Duke2211
Level 1 (4 points)
Desktops

Q: iTunes - transfer music from iPhone to iMac

Hello - for some unknown reason my iPhone suddenly lost all the music -

 

I dug around on here and found a thread about merging itunes libraries

 

Voila! I now have my entire iTunes music on my iPhone and nothing but purchases music on my Macbook -

 

Please someone must of had the same problem recently - spent hours looking and cannot find a solution..

 

Is it possible that all my music is now in iCloud somewhere?

 

 

Thanks in advance, Duke :-)

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), Mid 2010

Posted on Jun 2, 2016 12:37 AM

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Duke2211

Q: iTunes - transfer music from iPhone to iMac

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 2, 2016 7:22 AM in response to Duke2211
    Level 9 (53,685 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 7:22 AM in response to Duke2211

    The library you see in iTunes is simply a database of files iTunes remembers you adding and remembers you deleting, not a view of actual files present. The rest of your media may still be on your computer but in doing this "merging" (I have no idea why you did that) the list was modified or deleted.  Likely what happened was when you were doing something with the libraries you actually created a new, blank library which iTunes automatically populated with purchases.  You can poke around your drive and see if the actual media files are still present.

     

    This is also a learning experience. Back up your computer before undertaking any major modifications of your library.

     

    If you absolutely must restore files from the iPhone this is not an activity supported by Apple and you will have to buy special software to do it.

     

    You may have some music in iCloud but you do not mention having an iTunes Match or Music subscription so we can't say.

  • by Duke2211,

    Duke2211 Duke2211 Jun 8, 2016 7:18 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 8, 2016 7:18 AM in response to Limnos

    Hi Limnos - thanks for reply - sorry for delay - been on the road.

     

    This link I tried for the exact same reason Item not available - this item cannot be played?

     

    Not sure what to do next..

     

    I do have an itunes subscription - I had to use data to download my music while abroad - so it seems to be somewhere - not in iCloud

     

    Thanks in advance for any help.

     

     

    Best, D

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 13, 2016 11:07 AM in response to Duke2211
    Level 9 (53,685 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2016 11:07 AM in response to Duke2211

    You have everything on your phone (which is not "iTunes" by the way) because you apparently have subscribed to Apple Music or Match (you don't say which).  At some stage in the past all your music was uploaded to iCloud.

     

    You haven't lost just your CD music on your computer, you have probably lost everything but iTunes Store purchases were automatically re-downloaded to your new library.

     

    Start iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and when prompted select the iTunes Library.itl file in your iTunes folder.  If it is still incomplete you may need these links:

    ASC user turingtest2 help document: Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6561

     

    If you don't see your content after updating iTunes  - https://support.apple.com/kb/HT203225

     

     

    By the way, you may have been violating the terms of use by using iCloud music subscriptions while abroad. Apple has ways they may optionally test for this and stop service.