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Songs ripped from CDs no longer appear in iTunes 12.3.3.17

This issue is strictly in iTunes 12.3.3.17. on OS El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65), not even getting into the resulting effects on my iPhone.


I am an Apple Music and iTunes Match subscriber.


During the past couple months I ripped a bunch of CDs to iTunes. Most likely before the most recent update to both iTunes and OS X. In some (but not all) cases, the ripped songs replaced music I had downloaded from Apple Music. As in, these were Apple Music AAC Audio files which which I replaced the audio file by ripping m4a from a physical CD. If you Download songs from Apple Music, when you rip a CD and the artist/song/album titles match exactly, iTunes will overwrite the downloaded m4p file with a non-protected m4a file (modal dialog asks: "do you want to replace" the songs), and it is moved out of the Apple Music folder in Finder to the normal Music folder within the Music Library. At least, this used to be the case.


At some point in the last couple weeks, all of the songs I had ripped are now gone from my iTunes library. For no reason! I found the audio (m4a or mp3) files were somehow automatically moved to iTunes > iTunes Media > Apple Music folder, even though they are not downloaded m4p audio files. They just sit uselessly in there, unable to be added to the Music library.

I have tried moving them to the iTunes > iTunes Media > Music folder (where owned and purchased audio is housed) but then if I try to drag them to iTunes, they get moved back to the Apple Music folder! So, iTunes is doing that, but it refuses to give me the songs to actually listen to. Well, I should say taken them away, because at one time, maybe a month ago, the songs were there and I could play them, and add them to my iPhone and iPod.


It makes no sense that iTunes would do this. The songs are owned by me obviously-- they are from CDs instead of being downloaded. But now all of the songs are invisible in iTunes for no apparent reason. Audio that I have added from other sources-- downloads from other music sites such as Amazon or eMusic-- shows up just fine.


  • When I locate the same songs in Apple Music > "New" (thinking I can maybe re-add them somehow), AM makes it look like the songs are already present in iTunes (check mark where download icon usually is). But they absolutely are not in my library. I don't know why AM thinks they are.
  • When I do a Search in iTunes for the missing songs, it does give me results-- it shows the album name, lists "1 album", and the correct number of songs that should be there. But the songs are not there at all.
  • Tried to re-rip the songs (attempting to replace the songs in iTunes) and that didn't work either. I was able to re-rip the songs as new audio, but what happened to the ones I ripped previously of the same songs?

Posted on Apr 30, 2016 7:56 PM

Reply
5 replies

Apr 30, 2016 11:41 PM in response to Rysz

Rysz, I know how Match and iCloud are supposed to work. Did you read the part where I said the songs disappeared from iTunes? That is not how it's supposed to work is it? The audio files haven't "moved to the cloud," they're still on my MacBook, right there on the HD. They just aren't in iTunes anymore, the reasons for which I can only speculate.

May 1, 2016 8:18 AM in response to eriksed415

hmm.... Never tested this, but since their difference "kind" Protected DRM vs non Protected of a CD rip, i don't see why it would replace the same song, and ignore "kind"


After all when u "create a ACC" version, both appear in playlist. so i dunno why it wouldn't work for CD rips... What happens if u do this in reverse...? That is, rip the music to a playlist where those songs do not already appear, then download the same ones from the cloud, see what happens?


Perhaps this why why Apple added that option in Preferences. Even though the option says "when adding to music, don't add them to playlist" maybe i'm thinking also works in reverse as well? *shrugs* i.e With option checked it would add duplicate songs even from ripped CD to My music ?


Anyway, few options.

May 1, 2016 10:47 AM in response to Tech198

@Tech198, thank you for your thoughts on this. The problem with trying it in reverse is, I can't download the songs from Apple Music because it thinks the songs are already there. It is seeing some background info that tells it "this song is already in the user's library" so there's no option to download. Anyway, the point of this exercise is to preserve metadata such as play counts and last played that had been built up in the songs downloaded from Apple Music. So, ripping brand new versions of the songs is fine, if you don't mind starting over as though you have never played the song before.


I wonder if this is a bug in the new version of iTunes, or, do I simply have a corrupt iTunes Library file?

May 8, 2016 5:59 AM in response to eriksed415

You inferred that you also have this issue on your iPhone. My daughter's iPhone6S just wiped all of her non purchased music (which is most of her music). Trouble is she is living in Japan and her computer to attempt a backup restore is in Toronto (won't be here for 2 years). What is happening that suddenly her CD music is just gone. I have the same phone and we have compared settings screens. We both have Show Apple Music OFF and have not subscribe to iTunes Match. I still have my music, but for how long? Very frustrating. Really makes you not trust Apple (yet again).

Songs ripped from CDs no longer appear in iTunes 12.3.3.17

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