IOS 8 won't sync music with itunes

I've purposely done both - syncs with nothing added, syncs with new songs added...so far ok

I feel completely unqualified to do some of these "fixes," beyond the normal restore, etc., but I'm probably going to have to bite the bullet and do it. My 5S and 6 still won't sync music added after the initial restore (plus a few random missing songs that were there prior). Oddly enough, I have two current iPod Touchs (I keep one in each of the cars) and my iPad Air are syncing without an issue. Strange. All five devices are running 8.0.2 and I'm using the latest version of iTunes on my current generation iMac.

Ok. I spent 3 hrs online with Apple yesterday. The fix they gave me seemed to work but was ugly as I lost all my app data and old text messages and had to re-install all my apps one by one. They had me totally wipe my phone And restore it to factory settings. Then they had me set it up as a new phone so that if there was any bug in the software I wasn't re-copying it back on to the phone by restoring from an older version. I have synced at least five times today and everything seems to be holding.

Another thing that seems odd about this whole thing. I have (or wish to have) just over 7,000 songs on my iPhone 6. Every time I try to complete a sync, it leaves off tracks newly added, but always imports artwork for around 3,500 tracks. Every time.

I have a fix:

Let's return our phones and tell apple we will buy them when Apple products "Just work", again.

I have been extremely frustrated, tried every trick and they last for well, until I try to add a bit more music. Tonight, tried to add 400 new songs and sure enough. No luck. So I am on the phone with Apple care and we will see what happens.

No solution by this weekend and the phone goes back.

And you can kiss any chance of me getting a watch goodbye. Which I was going to do until I got iOS 8. I think it says alot about a company that puts so much effort to getting time right to the nano second only to botch synching music and photos for those of us with large libraries of both (oh yeah, events do not synch correctly in the photo app either)

By the way, Amazon Music, free with Prime Membership, now offers radio stations, free albums (just downloaded 5 free albums) and oh hey, their app actually works to synch music. Google Play as well - both offer a refresh option and synch music the way iTunes match should.

An update - I think I have this beat.

I did something similar to what Greg did, but not quite as extreme. He and one other member advised me to go through my iTunes library folders and remove anything that wasn't a music file. I had 2 eBooks that I apparently downloaded in 2010, and it looks like iTunes used to keep them in folders in the main library folder using a folder structure simliar to the artist>album structure used for music.

After doing this I restored my phone from a backup and re-added all of my music. Looking back, I'm not sure this was necessary but it may have been.

As I added all of my music I made sure to let the sync COMPLETELY finish. I believe this is crucial, because even though iTunes says it is done the phone was still working. I was adding over 16,000 songs and I think it just took time for it to process all of them. I could tell it was still working because in General>About the number of songs never completely loaded, and when viewing the songs in my music app the number of songs in each playlist were blinking as the numbers increased.All the while, the loading circle arrow icon in the upper left of the iPhone was spinning as well.

Once everything finished loading the playlist song numbers stopped blinking and changing and the number of songs in General>About matched the number of songs in my library (I was synching my entire library).

I've done numerous additions, deletions, and edits of songs and all have synced perfectly. I don't even have the issue of wrong art work that some people have mentioned. Larger syncs (as in the number of songs being changed and re-synced) take longer, naturally, and the "waiting for changes to be applied" step seems to hang while it processes this, but I believe this is normal and it's not nearly as long as it was.

Also, importantly, I have not needed to restart my phone or iTunes between syncs.

I think combing through your library folder as Greg outlined is crucial because I think that is where the problem is. For some reason it is trying to sync things in that folder even if they aren't part of the library. I also believe it is crucial to LET THE SYNC FINISH COMPLETELY. That means watching your device and not just relying on iTunes to say when it is complete.

I'll add one more thing - I used an AppleScript from Doug's Applescripts called "Music Folders Not Added" (Google it, because it doesn't look like this forum likes me trying to post the link) to find song files that were in my library folder but not listed in iTunes. This may have also helped.

Try this - both Greg and I seem to have success with it and I think it works. Good luck.

Glad to hear my solution worked for you, Errk

Hi Brett,

I've tried and it doesn't work. Have made some observations in other threads in Apple support communities, and have ability to load very limited number of albums using "albums", and multiple/repeated syncing. The more podcasts I delete, the more reliable the syncing of music. No luck with playlists and artists.

New problem today with album artwork. Have attached screen shot which shows artwork just substituted itself and song count is wrong. Both albums purchased via iTunes before iOS 8. Fully downloaded on iPhone 5 and mac/itunes.

Hi everyone, not seen all of the posts however I have just fixed this very quickly and easily.

IF saying that syncs with Itunes Match, got to your itunes account where it says "add this computer" which essentially turns match on. Then go to your itunes drop down menu at the top where it says store, then turn off match. having your phone plugged in to the laptop the whole time. THis should then kick your phone and system into allowing you to sync songs normally.

Also make sure itunes match is turned off on your phone.

Hope this helps

Also try force quitting Itunes and clicking between manually manage music and slected playlists etc. Its like the phones need to be taught again?? I agree with so many posts that Apple really need to make sure things work PROPERLY first. Never known such nonsense and a day trying to restore an old phone.

Seems like everyone is having problems with music sync in iOS 8. iTunes 12 beta hasn't fixed it either, which makes me think it's a problem with iOS.

If I start with a freshly restored iPhone, I can get it to sync... once!

If I interrupt the sync, it will not resume where it left off. It does some "copying artwork" but that is it. Going to the music on device tab shows all of the tracks that should be syncing with a "copy pending" circle. Even turning off "Sync Music" or turning on iTunes Match will not clear out those pending tracks. Deleting all music on the phone from Settings -> usage won't clear it either.

The only way I have found to clear it short of restoring is to use iFunBox to blow away the iTunes_control folder on the phone. This removes everything iTunes has tried to sync. The next time you open iTunes, it will see it as a new device and ask you to restore a backup or set up as a new device. Choose set up as a new device. iTunes will then recognize it as an existing device, but your sync state will be reset.

There is some speculation the issue might be with album art iOS 8 doesn't like. Try selecting all tracks in your library, then get info and uncheck the artwork box. If you want artwork back, select all and fetch album art. Others who have done this to ensure they only have artwork from the iTunes store can get sync to work reliably.

Should I delete the iTunes control file itself?

Yes. Quit iTunes, delete the folder under raw file system in ifunbox, and relaunch iTunes.

ifunbox requires a jail broken phone?

I did that. It seems to be stuck on the 'waiting for changes to be applied" box.