Tuff Ghost

Q: WARNING: iCloud Music Library just destroyed my Mac's iTunes Library

I have a 13000 song library on my iMac. Installed iOS 8.4 on my iPhone this morning and had Apple Music and iCloud Music Library going...Everything was working fine on the device. Got home and installed 10.10.4 and iTunes 12.2 on my iMac. It asked to turn on iCloud Music Library and I accepted. All of the sudden it starts overwriting my album art with completely wrong art (example: Weezer showed art for a Radiohead album) on both my iMac AND my iPhone, screwing up metadata by putting random songs in albums where they didn't belong (there was a Cursive album where the first track was listed as a Foo Fighters song). Even worse, when I'd click to listen to certain songs, it would play the wrong song/artist, like the metadata was hijacked. What in the ****?  I've had this library organized perfectly for the better part of a decade and Apple Music screwed it up in minutes.

 

I was able to restore everything through a Time Machine backup and made sure NOT to turn on iCloud Music Library when I re-opened the .itl file. What a disaster. Hopefully someone from Apple reads this. Thinking it may have something to do with a iTunes Match account I had briefly a few years back. But yikes, can't believe how much damage it did in 5 minutes.

Posted on Jun 30, 2015 7:45 PM

Close

Q: WARNING: iCloud Music Library just destroyed my Mac's iTunes Library

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 9 of 42 last Next
  • by Ciarals,

    Ciarals Ciarals Jul 2, 2015 2:26 AM in response to Tuff Ghost
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 2:26 AM in response to Tuff Ghost

    Woa, what a disaster! My situation is this one: iPhone updated with iOS 8.4, iTunes still not updated with the latest version. On the iPhone I didn't activated Apple Music, iCloud Music Library, etc.: there's only my "physical" music on it. On iTunes I have iTunes Match activated from the begining and now working fine, after years of fixings. When I will update iTunes and maybe activate Apple Music and iCloud Music Library will I have any problems? Again, iTunes Match is working fine on my iTunes and my library is perfectly organized: what should I do now? Thank you guys!

  • by ripken428,

    ripken428 ripken428 Jul 2, 2015 3:24 AM in response to jctez
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 3:24 AM in response to jctez

    The same happened to me.  Here is what I did.  Delete the music off your phone using the settings/general/usage.  I plugged in to sync, but cancelled immediately and then unchecked the music box, essentially again removing al music from device.  I the did one more sync and added all music back.  Phone seems fine now - cloud turned off on all devices.

  • by tiancong,

    tiancong tiancong Jul 2, 2015 5:28 AM in response to Tuff Ghost
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 5:28 AM in response to Tuff Ghost

    tried the previous itunes playlist but didn't work for me. Right now the music library is a total disaster. I would click on one song and it plays something entirely different, though the artwork is right. What a mess Apple! I would appreciate apple music but DONT mess with our local files!

  • by bradf11,

    bradf11 bradf11 Jul 2, 2015 5:36 AM in response to Tuff Ghost
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 5:36 AM in response to Tuff Ghost

    I have just managed to get my iTunes Library back how it should be following some of the steps here with the .itl file so thank you for that. I spent hours on the phone with Apple yesterday and today they told me to try iTunes Match which did not work (Should say i tried iTunes Match when it first came out and it was a mess then!) since putting on iCloud Music Library Artwork and tracks are all wrong even though the albums appear in iTunes. As far as i can tell the free service still includes the radio stations so you are paying £9.99 a month for them to completely screw up your iTunes and be able to make music available offline.

     

    Apple have not got a clue what to do to fix it and my case has now been sent to the Engineers.

  • by chunk7two,

    chunk7two chunk7two Jul 2, 2015 5:53 AM in response to bradf11
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 5:53 AM in response to bradf11

    I'm another victim of this debacle.

     

    Overnight my iTunes library on my Mac has been wrecked, 580GB worth built up and curated over many years. Now I have missing/messed up artwork, tracks, albums, orphaned tracks, mixed up music playing when it should be something else - just a mess, I am lost for words.

     

    The restore of the .itl file is pointless for me as the files have been physically altered on my server, I can see some 130 odd Artist folders were modified each containing any number of albums, including my vast Various Artists folder. I just don't know where to start.

     

    Only thing in common is that I previously used iTunes Match but stopped when I hit the 25,000 track limit.

  • by Wendy Griswold,

    Wendy Griswold Wendy Griswold Jul 2, 2015 5:54 AM in response to bradf11
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 5:54 AM in response to bradf11

    Has anyone else had this happen WITHOUT ever having iCloud Music Library/iTunes Match enabled? Installing Apple Music/iOS 8.4 has changed the artwork for some songs on my iPhone. The choices aren't entirely random, but for instance it will change all artwork for the tracks on a compilation to each single's artwork. Or in some cases a crappier version of the correct art (ie adding a "Deluxe Edition" sticker on top).

     

    Not as bad as some of the people who's whole libraries were effed up, but still very irritating if you've spent a lot of time making sure each album had the right art.

  • by seltaebbeatles,

    seltaebbeatles seltaebbeatles Jul 2, 2015 6:08 AM in response to Tuff Ghost
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 6:08 AM in response to Tuff Ghost

    Are users who were using iTunes Match previously also experiencing this problem?  The reason I'm asking this is because I seem to be among the few for whom iCloud Music Library seems to be working perfectly as intended.


