itunes 12.2.0.145 has lost all my music files! Help!

I had that exact same problem! I have a massive library as well. Everything was gone! Granted the physical files were still in my iTunes folder it's just iTunes was empty! Music, playlists, apps, audiobook, play counts, iTunes settings, etc all gone! I have multiple iTunes backups that I make once a week or so. I tried using a fresh backup & I still had the same problem. I tried using the directions found in this Apple Support Document, and that didn't work for me. But I've heard it works for some people. I'd say try that. If you don't see your content after updating iTunes - Apple Support

If that doesn't work (it didn't for me), I found an old version of iTunes on the net (12.1.2) and, using terminal commands, was able to remove 12.2 & was able to downgrade. That worked for me. However, I had to use a backup of my iTunes library folder because 12.2 corrupted my primary iTunes folder. Fortunately my backup is only 5 days old and I'm only missing 1 app & 16 songs, which is no big deal because they're still in the currupted iTunes folder so I just drag & drop them into the new iTunes and that's it.

Hopefully one of these methods works for you. Good luck!

ASC user turingtest2 help document: Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6561

Here are the two main methods. Method 1 works best if you just updated the iTunes application and are having problems, but it does revert your library list (but not media files) to the state it was at the time of the last iTunes update. Method 2 is best if you have not recently updated iTunes but are willing to accept loss of some metadata.

1) iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201561 - These instructions have you open iTunes with an archived old iTunes library file created at the time you last updated iTunes. This will revert your library listing to the date of the last iTunes update. You may have newer media not in this list still in your media folder which you can re-add as new items by dragging to the Automatically Add To iTunes folder.

A method 1) shortcut that seems to work with more recent iTunes versions - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7105888?answerId=28484935022#28484935022

2) If you don't see your content after updating iTunes - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203225 - These instructions use a trimmed-down version of your library file to rebuild your primary library file. You lose some metadata (ratings, play count, date added) but the listing should be fairly up to date.

Sadly your playlists are probably gone. I'm sorry about that. And that also ***** your backup drive stopped working! Yeah I have 4 copies of my iTunes library folder on 4 different drives. I'm paranoid. Haha.

What I did before I found out any of the methods I mentioned was I re-imported my entire library into iTunes and that worked but the playlists were history. And I really wanted my playlists for sentimental reasons. That's why I went through the effort to downgrade iTunes & use a backup of my iTunes folder.

And you can downgrade your iTunes. Visit this site to download iTunes 12.1.2 http://mac.filehorse.com/download-itunes/5217/

Then go to this site http://www.wikihow.com/Uninstall-iTunes & scroll down until you see "Method 2 of 3: Mac OS X Short Method" and follow the instructions there. I would also restart your computer after you completed the process. Then install the old version of iTunes and go from there. You may have to hold Option + Click to select your iTunes library. I would highly recommend using a backup of your iTunes folder but I know that's not really an option for you. So I would do this very carefully and use caution. It worked for me but it may not for you.

I also submitted a bug report through Apple's Feedback system, but if you do contact Apple support, please let me know what they say in this thread because I'd be interested in hearing what they have to say. I hope they release a fix really soon! I would love to use the new iTunes but I don't want to give up my playlists and the hassle of going through my entire library again!

Thanks for sharing those links. I'll check them out later and see if those work when I get around to using 12.2 again. Probably not for a while.

I have this same problem on my iPod touch. All my music and playlists are accessible on my MacBook Pro, and according to my iTunes, they are still available on my iPod, but are inaccessible. Is there a way I can retrieve my existing playlists and play them as usual. Or, better yet, is there a way I can revert back to my previous version of iTunes on my iPod?

This happens to a small fraction of a percent of iTunes users with every single update/upgrade Apple brings out. It does not happen to most users. You can talk to Apple all you like and they will not know why it happened in your case. We see posts on this forum every new OS release. It may seem like a lot of people are having this problem but given the hundreds of millions of users of iTunes a couple of dozen isn't bad.

The way to avoid the nuisance factor? Make sure you back up your entire computer before updating any major software.

As given by Limnos, try Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. This update to iTunes backed up the existing library database as part of the upgrade, the last one that did that was 12.0 last October, which should perhaps emphasize the need to make your own frequent backups.

tt2

Thanks Zach. I was able to restore back to iTunes 12.1.2 using your links and clear instructions.

When I updated to 12.2, the only music files that I saw were ones purchased through iTunes. Never did see ALL my music files on the external hd; even after restoring iTunes Library files and assuring the iTunes media folder location was properly set.

I wonder if iTunes 12.2 problem is limited to users with large music libraries on external drives? Apple, and other music services, are pushing everything to the cloud - which is nice, but isn't practical for users with large music libraries. (Also, I've had problems a long time ago with another version of iTunes that I was told by Apple support that iTunes wasn't designed for: split libraries, or large music files on external drives. Which makes me believe this is a similar problem with their testing - and a big push towards cloud services.)

This happened to me, i think the library got corrupted some how, anyway my itunes folder has a 'previous iTunes libraries' folder and i just copied the most recent known good one and copied it back into the above folder and renamed (deleting the old (new) itl file - the file sizes should be a good indicator.

Probably best to do this without itunes running.

restarted itunes after file changes and all was ok again.

This link (posted by Zach) detailing how to restore your iTunes library file from the "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder worked for me.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203225

My system: OS X 10.9.5, iTunes 12.2.0.145.

It seems there is some bug in this version where the iTunes library was not copied correctly.

I have my system set so it cannot upgrade any packages without my permission. Nevertheless, iTunes updated itself to 12.2 AND launched iCloud ... both without my granting permission to do so.

Not only did I lose all of my playlists, I lost all iTunes settings and customizations with the upgrade. It will not allow me to even do a complete rebuild by adding to my library using the standard command from the pull-down menus. If I try to remove the iCloud listings from my library, it thinks I want to hide all of those purchases.

I too have an extensive library stored on an external hard drive. The new iTunes treats all previous versions of my library as corrupt files, and will not allow me to restore from them.

Double clicking on an .itl file does not cause iTunes to open it. You must either option-start-iTtunes (shift on Windows) or rename and copy files such that the library you want opened lies on the path that iTunes which iTunes used last.

tt2