IOS 8 won't sync music with itunes

FWIW, I have tried many things suggested in this thread, apart from resetting my iPhone. I have an iPhone 5S, iPad mini with retina display, both running iOS 8.0.2, and iTunes 11.4. I have some 3063 songs and a significant number of podcasts. The only non-music stuff I have in my iTunes Media folder are PDF and EPUB documents in the Books directory.

I have not had any problems synching with the iPad but have major problems synching with the iPhone 5S - most songs not synched and all playlists not synched. I removed the Books folder - no change. I turned off synching of music and then turned it on again - no joy. There are some 97 problems identified. The last thing I tried was to turn off synching of Podcasts. I now have 2947 songs synched to my iPhone and all the playlists. There are some 84 problems identified, which roughly matches the missing songs.

In summary, I made significant progress by turning off the synching of Podcasts.

If you're talking about the Music folder--get rid of the PDFs and eBooks. I had the same thing and once I got rid of them my problems stopped completely.

HHaving read all the posts here, can confirm unable to sync music, many fb of data over memory allowance showing under OTHER, and rebooting or restoring phone just a big time waster.

im glad I've stayed with snow leopard and not tried to install latest Mac ios, as you only have to follow the links about what can happen after any update of Apple software at the moment!

will be trying methods from this post when I have time, but really, the solution is to address the obvious bugs in iTunes or iOS 8, quickly, as I have iPhone, iPod and iPad here which do not play music anymore, and none of us should be having to waste hours doing any of these things.

HOw these bugs bugs were missed before release, I have no idea!

@ Generalwo101

It's not a bug, something went wrong when you installed iTunes 11.4.

@ Errk!

Yes I have been using Bluetooth constantly. Been using everything. All is back to normal with me. For days now.

I still think this discussion should be closed. I don't see how this discussion is helped with more of the same complaints that are posted here for days now. There is a fix. Use it.

The facts of the matter are this: Yes, there may indeed be a work-around, that solves the problems, but the whole point, is that you shouldn't have to need one!

There are bugs in iOS 8 and iTunes, or just one of them.

Sigh. I give up. I'm signing out.

Just to add another voice. New iPhone 6, Windows iTunes 11.4.0.18 - I have just over 5000 songs sync'ing to 128G phone, with a bunch of video. Had nothing sync'ing originally. After going step by step (turning all sync off) I was able to get books and podcasts, then movies, then music.

If I edit music, movies all disappear. And after Syncing music, can't add movies. But if I delete music (deselect all) I can re-sync movies (successfully) then add music back (successfully). So every time I want to change, I have to basically strip to bare metal and rebuild the sync.

Lousy, but it works. Awaiting the dot releases...

I've tried variations and combinations of almost everything recommended -- restoring from an old backup, restoring as new, deleting all non-music files (I didn't delete the epub files, though, because I don't want to lose them), downloading and running OnyX, etc. -- but the problem remains on my iPhone 6. Oddly, toggling back and forth between "Manually manage" on my iPhone 5S cleaned up a lot (but not all) of the problem, but had no effect when I did the same exact thing on my iPhone 6.

I'm glad that some of these fixes have worked for some people, but the notion that "there's a fix, stop whining and use it" just isn't fair. The problem wasn't consistent for all users, so I am not sure how anyone can really expect the fix to be, either. Throughout this thread, certain tricks have worked for some, but not others. Apple still needs to address this, IMO.

Exactly this.

If you're not willing to do what has been prescribed then no, it won't ever be fixed.

The ePub files need to be removed. You don't have to delete them forever, move them to a different location outside of your music library folder and delete the empty folder.

I don't understand why, if you've read posts saying you have to delete all non-music files, specifically PDFs and ePub files, you choose specifically not to do that then complain that it's not fixed.

Yes, the notion that average users are going to wade through a file system to delete (or even recognize) specific file types in certain folders, or versions of an iTunes installation sequence to try to solve this is not realistic. I'm willing to keep trying because I have seven years invested in getting iTunes and my series of eight other Apple devices prior to this iPhone 6 (number nine... number nine...) to work with my iTunes library.

It should just work. Period.

I'm on my third iPhone, I can count on one hand the number of issues that I've had with iPhones until this one. I have many other I-devices besides this phone right now, most of which are running 8.0.2, and none of which are having any issues whatsoever syncing to iTunes for music, movies or any other media, or having Bluetooth issues (separate issue) except for my brand new iPhone 6. That kind of sums it up for me. There's a lot of great advice coming out of this discussion thread, aside from anyone who is saying that the issue is resolved, that the answers are clear as day if we would only follow directions, and that this discussion is done and the thread should be closed. That's just silliness. I've bought Apple devices because they're rock solid, they integrate seamlessly with iTunes, approved and supported apps, MS Office applications (yes, I'm a Windows guy) and other software, that has been my experience with Apple for the last 10 years give or take. If and when I've ever run into an issue, any issue with Apple products, and again I can count those experiences on one hand, I contact AppleCare first if I'm under warranty, walk into an Apple Store next, or otherwise try to get help from Apple first, then go out to these Community boards which have been GREAT. My number one use for these boards? - to see if I'm the only one having an issue (wow, I'm not!). The thing about these boards is that serve a variety of users at different levels of technical expertise, and everyone needs to respect that when it comes to troubleshooting an issue. Sometimes it's just not possible or practical for someone to follow an explicit set of technical directions in order to resolve an issue on a purchased product. For me personally, I could probably attempt to run through one or more of the great suggestions that have come by way of this discussion thread. I choose NOT to. I choose to have Apple fix their problems on their products which I bought from them, not me.

