Why is music ripped from CD's missing from my library?

I don't manage my music much, and just noted the same pattern. Music that I added from my own personal CDs - gone - with empty folders. Which is interesting since those folders are stored in the same messy music folder as everything else.

valcleo wrote:

I don't manage my music much, and just noted the same pattern. Music that I added from my own personal CDs - gone - with empty folders. Which is interesting since those folders are stored in the same messy music folder as everything else.

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

tt2

Thanks, but I don't recall itunes ever having crashed in the 4 years I've had the computer. It isn't a case of stuff missing from the library, it's a case of stuff that has been deleted off the hard drive. Also, I use a Macbook Pro, not a windows machine.

I have no idea when the music disappeared, but the following patterns are pretty suspicious... disappearance is almost:

- exclusively associated with CDs that *I* ripped

(also missing is at least some music purchased from sites other than itunes, although much of that is still there).

- nearly all the CD ripped music is gone (at least 100 albums)

- no music that was purchased from itunes is missing

- no music given to me by friends is missing

- no recordings of my own (using 3rd party equipment and processing software) is missing

It may have been gone for a while, since none of the music is in the database (I'm not dealing with empty pointers). But still... the pattern is such that it seems deliberate, otherwise missing music would be more random in origin.

I update the backup of my iTunes library most days, using three clones, one at home, one at work and a portable drive that commutes with me. Every time I check the changes that about to be committed in terms of additions, deletions, or overwrites. Barring an odd incident with podcast subscriptions where the settings on my iPad app were copied into iTunes (not what I wanted!) every time there has been an unexpected change I've been able to work out what I had done to cause it. I've restored the affected files from backup (1,700+ for the podcast incident) rather than let them be removed or overwritten. Any fully automatic backup mechanism would remove this safety net.

We're pattern seekers, but just because you think you see a pattern doesn't mean it is there. Either way think cockup rather than conspiracy, Apple have no motive to deliberately remove your data, but perhaps not enough to make absolutely certain they (or you) don't do any damage accidentally. Ideally you would have had a robust backup strategy that would have not only preserved your data but warned you the first time something when missing.

tt2

Well, thanks for the Lecture! I'd love to hear from Someone ELSE (the OP) about whether or not the problem still exists, is associated with any particular OS or versions, and what they did (if anything) to prevent iTunes from deleting files in the future?

Regarding the Lecture:

We're pattern seekers, but just because you think you see a pattern doesn't mean it is there.

It's there. And it was there for others in this thread. Just because we're pattern seekers doesn't mean it ISN'T there, what's your bias anyway? That attitude is great way to troll, and makes me totally uninterested in anything further that you might say to "help".

Either way think cockup rather than conspiracy, Apple have no motive to deliberately remove your data,

Perhaps it's a cockup, but it's a pretty serious cockup when a database program takes the initiative to delete files, rather than just fail to properly manage the data pointers. And the lawsuit mentioned above suggests strongly that Apple is aware of related problems, hides them, and doesn't care to fix them - and *that* is a conspiracy.

Ideally you would have had a robust backup strategy that would have not only preserved your data but warned you the first time something when missing.

I backup everything that is important to me: the music library isn't that important. And frankly, I've had problems with Apple's Time Machine software not overwriting old backups and therefore not working properly (a known problem with certain OS), as well as 3rd party cloud backup doing the same scary thing as iTunes (e.g. erasing files that it did not have authorization to erase... luckily infrequent and sorted with technical support). Despite problems with 3rd party cloud software and Time Machine, I have never lost anything *important*. But Cloud backup is expensive, so some of us make choices about what is important.

Regardless of importance, or how much backup up I do, or don't do - I think it is unacceptable for any database or cloud backup to fully delete files (there could be more checks, or manual input), and even more unacceptable for the company managing the software (Apple) to not address these problems. And every cloud backup I've used does exactly that - includes a second layer of safety for deleted files.

I lost a lot of my CD ripped music when itunes updated. Fortunately I have the CDs and could put it back in, but it was irritating. Most of my library is CD content. I did note that it seemed to target certain artists. Bob Dylan, the Chieftains, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the Beatles were among artists where multiple CDs were dropped. I have done nothing except add music and sync my ipod so there were no accidental deletions. I found it interesting.

I'm in the "same boat" as you except I'm on a 27" iMac of all things. I've reloaded some of my CD's four times now. What's really bugging me is that I never have lost any of the music that I've downloaded directly from iTunes. I'm not an X-Files conspiracy nut but it sure seems to me that iTunes is forcing us to purchase our music from them rather than rip our CD's.

Whatever has happened is likely to have affected your iTunes purchases too, it is just that iTunes has a mechanism to reconnect you to your purchase history. See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for details. Why didn't you start backing up the library after the first time?

tt2

Time Machine does a back-up of my hard drive every hour. I should not have to search my back-ups or CD's for my music that I've ripped into iTunes. I have had the same path to the music location for over six years.

Of course iTunes shouldn't lose track of your media, or delete anything unless you ask it to, but if it has happened to you once then you know it is a possibility. Apple cover the known issue of possible corruption during updates here : If you don't see your content after you update iTunes. In most cases simply restoring a pre-upgrade copy of the library database file acts as a fix as no media files will have been affected. If something different has happened in your case then you need to look at the issue more deeply.

Is/was the media still in the original locations on the hard drive?

Is/was it recoverable from Time Machine?

On the occasions this has happened before did you check either before re-ripping CDs?

If you re-ripped do you have duplicate content in the media folders only some of which is connected to the current library?

Have you been able to restore an older version of the library file from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder or from Time Machine in the way suggested in Apple's support document or my user tip?

Time Machine is great at backing up in an automated fashion, but I don't think it has anything that warns about unexpected changes in the source folder, and eventually deletions in the source folder are going to get mirrored in the archive if they are left unnoticed for long enough. You also have to actively use Time Machine to restore missing data. It may run every hour, but if or when you discover that something is missing you have to make the effort to pull back the missing data, you cannot expect either Time Machine or iTunes to just know what needs to be restored and do it for you automatically.

tt2

I'm having a similar issue. I put the CD in, import the music, and can listen to the music in iTunes. I take the CD out, restart iTunes, and the music is gone. I can find the music in File Explorer in the iTunes folder, but it won't let me drag and drop into my music, or let me import from file. It also doesn't play when I open it. Any suggestions?

Try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows. What anti-virus package do you have? Some have been known to interfere with iTunes when it saves its library. If possible exclude the iTunes folder from real time scanning.

tt2

Thank you! I did the permissions, and I did the same procedure and it worked. I think last time I may have tried opening the file outside of iTunes, and it tried using Windows Media Player first, so that may have been another issue. The music doesn't save when I close and reopen, but at least I can import the file each time now. I don't know if this might have something to do with the music being backed up to the server, and the computer trying to sync up or something. Either way, I'm happy now, so thank you!

If you are using iTunes on a work computer with a roaming profile then your IT department isn't going to thank you. You should move your library to somewhere like C:\iTunes so that it is outside of the profile folder and doesn't get replicated back to the server. See Make a split library portable for details.

tt2

I'm having this problem too! Thank Goodness I noticed it soon after I changed computers and had moved my library over so I still have my old Music Library with my old version of iTunes on it. I will not be updating it if I can. I have copied the music over for the second time because every time I get a new version of iTunes, it loses my ripped music. All of my purchased music shows up. But I have to copy and import again to get my ripped music.