How do I recover playlists that I didn't delete?

Question

How do I recover playlists that I didn't delete?

I just downloaded new music and made new playlists. I synced music to my iPad and iPod touch. After I did this, some of the playlists were gone from my PC's iTunes. They are still on my devices, however. Some of the playlists that I didn't even sync are gone. I didn't delete them. They are just gone. I would like to get them back on my iTunes because they are very large and would take ages to recreate. All the files are still in my library and just the playlist is gone.

Posted on Jul 19, 2013 5:50 PM

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Answer 1

icec0der

Level 1

20 points

Jul 19, 2013 7:40 PM in response to mackenzierebbers

While in iTunes, goto your device and into the Playlists, select Export on a particular playlist. And re-import a playlist by going to File->Library->Import Playlist. iTunes should no longer delete it.

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Answer 2

Jul 19, 2013 7:47 PM in response to icec0der

I tried to do this with my iPod nano, which still had all of my old playlists, but it was just emptied when I plugged it into my computer and it only kept the playlists that were still there. Not the ones that were previously on it. I don't even want to try to plug in my iPad or iPod touch because they till have the lists. The computer does not. Thank you for your response.

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Answer 3

Jul 19, 2013 7:48 PM in response to icec0der

Also I do not use iCloud or any of that because I don't know how and it would just mess things up with everything even further.

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Answer 4

icec0der

Level 1

20 points

Jul 19, 2013 8:00 PM in response to mackenzierebbers

If you are worried about that type of thing prevent the iPod and iPad from syncing automatically. In iTunes, goto Edit->Prefereneces->Devices and check "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically." and also, Create the playlist in iTunes from the one on your devices. Have you tried transferring purchases?

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Answer 5

nbar

Level 5

7,019 points

Jul 19, 2013 8:08 PM in response to mackenzierebbers

Try and reimport the iTunes metadata files, .itl & .xml, if they still exist. These have your playlist information. That being said, since you don't have playlists, they probably were recreated accidently. It is worth a shot.

See here: What are the iTunes Library files?

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Answer 6

Jul 25, 2013 5:56 PM in response to nbar

All this did was give me the playlists that were still there. My LIBRARY is still full and I haven't lost any files from it. Just my PLAYLISTS are gone.

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