    To elaborate:  I am an active iTunes Match subscriber and therefore had iTunes library perfectly matched with the iTunes Match cloud (or whatever it is called).  When I installed iOS 8.4 and enabled iCloud Music Library on my phones and iPads it simply picked up the already synced iTunes Match cloud library and put it under "My Music" on my devices. Next I went ahead and enabled iCloud Music Library on the machine (a Mac Mini) where I have actually stored my ripped music files (i.e. my offline iTunes library) and it didn't foobar anything at all.

     

    So I was wondering if those who have an iTunes Match cloud sync prior to migrating to iCloud Music Library are immune to this issue.

  • by pepp1,

    pepp1 pepp1 Jul 2, 2015 6:19 AM in response to seltaebbeatles
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 6:19 AM in response to seltaebbeatles

    Nope, I have an active iTunes Match subscription and I'm in the same situation as Ciarals: my iTunes-Match-based library has gone and now on my iPhone there are only few "physical" songs.

  • by Scottyboy99,

    Scottyboy99 Scottyboy99 Jul 2, 2015 6:22 AM in response to Wendy Griswold
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 2, 2015 6:22 AM in response to Wendy Griswold


    I think it's possibly apple music rather than old school match causing all the grief here. Complete speculation on my part but I am dead set against Apple Music so I did not join it. I was an existing match user though, reasonably content with the service. When I installed iTunes the icloud music library was enabled by default (same happened on my iOS devices). I have left it alone. Of course I am checking daily but I do not see any corruption on my iTunes local files (every single track that was matched historically was and has remained on my hard drive ever since). So it seems maybe agreeing to join Apple Music is the trigger. If you are a match customer and have not joined apple music then maybe users are not seeing the same issues. Naturally, I wouldn't want to select 'Update iCloud Music Library' to do a refresh yet though in case that causes carnage. Pre iTunes 12.2 when one started iTunes and was a match customer it would every 7 days show across the top that it was updating match/collecting data and apple would send back the results. I wonder if iCloud Music Library does the same thing on a weekly basis.

  • by seltaebbeatles,

    seltaebbeatles seltaebbeatles Jul 2, 2015 6:37 AM in response to pepp1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 6:37 AM in response to pepp1

    pepp1 wrote:

     

    Nope, I have an active iTunes Match subscription and I'm in the same situation as Ciarals: my iTunes-Match-based library has gone and now on my iPhone there are only few "physical" songs.

     

    When you turned on iCloud Music Library within iTunes, did it do any extended syncing with the cloud?  In my case, the icon and a blurb did appear indicating progress on matching, but it got done fairly quickly within about 10 mins or so.  So I was thinking iCloud Music Library only quickly looked up my iTunes library (about 13,000 songs) with what had been synced previously by iTunes Match to the cloud, found it to be in order and therefore didn't do anything further (and didn't destroy anything as a result).

  • by mrcutter1,

    mrcutter1 mrcutter1 Jul 2, 2015 6:37 AM in response to Tuff Ghost
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 6:37 AM in response to Tuff Ghost

    It's been about three years since I used Match and my experience then was good. Earlier this week I re-subscribed and within a few minutes I noticed problems with my music library. iTunes Match became Mis-Match...What a nightmare!

    I called Apple support and spoke to three different specialists for several hours. My case was escalated and I got some excellent help from a very knowledgeable person. We set up screen-sharing and he guided me thru the process of restoring my music library using Time Machine to a state before Match.

    The problem now is that I can't use iCloud Music Library without turning Match back on. I am requesting cancelation of Match and a refund. Wha is going on?

  • by tnorris,

    tnorris tnorris Jul 2, 2015 6:43 AM in response to mrcutter1
    Level 1 (28 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 2, 2015 6:43 AM in response to mrcutter1

    I use iTunes to maintain a lossless library ripped from CDs and use Spotify to stream. I'm invested in the apple ecosystem (mac/appletv/iphones) and was looking forward to apple's streaming offering, but I'm staying with Spotify.  Frankly, apple's design decisions are baffling, with a reliance on icloud/match and the UI looks like it was designed by committee with too many layered, unintuitive menu options.  It didn't have to be this way, apple could have taken the existing music app, added an icon for streaming, and been done with it, vs. this needless complexity.

  • by Scottyboy99,

    Scottyboy99 Scottyboy99 Jul 2, 2015 7:04 AM in response to tnorris
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 2, 2015 7:04 AM in response to tnorris

    Yep, I agree. Apple Music should of been kept very separate from iTunes music. A separate app preferably. Essentially Apple Music is just a glorified radio station where the user can pick what plays. I am not really a radio listener looking to discover new music so it's not for me. I use match, I like what I like and I wasn't ready for all this change. The music app and iTunes was just doing just fine before all of this.

     

    I would be very interested to hear whether anyone did not subscribe or opt into the free trial and whether they are staying clear of iTunes library corruption by just sticking with their existing match. I suppose it could be useful for Apple's troubleshooting - assuming they are willing to admit there is a problem

  • by Frank Berzau,

    Frank Berzau Frank Berzau Jul 2, 2015 7:06 AM in response to Scottyboy99
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 7:06 AM in response to Scottyboy99

    28,000+ song library, carefully managed over years - gone in minutes. I also have had iTunes Match for a while. I have a call open with Apple since yesterday which has been escalated to Dev.

first Previous Page 9 of 42 last Next