in any of the sections (not just the Playlists).

  • by John Carroll-Gavula,

    John Carroll-Gavula John Carroll-Gavula Jul 20, 2012 8:25 PM in response to GuitarDad73
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Jul 20, 2012 8:25 PM in response to GuitarDad73

    Holy cow, GuitarDad73!  The "Albums" section.  You figured it out!  Ugh, this has been bugging me for weeks b/c I didn't want to delete the music from my Mac, just my iPhone. I'd checked the "Artist" section, but not "Ablums".  You're a genius.

     

    Thanks so much!

  • by MuckyDuck,

    MuckyDuck MuckyDuck Dec 21, 2012 6:01 AM in response to GuitarDad73
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Notebooks
    Dec 21, 2012 6:01 AM in response to GuitarDad73

    GuitarDad73 wrote:

     

    As most people know, you can delete songs directly from your iPhone by swiping to the right and selecting Delete. 

     

    Does this swipe method work in iOS 6.0.2 when your music is "cloud" based?  When I swipe the song title from left to right the song starts playing.  I have tried it Songs, Albums, Artists.  Perhaps I am a really bad swiper?

     

    I have deleted the song from disk numerous times via iTunes 11.0.1.12, but the cloud keeps putting it back on my devices and desktop hard drive.

  • by BngBngShootShoot,

    BngBngShootShoot BngBngShootShoot Jul 26, 2013 7:44 PM in response to Taffam
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 26, 2013 7:44 PM in response to Taffam

    Same thing keeps happening to me. I delete a song from my iPhone, and when I manually copy a song to my phone, all deleted songs get transfered back as well. 

     

     

     

    Here's the thing I just realized.. It's ALSO deleting ALL of my playlists in my Phone!!  Anyone else notice this?

     

    Additional info: I have the windows version of iTunes, latest version, AND I have the settings on MANUAL sync.

     

     

    My friend has a mac, and it appears that Apple loves working with their own products, as the mac version of iTunes works GREAT with no glitches. But when it comes to the iTunes version, there's a TON of bugs!!(There's also a glitch that makes it impossible to transfer a 400+mb video on a windows computer no matter how you try(again, works fine on a mac), and apple has STILL not tried to fix this problem either.)

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