IOS 8 won't sync music with itunes

Neither the content or the tone of this post helped me. This poster assumes we are are all lazy, stupid, or illiterate (sound familiar?). I have read all the posts and tried all the fixes. I confident I've forgotten more tech than this guy knows. I can tell you for a fact that nothing works.

I didn't do something different that caused the problem. The problem does reside with Apple and this update. Everything worked fine before the release of iOS 8. The folks complaining here aren't whiners, they are customers who deserve to get the product and service they have paid dearly for.

Why is it our job to figure out how to fix this problem in the first place? Everything worked fine until iOS 8 showed up. We didn't break this. With regard to the friendly recommendation that we should just delete some files that don't belong in the iTunes directory, which ones would those be exactly? Thanks for the specifics and heavy dose of condescension pal. Also, I don't own a Mac so this advice is probably useless anyway. I'm also canceling my order for the iPhone 6+ if this problem isn't fixed real soon.

Thanks for wasting my time and please enjoy your new position as chief Apple smoke screen generator..

I too have a similar problem -- I was trying to get my holiday playlists from iTunes added to my iPhone (6). No go.

I realize that as new versions of iTunes, IOS and hardware evolve that testing all possible conditions of changes becomes increasingly difficult, but it seems like synching music between iTunes and a phone would be one of the more basic tests before rolling out updates. I am confident they will get this issue corrected eventually, although I'm not holding my breath that I'll get my holiday music on my phone for this season--although that isn't a huge deal in the great scheme of things. But to me Apple is no longer the company it used to be in terms of customer support. Just my 2 cents.

My sync problem has been going on since I updated to IOS 8. I have had two telephone help calls and one Genius Bar visit. I am no further forward.

MY iPhone and iPad will randomly fill to capacity with OTHER files requiring a complete reboot. I have disabled iCloud drive and tried reorganising and deleting files from my iTunes library. All of my devices worked almost perfectly prior to this upgrade. I now dread syncing either of my devices to see what latest iTunes problem is now present.

I Have one simple question which no one at Apple has answered. When iTunes finds a file it doesn't like or will not sync why does it not flag it up with the reason for the problem. iTunes has done this for many years with incompatible files and missing album art work. If iTunes could only tell us why it is continually waiting for sync to start or give us a reason for our iOS device suddenly filling to capacity with OTHER files at least we would be able to do our own diagnosis and repairs. Apple need to sort out this issue soon. I'm losing patience and faith in Apple products. So no iPhone 6 upgrade for me till this gets properly sorted.

Fix that worked perfectly for me: Re-Creating (i.e., re-building) my itunes library and then syncing phone. Here's the apple support link: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451

Note: there are some caveats with re-creating a library.

There's a million and one things that Fix this issue. The question is whether the Fix is permanent. Does it come back the next day when you add a video or add a playlist?

Yea I've gone through two iPhones 6 with no resolve to this problem. Apple won't admit it but it has to be the new update b/c its affecting my iPod touch now as well. They mad it seem like it was iTunes that was corrupted and that I needed to create a new library and re-create all my playlist. All to no avail. Really regretting not getting a Galaxy now.

i have found this article: http://robservatory.com/a-nasty-little-itunesios-bug-may-be-causing-media-sync-i ssues/

In the current version of iTunes/iOS, there’s a bug that only appears when you have duplicates of purchased songs. When encountered, a duplicate of a purchased song will (almost always) cause iTunes to silently stop syncing.

anyone already tried this work around?

I posted the following to a different thread but maybe it will help in your situation as well. The past several days I experienced sync issues with the iPad Air, having had to upgrade to the latest iTunes release earlier than I expected due to the need to replace my Mac Pro (the hard drive on my previous Mac Pro became corrupted and due to its age, the Mac Pro had become obsolete, preventing me from being able to upgrade to the latest OS releases these past few years. On the positive side, the Mac Pro lasted nine years and I had been able to at least keep current with the latest iTunes releases in general with little problems up until this last release). After restoring all data from my Time Capsule to the new Mac Pro with OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1, upgrading iPhoto data and rebuilding the iPhoto library (which I had not kept current), I attempted to sync my iPad Air via USB cable and witnessed the iPad disconnecting and reconnecting every other second as if I had a bad USB cable/connection. The cable was fine, but this process rendered me without any playlists, music, and photos on my iPad Air (I had over 100 playlists and nearly 5,000 songs and 4,000 photos). As I was not sure if the issue was with my iPad Air, I reset the iPad Air (selected settings, reset, erase all content and settings) to at least make a fresh start and download from my iCloud backup made the previous day. Rather than repeat many of the same other syncing issues others have already noted [i.e., that I also had] and describe what did not work for my situation, I'll just note the steps that eventually did correct my problem and bring my iPad Air back to its proper state (Perhaps following these steps just coincidentally fixed my problems, but after having spent hours as many others have in trying to resolve the syncing issues, I have not since experienced any issues).

