iTunes 12.2.0 have deleted all of my playlists and most songs...

I had this problem as well where my playlists were gone. Last Friday it worked fine and then today I came into work and opened my itunes icon and stuff was missing. Not just playlists, but albums were gone. I followed your instructions but I didn't have the two files...I only had a .itl file but I re-named it like you suggested, re-named one of my previous .itl files(which for some reason the most recent was July 2015) and then dragged that recent one with the new name to the main folder. I restarted the itunes app and all of my playlists appeared except for one I had made on Friday, but the other albums appeared so I was happy. Also when I checked the itunes folder on my computer, it did create an iTunes Music Library .xml file. You're awesome! Thanks so much for responding to the other guy's problem :-)

Unfortunately, although I had restored all my music (FINALLY!) to the correct playlists, got the playlists back that had been removed, and was more or less calmed down for this utter f-up by Apple, I then turned my WiFi back on, and almost instantly lost two of my playlists (the hardest to reconstitute since they are a mix of jazz instrumentals in one and vocals in the other), and a number of albums/songs/etc from some of the playlists that remained. I have no idea what to do now, do not know if the restored library got saved or not (probably not), and have no idea what to do to prevent this horror from just repeating again whenever I am connected to the web. Does anyone know a) how to fix this; b) why the h..l Apple has not fixed it in over a year; c) why they have so screwed up a premier program that I am not sure I will ever buy another apple after 30 years of using them????

See my user tip Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy. Although aimed at Windows users it links to a Mac utility that works the same way, If you have a backup it can be restored. If you're using either Apple Music or iTunes Match there is a potential for conflicts as different versions of the library submit their updates.

It should be possible to disconnect from the network, make a copy of an older .itl file to prevent the original from being damaged, shift or option start iTunes to connect to that copy, export the required playlists, close iTunes, shift or option start iTunes to revert to the current library, import the playlists and backup. Finally enable the network again. Reimport the playlists if they should vanish once more.

tt2

Thanks. I have backups. It has cost hours of frustrating reconstruction, however, to catch up what is later than the backup. THIS IS ALL DUE TO SUPIDITY ON APPLE’S PART FOR destroying iTunes by changing the interface, and constantly screwing with the program. There is no excuse for it, and the fact that Apple does not even acknowledge the mess it has created has ruined its reputation, at least with me and I am sure, with anyone else who is suffering this disaster…

I tried this: I replaced the damaged .itl file with a past one from Time Machine with most of what I had before adding a couple of new playlists and artists. It was not too onerous to add these back in. The worst problem was to add back in two large playlists, jazz instrumentals and jazz vocals, which had many songs and are very eclectic formed from many different albums and artists. I was able to retrieve earlier versions with most of what I had previously had that had now disappeared due to Apple's screw up of iCloud Music Library. I created a folder for each and exported all the songs from each playlist, and re-imported them into newly created JI and JV lists in the updated library. Basically, all this effort worked to restore all the playlists or partial playlists that I could remember I had had before it had been wiped out by Apple.

I then made the mistake of trying to sync this restored effort to my various devices. The original having been created on an iMac, I needed to create matches on 2 iPhones, an iPad and a MacBook Air. Whether I used USB cable connections or WiFi, none worked properly, everything is now more screwed up than ever, and I have multiple copies of playlist names, some with all (or apparently all) my songs, some with only a few, some with some other amount. E.g., 4 different Playlists called Beach Boys now appear on my iMac (and several but not all my other devices), one with 10 songs, one with 59 songs, and two with 61 songs!! Similar multiplications of playlists with varying numbers of song contents have now proliferated throughout my iMac version of ITunes and on each of my iOS devices and my MacBook.

I am so furious at Apple for causing this I dare not call them to see if they can fix it or I will start screaming at the tech for having wasted 3 days of my life trying to fix this disaster. BTW, I am running iTunes 12.3.2.35 and OSX 10.11.3 -- way past when this problem or something similar started over a year ago with no help from Apple in fixing it! Disgusting.

HenryMJ wrote:

I tried this: I replaced the damaged .itl file with a past one from Time Machine with most of what I had before adding a couple of new playlists and artists. It was not too onerous to add these back in. The worst problem was to add back in two large playlists, jazz instrumentals and jazz vocals, which had many songs and are very eclectic formed from many different albums and artists. I was able to retrieve earlier versions with most of what I had previously had that had now disappeared due to Apple's screw up of iCloud Music Library. I created a folder for each and exported all the songs from each playlist, and re-imported them into newly created JI and JV lists in the updated library. Basically, all this effort worked to restore all the playlists or partial playlists that I could remember I had had before it had been wiped out by Apple.

This is the point at which you should have backed up the current state of the library database and exported important playlists on an individual basis.

