mirichard1

Q: iTunes Library

I seem to have lost a large part of my music library. Although everything is showing when I open iTunes, many of the songs etc will not play as they do not seem to be on my c: drive in my computer.

Everything is on my iPod - is there any way of copying everything from my iPod back to my iTunes library?

iPod classic

Posted on Apr 7, 2016 10:19 AM

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Q: iTunes Library

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Apr 7, 2016 10:45 AM in response to mirichard1
    Level 9 (53,695 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 7, 2016 10:45 AM in response to mirichard1

    Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself independently backed up against loss.  To use a device with a different setup you transfer the old library from a computer or a backup directly to the new setup, not the device to the library. Media syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.

     

    Redownload or transfer your iTunes Store purchases from an iPhone, iPad or iPod to a computer - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201267 - "This feature works only for content bought from the iTunes Store." As of iOS9 it no longer does apps which now must be re-downloaded directly from the Store.

     

    For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software.  See this document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991  Even this method may not fully recover what you had in the library originally. For example if in order to save space when syncing you had converted music files to a lower bitrate, or photos to a lower resolution, it is those lower quality files you will recover.

     

    If you subscribe to Apple Music, tracks which are not part of content you have purchased or uploaded cannot be transferred and have to be downloaded directly from iCloud.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Apr 7, 2016 12:21 PM in response to mirichard1
    Level 10 (85,398 points)
    iPod
    Apr 7, 2016 12:21 PM in response to mirichard1

    Check that your content really is missing rather than misplaced. Take a look at Re: iTunes can't find iTunes Media on different drive.

     

    Otherwise see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.

     

    tt2