iTunes changes video/album info when I play video/songs

Question

Level 1

53 points

iTunes changes video/album info when I play video/songs

I have purchased movies, tv shows, and music on iTunes, and sometimes when I go to play a song or video I've downloaded iTunes changes the name/album/other info on the video/song, and it then changes where it is located in my iTunes folders, and album art changes as well. What is going on?! I've had it happen multiple times to both songs and videos. And unfortunately, even though it renames the files on my computer and in iTunes causing me to not be able to find them, I can not download them from the cloud because the cloud recognizes that those files are ON my computer (even though they're renamed and I would have to listen to thousands of songs just to find what it's been renamed to).

How can I stop this from happening and losing so much media that I've purchased on this computer?! I'm tempted to delete EVERYTHING, and redownload it from the cloud. However, what's to say it wouldn't happen all over again once I've done that?

Please let me know if you've experienced something similar and what can be done to correct the problem.

Thank you so much.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Aug 14, 2013 9:50 AM

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Answer 1

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 10:42 AM in response to curtraymond

Hello,

which version of iTunes You use?

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Answer 2

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 11:28 AM in response to Z_B-B

11.0.4 currently, but I believe it's been happening for a while through a couple updates now.

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Answer 3

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 11:39 AM in response to curtraymond

Can you tell me:

Have you touched the iTunes folder in finder ?

(Move / delete files)

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Answer 4

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:30 PM in response to Z_B-B

I've opened it to see where files are, then clicked on them in iTunes and watched them disappear from one location in Finder and show up in another folder. An example is I downloaded the movie Sherlock Holmes. It appears in Movies in iTunes while it downloads. Once it finishes downloading, I watched it move into a different folder. And for some reason it's info/data is tied with an episode of Ghost Hunters (Haunted Reform) that I purchased a long time ago. Now, in my movies Ghost Hunters appears, but all of the data like director and cast is listed as Sherlock Holmes. It makes no sense. So, I delete both Sherlock Holmes and the Ghost Hunters episode, remove them from my trash, go into My Purchases in iTunes, click to download Sherlock Holmes from the cloud and BOTH Sherlock Holmes and this Ghost Hunters episode start downloading.

Turns out when I look at the downloads FROM ITUNES Sherlock Holmes was only 250mb (the size of an SD episode of Ghost Hunters) and the Ghost Hunters episode is 1.88GB (the size of Sherlock Holmes)! So, is this my computer reading the iTunes downloads wrong and applying the wrong info or is this an iTunes problem? I've had it happen to albums I've purchased as well.

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Answer 5

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:45 PM in response to curtraymond

Your problem is a large range :

Well,

First do the next thing --

iTunes > Preferences... > Advanced > Check The first two options Then OK .

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Answer 6

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:51 PM in response to Z_B-B

Both of those options have always been checked for me. I like my iTunes media to be very organized. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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Answer 7

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:58 PM in response to curtraymond

Thankfully, after downloading with the wrong info on the downloads page, the files seem to be back in the correct places. However, I've had this happen with multiple forms of media purchased through iTunes. So, if you can think of any other reason why the files would get mixed up info, please suggest it!

Thanks.

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Answer 8

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 1:17 PM in response to curtraymond

The basic files in iTunes folder are iTunes Library file, which contains information about all your songs, videos, and audiobooks, as well as your playlists. This is the most important file for iTunes .

Maybe one of these files has been corrupted ?!

I think you should create a new iTunes folder ..

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Answer 9

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 1:22 PM in response to curtraymond

1]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

2]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589

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Answer 10

tedysmom

Level 1

5 points

Aug 14, 2013 1:59 PM in response to Z_B-B

I had a similar issue with my songs (don't have a lot of video so this has not been an issue). iTunes created a new .itl file on 8/8/13 on me when mine all started happening. I've found that if I play a song, the name/title changes to be correct. I can then manually change the sorting data so it comes out correctly. I am worried about a corrupt file that might make this happen again. But yes, it does sound like a library file issue to me.

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Answer 11

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 2:05 PM in response to Z_B-B

Wow. Guess I was wrong. Sherlock Holmes still has the wrong info, as you can see. Sherlock Holmes is playing, but the title reads Haunted Reform which is an episode of Ghost Hunters.

Thanks for the links. I'll read into it. I'd hate to have to completely redo my whole iTunes collection, but if that's the only answer... Maybe I should. Or take all of my media and make the move to a Windows platform. Ugh.

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Answer 12

Z_B-B

Level 2

296 points

Aug 14, 2013 2:15 PM in response to curtraymond

Stop !!

Check the iTunes folder and copy all the files from it (songs, movies ..)

And then create a new iTunes library, the problem is not in your files, but the files of iTunes,

Do not lose all your information!

(And Mac OS better windows a million times) .

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Answer 13

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Aug 14, 2013 2:19 PM in response to curtraymond

Yeah turns out the Sherlock Holmes file is an iTunes Extra file where it is now showing up correctly in Movies, but when I play it, it is listed as this Ghost Hunters episode but with the correct chapter name from the movie.

So, if I want to create a new iTunes Library.itl file, can I do that without losing all of the media and organization? Would I also be able to just delete iTunes and reinstall it to get the same result?

I wish Apple would have step by step instructions on how to handle this corrupted file.

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Answer 14

Dec 15, 2013 12:23 PM in response to curtraymond

I'm having the exact same issue, and it's driving me crazy. Like you, it's been happening for a while, through several updates. This can get confusing, so let me use actual titles to keep this straight. Went to play Lady Gaga "Bad Romance". The album art totally changed to Swell Season and the song "Back Broke" started playing even though the track was still labeled with Lady Gaga info.

So, I tracked down Swell Season "Back Broke" and played that, and it morphed into a completely different song! I feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole with my songs. AND even though the Lady Gaga track renamed itself to Swell Season "Back Broke" and plays Swell Season "Back Broke", it still sorts alphabetically as if it's Lady Gaga.

My favorite incident so far has been a song with track info A, album art B, and the actual song that plays is C. Three in one combo! All of these have been with purchased songs.

Deleting and downloading the incorrect tracks from the cloud doesn't do anything. Problem remains. When I tried to redownload Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" from previous purchases in the store, it said that it was "not available in the US store." ????? Should I abandon my itunes library and thousands of dollars worth of purchased songs and just do a monthly thing like Spotify? Because the only solution that has worked so far is REBUYING songs I've already purchased!!

Ridiculous. Apple, find a solution and break it down for me step-by-step. Because I know I'm not the only person with this issue.

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Answer 15

curtraymond Author

Level 1

53 points

Dec 15, 2013 2:08 PM in response to RaefromTX

This is just ridiculous. If it's an iTunes Library file that is messed up, then it is not my fault. It is the Apple product failing. I'm on a newer Mac, newer OS, using updated iTunes. So, if the iTunes file is corrupt, and I lose songs or media, then it SHOULD be iTunes' (and Apple's) responsibility to fix the problem, right? We shouldn't have to pay TWICE for media that we already purchased just to have it labeled correctly in THEIR program on THEIR OS on THEIR computer.

Hope you find a solution RaefromTX. Even if you have to make a new iTunes Library file.

I don't know what's worse. This problem or iOS 7 not allowing us to delete full albums from our devices OR clear out the cache of the streaming songs we play unless we download them and then delete them. I'm tired of innovation. How about just getting really good at making things work before you mess them up again?!

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