Errk!, with all due respect, I don't see how deleting non-music files out of music folders could solve the issue of synchronization not sending files to the device. A file of an inappropriate type in a folder that iTunes looks at should not cause the entire synchronization sequence to not even start, or to affect how or whether music files get moved to the phone. In my case, I get the 6 to sync by toggling Manually Managed On (sync) Manually Managed Off (sync, and no response), then Manually Manage On again, and sync, and it works. Why would my kludge even work if there were rogue files in the folders that should cause the sync to not start? Why do others try this Manually Manage trick and it doesn't work on other devices? Why does my iTunes library work with just fine with a 5S and not with a 6, when they are accessing the exact same playlists, podcasts, and other files in the library?

I also had initial issues where, without fully formed audio files on the device, it would not playback correctly, and album art was being recopied to the device with each sync. Only after getting a population of correct files onto the device, it now works as expected. All the progress I've made is without mucking around in the file system.

To say a Root Cause has been found means that cause can be repeated and works on everyone. Others here have made significant rebuilds with no sustained solution. It may indeed be some combination of the hardware on the iPhone and a mix of files / folders / selections in iTunes, but Apple has already had some significant issues with the iOS 8-dot-uh-oh versions on the iPhone 6, so they are still learning also.

Cheers

Interesting inadvertent test of the iPhone 6. On Friday 3
October, I purchased a 4-song EP from iTunes. The Antlers, Undersea EP, and
downloaded it to the PC. Whether it got on the iPhone 6 through the magic
iTunes Store update, or synchronization from the PC, I tend to think it was downloaded
direct to the device without going through my PC.

On my PC iTunes, I deleted an MP3 of “Crest”, the third song
on this EP, which was obtained earlier. Added a 5-star rating and Sort Show
field value of “KEXP” to the downloaded AAC file of “Crest” in iTunes on my PC.
At no time do my hands leave my arms. So I end up with a new 4-song EP with
song 3 updated with my previous rating, and an identifier I use for
categorizing certain sources of songs. All 4 songs are new on both iTunes and
the iPhone, no playcount, no Last Played entry.

This morning I played all 4 songs on the EP in sequence, on
the iPhone 6. All are iTunes AAC files. Did I say that already?

After listening to the songs, I connected the iPhone 6 to
iTunes using the Lightning cable (the one that came with the device, not that
that should make any difference to any other Lightning cable). The iPhone 6 had
been disconnected previously with “Manually Manage music and video” unchecked,
OFF, so iTunes should be updating everything. This is not how I have been
recently disconnecting, usually Manually Managed has been On, but this works
for this experiment.

Apps connected, 2,300 Artwork were sent to the iPhone, no
replacement of updated Playlists where songs had changed. No music was sent to
the iPhone 6. This is consistent with my recent experience when “Manually
Managed” is turned off; no songs go to the iPhone 6.

While three of the songs in the EP now show a Last Played
time and a Playcount of 1, the third song “Crest” does not report a Last Played
time, or a Playcount. Of the four, Crest was the only song file I added a
rating and a “Sort Show” entry to, the others were unmodified on iTunes.

Changed the iTunes iPhone 6 selection Manually Manage music
and video to ON, and resync. Syncronization copies over however many thousands
of files I have in my selected playlists to the iPhone 6. I can actually watch
the count of the files on the iPhone 6, in the Playlists portion of the Music
app, as it increments as each music file is added into the phone.

My take away from this? While it may be possible to tweak
iTunes into re-starting syncing by making drastic changes to a file set, I
wonder if it will be able to handle any new changes to files, or do those files
also begin to become problems as information is added to the song file in
iTunes? In other words, is the “file edit / cleanup” a solution that sticks, or
it simply degrades the next time a file is changed?

It's hilarious that a couple people want to impose their will and shut down this discussion. I agree with the rest of you: while there e be some very complicated work around that may, tenuously, work for some time and for some people, this should NOT be the state of play with an Apple device and Apple software.

The fact of the matter is that I never had syncing issues such as these with previous devices: iPods, Android phones, my now greatly missed iPhone 5

This has simply been a disastrous experience all the way around. It is still not resolved, and I have a request out now to Apple to find me an iPhone 5 running iOS 7. I need this nightmare to end.

They certainly lost a buyer of the Watch. I assume that will also be loaded with bugs when they finally launch, and that they will show the same lack of care and urgency they have with this issue.