What does the little cloud symbol mean in the new iTunes?

The cloud is a sign that this is music you purchased from the iTunes store that is not now on your computer, which Apple is storing in iCloud. The arrow is for you to re-download the item to you computer. You might have deleted it because you were tired of it, didn't like it, or had a duplicate version. You can remove the cloud items by going to iTunes/Preferences/Store/ and unchecking the "show iTunes in the Cloud purchases" They will still be available if you need to download them at another time.

I object whole heartedly to music i have purchased that was downloaded onto my computer and placed into specific playlists being removed from my computer without my permission and my playlists messed up. I am now having to download all my purchased music again and try to sort out where they were in playlists. Apple should not tamper with peoples' computers in this way without asking the owner's permission.

Apple cannot access your computer. That's called hacking!!! As Bob says you may have deleted it yourself or indeed you have moved your library location and if your library wasn't consolidated it has missed some tracks.

after installing the update a library update was performed as part of the update before i could access itunes itself again and then all these songs showed icloud - i have not deleted these songs myself or moved my library location - i only did the blasted updated of itunes because my iphone was not being recognized.

My Dad had the same problem with his iTunes after he updated to version 11. But he is notorious (to me) for not consolidating his library every so often. I don't believe he has the "Reorganise files in the iTunes Media folder" option selected so the tracks he had purchased from iTunes and the ones he imported from (ahem) "CDs" were saved in different locations. When he installed iTunes 11 the files purchased weren't where iTunes thought they were and so directed him to redownload via the Cloud.

Thanks for your advice Public Bob, I was looking for the same info as the person you were replying to, it worked superbly for me as well!

So just to clarify,

If you delete the song in your itunes library with the cloud icon beside it, does that also mean that I am deleting it from the cloud. And how does the cloud work? Does this mean that you can just download the songs you have purchased anytime now if for some reason they have dissappeared from your computer? Sorry for any ignorance. Just updated my computer and am trying to figure out the new nuances of the new system.

Thank you for your help.

cbermgo wrote:

So just to clarify,

If you delete the song in your itunes library with the cloud icon beside it, does that also mean that I am deleting it from the cloud.

No. You cannot delete iTunes purchases from iCloud.

Does this mean that you can just download the songs you have purchased anytime now if for some reason they have dissappeared from your computer?

Yes.

Though I highly recommend you make regular backups of your entire /Music/iTunes/ folder (or more importantly, make regular backups of your entire hard drive, using Time Machine or other backup software).

Since this new cloud thing it seems I have to click on some podcasts, the ones with the little clod thingys to download them. Is there a way to click one button and download all my podcast, like it was before?