iTunes 12.2 duplicated many tracks, and changed track information

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Level 1

14 points

iTunes 12.2 duplicated many tracks, and changed track information

I had updated iOS before this, and had been using the new Music app on iOS, with iCloud Music Library turned on. I had also subscribed to Apple Music.

Then I updated OS X to 10.10.4, and iTunes to 12.2.0, and activated iCloud Music Library on iTunes as well.

Now I have many tracks duplicated, and worse, iTunes changed my meticulously entered track information in many tracks. They are not even correct. In some cases, it simply changed the track names to iTunes Store version names (not everything), but in most cases, it added information that have nothing to do with those tracks at all. In some cases, it changed the album artwork and the composer names with completely unrelated tracks, and then reverted the artwork to the original in only some tracks, and left the rest. This is a complete mess!!!

Oh, it also shows broken cloud icons, meaning some songs are duplicates, but they are not.

I don't have iTunes Match.

I have Time Machine.

How can I fix this?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 1, 2015 11:28 AM

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Answer 1

zdlo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 1, 2015 12:50 PM in response to zdlo

There is another issue that I've just noticed...

I've attempted to fix the mess by replacing the itl file with an old one. It fixed the changed track information. However, I noticed that some tracks had "!" signs, which indicates that the files are not found. So I checked, and found that all those files are under different (completely unrelated) artist/album folders. Realising that it would be hard to do it properly manually, I attempted to revert back to an older version of the whole iTunes folder via Time Machine. It didn't work, because Time Machine is not capable of reverting only the changes. It tries to put back the whole old folder, and then delete the new one, which it can't, because it is a huge folder, and I don't have enough space for that. So, now i'm moving things temporarily to another drive, in order to fix the iTunes library.

I think the reason of all this is because I activated iCloud Music Library for iTunes. I have disabled it, and I'm not going to activate it again. Beware!..

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Answer 2

Jul 1, 2015 1:41 PM in response to zdlo

I have the same issue!

For example, I now have a Bruce Dickinson song that has album name from some other album and the track name from a third, completely unrelated album. Moreover, the files have been moved and renamed to reflect these changes. Over 100 tracks got randomly renamed overall. I'm restoring the whole library from backup now.

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Answer 3

zdlo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 1, 2015 2:16 PM in response to zdlo

I don't know if there is a better way to solve this, but I have solved the problem by following these steps:

Disable iCloud Music Library on iTunes.
Quit iTunes.
Open a finder window showing your iTunes library (~\Music\iTunes\).
Open Time Machine, and find the latest backup of the Music folder under your iTunes library folder, that hasn't been affected.
Select the "Music" folder, and Restore. (If it gives a disc space error, temporarily move some other files to an external drive, delete the local copies, and make sure there is more free space than the size of the Music folder.)
Go to the iTunes library folder. Find the file named "iTunes Library.itl", and change its name to something like "iTunes Library mess.itl".
Look under "Previous iTunes Libraries", and find the latest "itl" file dated before the mess. Copy it.
Paste the old version of the itl file that you had copied, under the iTunes library folder. Change its name to "iTunes Library.itl".
Open iTunes. DO NOT ACCEPT TO ACTIVATE ICLOUD MUSIC LIBRARY WHEN THE POP UP WINDOW ASKS YOU!
Enjoy your fixed library.
Do NEVER turn on iCloud Music Library again, in case you feel like giving it another chance, and are ready to do all these again.

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Answer 4

zdlo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 8, 2015 5:27 AM in response to zdlo

After following these steps and repairing the library, I noticed that some star ratings are also missing, and following these steps didn't fix that.

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