I then made the mistake of trying to sync this restored effort to my various devices. The original having been created on an iMac, I needed to create matches on 2 iPhones, an iPad and a MacBook Air. Whether I used USB cable connections or WiFi, none worked properly, everything is now more screwed up than ever, and I have multiple copies of playlist names, some with all (or apparently all) my songs, some with only a few, some with some other amount. E.g., 4 different Playlists called Beach Boys now appear on my iMac (and several but not all my other devices), one with 10 songs, one with 59 songs, and two with 61 songs!! Similar multiplications of playlists with varying numbers of song contents have now proliferated throughout my iMac version of ITunes and on each of my iOS devices and my MacBook.

iTunes Match is not my forte, I've only been experimenting with it for a few weeks. I do know however that its features for matching tracks and propagating metadata changes are not perfect. It isn't ever going to get activated with my primary library. You should probably have signed out of iTunes Match on all devices and then used some command to reset it before attempting to turn it on again. See If your music library shows incorrect details with iTunes Match or Apple Music…

I am so furious at Apple for causing this I dare not call them to see if they can fix it or I will start screaming at the tech for having wasted 3 days of my life trying to fix this disaster. BTW, I am running iTunes 12.3.2.35 and OSX 10.11.3 -- way past when this problem or something similar started over a year ago with no help from Apple in fixing it! Disgusting.

I don't think Apple techs are going to be able to help you unravel this unless there is a clear backup point for you to go back to. Note that in general you probably only need to restore the iTunes Library.itl file plus the related Extras, Genius & sentinel files from the same date. This is where all the playlists are stored. Doug's Scripts should have tools for adding songs that are in the media folder but not in the library, or vice versa.

tt2

Thanks for your help. I do have a backup that will probably restore almost all of my playlists, and I have a good idea of what might have been added since that backup, so when I have sufficiently calmed down to waste more time restoring iTunes to where is once was (and worked just fine, Match included, until these system updates that have ruined everything, I will try again, at least on the iMac! Where is Job's mania for perfection when we need it; Apple has become sloppy as ****), I'll work with your suggestions. What does no longer seem to work, however, is syncing a corrected library to my other devices. The problem clearly lies in the iCloud Music Library gimmick Apple invented to try to sell you more music; they screwed up its relationship to iTunes Match (it apparently is NOT independent as they claim; one has to read the horror stories on MacWorld's Ask the iTunes Guy feature and the forums on Apple). I cannot even describe, and do not really understand, how the two systems work other than what they are advertised to do for (to) you. But, Match worked fine until Music came along and now you cannot tell what library is based on the Cloud and which is based or contains only your local library. I have all the music, thank god, but I cannot get it organized into Playlists anymore so that it contains what I have bought and paid for and what I have ripped from years of vinyl and CDs, and why I see mulitples of some Playlists, duplicates of others, and some that are correct. Some have had 1s added to the Playlist name, others just duplicated. Some have the same name but different contents. It's nuts, and there is no way to distinguish which one to delete without hidden consequences! This is a disaster, and should never ever have happened. Apple is too busy trying to keep its stock up and no longer paying attention to its own technology. How many iterations of the OS's has this been? Of iTunes since 12.x.x? There is no excuse for this.

My issue is that when I try to do these steps I do not see a "previous iTunes libraries" folder anywhere.

Where are you looking? Is this a new computer? Is there media on a device? Is there a backup?

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for general recovery steps.

tt2

You sir... are a STAR!

Many thanks.

hi guys. i too have the problem of lost music playlist on my i tunes (with my Mac) . i attempted to follow richards advice, just not that smart. here is what i did.

step 1: went to "Finder"

step 2: on right side i opened" All my files" (when opened a scrolled down to "music" where i saw all my music downloads.

step 3: Copied every song . Opened i tunes to "my playlist" then dragged from "All my files (now copied music to I tunes My playlist.)

All 898 songs recovered on my playlist

Thanks so much, this worked!! You literally dried my tears. For me the horror started after using Apple Music, upgrading to iTunes 12.3 and storing in cloud. First I couldn't connect my ipod anymore, then iTunes didn't connect to my Music Libary but would take music only from the cloud. When I disconnected from the cloud all my music and my playlists were gone.

For me my music and my playlists are a sensitive personal thing...makes me having very bad feelings about Apple.

this did not work for me because i was using windows - i guess. I am just writing for the sake of others who may be in the same situation.

Also, changing the file name meant that when I tried to restore my PC to a previous point a few days ago, the file was deemed creted by a newer version of Itunes and would not recognise it. Or any of my previous versions, it seems. I think since I now have no music that I downloaded that i may try another means to listen to music. There has been years of work creating playlists based mostly on my own musical creations, also samples (that i sometimes used organised in to types of sounds etc) so much time spent on this that was all lost on one update instantly. I can not risk this again.

When I rang Apple today, they said it was not possible that Itunes updates could delete my music and there was nothing i could because i was not using a mac

very disappointed Apple

Take a look at Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. Are you taking the correct steps to access an earlier version of the library? Is iTunes actually attempting to open the library file that you want it to? Do you still have your media on your computer, a backup, or a device? Database corruption may sometimes happen during an iTunes update but that shouldn't cause any loss of media.

tt2

OMG!!!! Thank you so much!!!

I was on hold with Apple support and they were saying it was because I had a new id and I didn't. They have no idea!!

You saved me!!! I had over 5 years of music and several playlists for my job. I as almost crying!

You are the bomb!!!