Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Unchecked songs in iTunes becoming checked again

Because I have long run out of space on my 160gb iPod classic I am only synching checked songs. This has worked very well for a few years now. A little while ago iTunes started re-checking songs that were previously unchecked and as a result I can no longer synch my iPod because there is too much music to sync. Three times I have painstakingly unchecked all the songs I don't want on my iPod to make space for new music. Today the same happened again and I am getting fed up. Does anybody know how I can fix this?

iPod classic

Posted on Feb 1, 2016 10:53 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Feb 4, 2016 10:50 AM

I don't know how to prevent iTunes from altering this (haven't seen this myself) but what you can do is create a regular (not smart) playlist and drop all unchecked songs into the playlist. If any check marks show up later, at least they're easy to spot and correct.


But first, to help identify and group together unchecked songs, create two smart playlists:

  • Checked Songs = Media Kind is Music; Checked Songs Only = Yes
  • Unchecked Songs = Match All: Media Kind is Music; Playlist is not Checked Songs


The Unchecked Songs will allow you to select them all and put them into a regular (not smart) playlist. You don't want to rely on the "Unchecked Songs" smart playlist forever because it will update anytime songs get checked, whether you did it or "the iTunes phantom" did it.

15 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Feb 4, 2016 10:50 AM in response to Enno_UK

I don't know how to prevent iTunes from altering this (haven't seen this myself) but what you can do is create a regular (not smart) playlist and drop all unchecked songs into the playlist. If any check marks show up later, at least they're easy to spot and correct.


But first, to help identify and group together unchecked songs, create two smart playlists:

  • Checked Songs = Media Kind is Music; Checked Songs Only = Yes
  • Unchecked Songs = Match All: Media Kind is Music; Playlist is not Checked Songs


The Unchecked Songs will allow you to select them all and put them into a regular (not smart) playlist. You don't want to rely on the "Unchecked Songs" smart playlist forever because it will update anytime songs get checked, whether you did it or "the iTunes phantom" did it.

Feb 19, 2016 1:36 PM in response to Enno_UK

I started noticing this on my MBP pro as well -- started happening after some of the more recent iTunes updates. I have spent hours scouring through Google trying to find a fix/solution and thus far, nothing.


I noticed it would happen when I closed iTunes and would re-open it. Now leaving the program running does nothing as it will check up to 300+ songs on its own that I had unchecked.


If you (or anyone) knows how to remedy this or at least a work around, please share it with us.


Thank you,

Steve

Feb 21, 2016 1:44 PM in response to Enno_UK

This has been driving me mad for a while now, and I can confirm that it does NOT just happen with purchased tracks.


I can tell when it's happened again because I try to sync my phone and it tells me I don't have enough space, when I know I should have plenty.


I use the "sync checked things only" option to manage what gets transferred, as my music library is 60GB. I do use many playlists as well, but they don't entirely solve this problem, for reasons I won't bore you with.


I haven't found a way to stop this happening, but - after laboriously going through the whole library on two occasions seeing what should and shouldn't be checked - I had the idea (as suggested by someone else here, I see) of making a non-smart "checked songs at 210216" playlist, or whenever. That way, next time it happens, I just uncheck everything, sync, then check everything on my manual playlist and sync again. It's irritating to have to do it, but it solves the problem until they fix the bug.

Feb 21, 2016 3:05 PM in response to Enno_UK

Not going to be able to solve your problem either, but wanted to let you know that I am having the same problem too. Yes, it isn't just purchased music, but it is random songs, and it only happens when I need to sign into my iTunes account. I have a post of my own on this and the only advice I got was to make a playlist. That works, no matter how you want to do it. I made the list with all my checked songs, and went that way. Hopefully Apple will see this bug and work on fixing it.

Feb 22, 2016 3:35 PM in response to Enno_UK

Enno_UK wrote:


I am also working around this issue with playlists. Every time I uncheck songs I move them to the unchecked playlist. Whenever I sync my iPod and I discover that unchecked songs have become checked again and stopping me from syncing I uncheck the entire playlist again. It happens almost once every week. Annoying.

Why not just sync selected playlists instead of putting unchecked items into a playlist.

The songs you don’t want are already in playlist . Just don’t sync that playlist.

Dec 19, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Enno_UK

I have the same issue, and the workaround described does NOT work for me. When I painstakingly assure that only the playlist I want to sync, smart or not, is checked, then click apply, when the sync is finished, other albums and/or artists and/or manually added songs have reappeared, and have been synced to my iPhone. Any other thoughts?

Dec 19, 2016 8:27 AM in response to craigrojek

To more clearly explain my issue, I want to sync checked playlists only from my primary iTunes library to my iPhone, but iTunes keeps checking other albums and artists and manually added songs. That is, I have a couple of smart playlists with live update that change frequently, and I want to sync only those playlists to my iPhone, removing songs that have dropped off the playlists from my iPhone, and syncing songs that have been added to those playlists to my iPhone. However, when I carefully remove checks from every other category, albums, artists, genres and manually added songs, and am left with only the songs in my smart playlists, then click sync or apply, iTunes adds back some checks in albums and/or artists and/or manually added songs that I don't want taking up space on my iPhone! How do I stop this?


I have attempted the workaround described above, though it would be a major pain in the ... whatever, but I still get the same result as with my live update smart playlists.


I am using iTunes 12.5.4.42 on 64 bit Windows 7 Enterprise, with a 16g iPhone 6 running iOS 10.2.

Dec 19, 2016 8:53 AM in response to craigrojek

Try the following all-purpose steps for dealing with erratic syncing behaviour. They assume that all of the content you do want on the device is in your library ready for restoring. If it isn't see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device first. I would also recommend you copy everything out of the camera roll if you haven't already.


  1. Backup device.
  2. Restore as a new device.
  3. Restore the backup you made earlier.


Use an encrypted backup if you want to preserve passwords, Wi-Fi settings, web history and health data where appropriate. I also suggest syncing with a selection of playlists (unless you're using iCloud Music Library) rather than manually adding content as, if nothing else, the process above is easier to do if you ever have to go through it again.


Note too that with current iOS devices all of your past iTunes purchases will usually show on the device, with those you haven't synced shown as able to be streamed or downloaded.


tt2

Unchecked songs in iTunes becoming checked again

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.