First (after loading iTunes on the Mac Pro of course), I selected iTunes, Preferences, Devices and clicked on [placed the check mark on] "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically." (As noted in Apple's help documentation, this "Prevents devices from automatically syncing with the iTunes library when a device is connected. To sync a device, click the Sync button when the device is connected)." Selecting this option before connecting the iPad Air via USB cable was important to keep the iPad Air from getting hung up in the automatic sync stage that was preventing me from changing any other iTunes preferences.

Second, I made sure that the iPad Air "iTunes Match" option setting was off (Settings, Music, iTunes Match) prior to performing any sync operation. However, I continue to keep the Mac Pro iTunes Match option "on". I then connected the iPad Air via USB cable to the Mac Pro and once the device was recognized in iTunes, clicked on the rectangular device symbol in the upper left section of the iTunes screen. Within the "Options" [center bottom] section of the screen, I clicked on [placed the check mark on] "Sync only checked songs and videos." This is the only Option I had "checked". Next, within the Settings, Music section (left side of the iTunes screen), I clicked on [placed the check mark on] "Sync Music" and selected "Entire music library" and "Include music videos". I also made sure all of my other settings were selected as I intended for Apps, Movies, Books, Tones, and Photos.

Before initiating the Sync process and to ensure that data was appropriately transferred from my iPad Air to the Mac Pro, (within iTunes) I selected File, Devices, and "Transfer Purchases from iPad Air." Once the transfer was complete, I then clicked on the "Sync" button in the lower right section of the iTunes screen. As none of my nearly 100 playlists, 5,000 songs and 4,000 photos were on the 128 GB iPad Air prior to this sync, it did take longer than usual (maybe one hour). Once the sync icon quit spinning in the iTunes window (upper left section of the screen), I made sure to tap on the Music icon on the iPad Air, select Songs, and go to the bottom of the song list to observe if the status indicator, "Downloading xx of xxxx Songs" was continuing to update. It took about another 10 minutes for this message to disappear at which point it appeared the Sync was finished.

I have since purchased additional music, created playlists, and synced successfully multiple times (at least 10 times) between the Mac Pro and iPad Air, always using the USB cable of course. All of my artwork, songs, playlists, photos, and apps are stored on both devices appropriately and not scrambled. Having spent several hours resolving the iPad Air sync issue, I have been reluctant to attempt a sync between my iPhone 5S and the Mac Pro until I install the latest Time Capsule hardware to backup to should issues arise (i.e., my old Time Capsule is obsolete and can only restore to the Mac Pro now and not backup current data).

I have an iPod Touch 64GB that more than 40GB I use for music, now I can't sync and I can not even want to think about to buy a regular MP3 player. I got so into it iPod Touch. #shameonApple. It's not getting any better. By the way, my friend use Windows and he said his library is all good. 😟

I have had the same problem with my new iPhone 6 and all of the updated iTunes software. Talking with apple care, they turned off the iTunes Match on my laptop and my cell phone and it fixed my problem. All of my music is now syncing to my iPhone. I hope this helps.

I wish I had searched "Sync related issues", before I tried to add new music to my phone two days ago.

I have tried every fix in this topic, with no success, and am almost at the point where my iphone6 is going to meet a brick wall with force.

Android here I come.

The other day, I noticed my music had disappeared yet again, and I was as mad as ****. Anyway, I synced with iTunes, and it all reappeared. Great. Now a few days later, its all gone again. **** I'm sick of this.

I'm on iPhone 4S and OS X 10.10.1. IOS 8.1.1 solved my problem, syncing 15.000 songs without a fault.

I resolved it by turning off iTunes Match on my iPhone. All music then sync'd proplerly.

</ben>

Glad that worked for you. Turning off iTunes Match was one of the first things I tried. Didn't work... Ultimately, I found a pdf file in the music library, removed that, and I was able to sync. (This was after spending countless hours trying everything else including starting with fresh installs multiple times). The offending document was a jacket liner (that came with an album purchased on iTunes by the way). I removed that and I was able to sync a couple of times. Very, very, very slowly. It took 15 minutes of waiting before the sync started then another half hour to finish. Fabulous. This problem has NOT been addressed by Apple. I trying to figure out what their motive could possibly be because its obvious they are aware of it.

It's beyond ridiculous that we have to resort to all these goofy fixes and eat up hours or our time trying to figure this BS out. I've spent well over $2K on Apple products and services this year and this is what I get??? Why are we treated with such contempt by this company? Unbelievable arrogance. There's more than enough info on this thread for Apple to develop a permanent fix. I don't understand how the most valuable company can't get their act together. How many once great companies have lost their way by taking their customers for granted? It's sad to see Apple go down like this. I'm truly sad to say I've purchased my last generation of Apple products.