heykelley
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: iPod won't sync with iTunes

I recently moved all of my music onto an external hard drive, but now when I plug in my iPod, it won't sync with iTunes. iTunes recognizes my iPod just fine, but no matter how many times I click the Sync button, they don't sync up. I've bought new songs in iTunes and they're not syncing to my iPod, made new playlists, etc. How can I get both of them to match up again? Why isn't it syncing? Can anyone help me out?

 

(I'm using iTunes 11 on Windows Vista, with an old style iPod)

iPod classic, Windows Vista

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 6:27 PM

by Kenichi Watanabe,Solvedanswer
Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe
Level 8 (39,285 points)
Mac OS X
A:

If you did the move of your music to an external drive using iTunes, through the command in

 

iTunes menu bar -> File -> Library

 

iTunes keeps track of the new location for all of you song (and other media) files.  As long as you can play those songs in iTunes, the move to the external drive should not be causing a syncing problem with the iPod.

 

Did you set up the Music tab for the iPod?  Select the iPod in iTunes.  Near the top of the iTunes window, there is a row of "tabs" (they look like buttons in the latest iTunes) that starts with Summary.  Click on Music there.  This tab is where you tell iTumes how to sync your music library to the iPod.  Make sure Sync Music is checked.  Below that, if your entire music library will fit on the iPod, you can select Entire music library; any change you make to your music library will sync to the iPod.  Otherwise, you need to make a selection of songs based on Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres. 

 

If you added new songs to the library, or created new playlists, they need to be included in the selection on the Music tab.  If they are not part of the selection, they will not sync to the iPod no matter how many times you click the Sync button.

 

Once you have set up the Music tab, click Apply to sync the selection to the iPod.  Going forward, any changes made in the music library that are related to the selection on the Music tab will sync automatically to the iPod, when it is connected or when you click the Sync button.

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 7:51 PM

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heykelley

Q: iPod won't sync with iTunes

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  • by Mark Harrigan,

    Mark Harrigan Mark Harrigan Jan 17, 2016 5:02 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2016 5:02 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    I have tried to follow the suggestions in this thread but nothing seems to work for me.  I can no longer properly sync my Ipod after some system changes.

     

    I am running Windows 10 and had to recently replace by c drive (after first moving all my files including all my music and the itunes library to the other physical hard drive in my system (drive M:)).

     

    I have told Itunes where the new music file is located (M:\markh\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music) in advanced preferences.  I made sure all the sync boxes are ticked - but it simply refused to sync and acts like it is syncing with the old location -along the way it deleted all the existing files from my Ipod.

     

    I can still see all my music files in the location mentioned above but Itunes will not sync my ipod with them any advice please?

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Jan 17, 2016 4:57 PM in response to Mark Harrigan
    Level 8 (39,285 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 17, 2016 4:57 PM in response to Mark Harrigan

    Are you able to play your songs in iTunes on the computer?

     

    If you used a file manager to move the song files (outside of iTunes), iTunes may have lost track of where your song files are located.  The iTunes Media folder location setting in iTunes preferences Advanced pane is for new media going forward.  iTunes expects previously existing media to be where they were previously located, unless you let iTunes move the media files to a new location.

     

    For future reference, this is how to tell iTunes to move its media files to a new location.  This is useful, if you want to put your iTunes Media folder on an external drive (or a secondary internal drive).  Create an empty iTunes Media folder at the desired new location.  In iTunes preferences Advanced pane, point the iTunes Media folder location to that new iTunes Media folder.  The TWO checkboxes for Keep iTunes Media folder organized AND Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library should checked.  Then, from the menu bar, File -> Library -> Organized Library -> Consolidate Files  (checkmark box).  This command tells iTunes to copy all of its media files, from wherever they are currently located, and organize them into the designated iTunes Media folder. Because iTunes copied the media files to new location, iTunes does not lose track of where the media files are located.


    Let me know if you can (or cannot) play your songs in iTunes.  If iTunes has lost track of location for its song files, you may see an exclamation point symbol next to song in iTunes.  If iTunes cannot find its song files, iTunes cannot sync your iPod with those songs, and iTunes will remove those songs from the iPod (if you are using automatic syncing).

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jan 19, 2016 2:00 AM in response to Mark Harrigan
    Level 10 (87,001 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 19, 2016 2:00 AM in response to Mark Harrigan

    You should press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes, keep holding until prompted to choose or create a library, then use the choose option to open the file M:\markh\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl.

     

    See also Make a split library portable. The media folder would normally be called iTunes Media these days. You may wish to convert your library to the current shape.

     

    tt2

  • by Mark Harrigan,

    Mark Harrigan Mark Harrigan Jan 27, 2016 1:24 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 27, 2016 1:24 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    Thanks to you and turingtest2 for both those answers - but they don't seem to indicate how to solve my problem. (Turingtest2 your suggestion only shows cloud located files)

     

    It's true I did not use iTunes to move my Media folder - I had assumed (since nowhere tells you otherwise) that moving the pointer would be sufficient (would be good if such information was displayed somewhere rather than in an FAQ somewhere - apparently Apple and iTunes isn;t as smart and user friendly as the advertising - but oh well)

     

    I can still play some songs within iTunes - but only those available from the cloud (which is the location from which they play) - do you have any suggestions as to fix the problem - or do I have manually import them all again

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jan 27, 2016 1:33 AM in response to Mark Harrigan
    Level 10 (87,001 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 27, 2016 1:33 AM in response to Mark Harrigan

    Try Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.

     

    If cannot find a valid .itl file that lists your media and playlists then I'd suggest you rebuild the library in the standard shape, with the iTunes folder at M:\iTunes and move all of the media inside M:\iTunes\ITunes Media before adding to the library.

     

    If you find a valid .itl but the library is full of exclamation marks indicating broken links I can walk you through correcting that problem.

     

    tt2

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