Syncing music creates duplicate "1" Playlist

Thank you for expressing my exact thoughts on Apple and this software catastrophe. I have also tried renaming playlists so the software can't duplicate the list. Mixed results: iTunes recreates the deleted playlist from the phone...and I have turned off every sync, cloud option there is. Alternately, iTunes has also decided to empty a playlist if it is no longer on the device. This does not happen to "smart" playlists, so that is an option for creating future lists.

Hope you found a work around....maybe a walkman?

Updated everything. I play with all the things mentioned in this thread and manage. It's just not simple anymore. Apple is just focused on streaming now, and not interested in writing code for syncing. Syncing is going the way of Vinyl, so maybe it will come back into fashion soon too.

Same problem and it is SO ANNOYING. Why tf has iTunes become so f'ing complicated? It used to be clear and simple: create or change playlist on computer, plug in iPod or iPhone and the new playlist uploads to the device. What's so hard about that?? Come on Apple

I haven't added a song to my playlist in a very long time yet when ever I try to sync my 5s With my computer it results in the "1" Playlist being added to my I tunes library, then it trys to automaticly add that "1" playlist back onto the phone, which results in it saying I don't have enough space (even though there is 5 gigs worth of free space it cant add 162 MB?!) for it on my phone and then I can't sync. This has prevented me from doing anything on my phone! I can't add or remove songs or apps because It says I have no space, I cant even update the OS because everytime I sync it creates duplicate playlists, adds them to my library and then tries to add them to my phone, I even get a "2" and "3" Playlist added some times and then it tries to sync those too with out my consent! This is rediculus and it shouldn't be this hard to do. This crap has been going on for years so SERIOUSLY APPLE WHEN WILL YOU PATCH THIS GLITCH? I shouldn't have to delete everything on my phone every time there is an OS update, and reinstall less and less stuff each time thats just absurd.

Deleting everything , then syncing the phone, then reinstalling everything seems to be the only thing that works to prevent this.

For me I never thought iTunes was anything more than a good program for the average iPhone totting user. No question that it's always been complicated, because it's a dog with fleas. iTunes is fixed based on crowd requests rather than starting out with a pro level music management program. For me all of these answer are noise.

All I need to know is... how can you tell which is the latest of the duplicate playlist with added number? Do the added numbers represent an updated playlist. How can you track it when you have Playlist then Playlist 1, Playlist 11, playlist 2, etc.

I am a music aggregator with 50 plus years experience in music and technology. Please don't answer me if your not 99% sure of what your saying.

I have had the same issue for over a year. Closing Music does nothing, i now have playlists that have 1111111111 it is absurd! Apple seems to not care about their software or user experience anymore; so long as the next iPhone is 1 gram lighter.

The first sync (that creates "playlist 1") leaves it behind on your device -- it gets set aside as a "snapshot" of the list before it's synced. The second sync (after removing "playlist 1" from iTunes) removes "playlist 1" from your device.

In my case, since my playlist is rebuilt every day, these "playlist 1", "playlist 2", entries ate up all the storage on my iPhone.

I absolutely agree!

This broke when Apple directed focus to buying tunes from your mobile device and allowed creating and editing playlists on the device.

The sync is probably broken if you edit a playlist on your phone then iTunes makes an update before the sync, too. It's a train wreck.

I have no choice. iTunes doesn't open when I connect my iPhone or iPad. So I always start from a point of them being closed. I have tried everything that has been offered on this forum, and the problem persists. I have asked Apple people why are we still syncing through iTunes, why isn't there an App that makes syncing easy for us. You already know the response.

Ha ha ha. I just got the IOS 12.1 update, and added a song to a playlist just to try it out. Sure enough, they haven't fixed it. The whole concept of using iTunes to sync devices is archaic. And of course they aren't going to fix this problem because the numbers of Apple customers complaining doesn't justify them spending time and money fixing it.

I think the real point is "why is iTunes even creating a duplicate list in the first place?" Not sure if its the difference between using Wifi and then cable connect. Either way, it shouldn't happen; it defeats the feature purpose of deciding to sync via cable, because it's typically faster due to "it wants to back up every time" vs doing a Wifi sync because "I'm too lazy to upstairs to get my cable and I think I can bear the slow sync despite having a 5g wifi" - there really isn't that much on my phone to be this slow to back up unencrypted.

So you can remove the duplicate off your phone - that's one place.

Then you need to go into iTunes and do clean up there in your music play lists, you delete it and whew, its gone. One day. However, the duplicate play list still remains "on my device" play list listing. How does that go away now??

I've been looking and looking for a reasonable replacement for iTunes. It maybe just using an app that I already have on my Mac....Imazing...taaadaaa (imazing.com)

Report the issue to Feedback - iTunes - Apple.

tt2

If you have iTunes set to Sync Music using Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres (with that playlist selected), I would uncheck that particular playlist and Apply change. Disconnect iPhone and confirm this playlist is no longer on your iPhone. Then, connect iPhone and set that playlist to sync again (and Apply change). See if this problem still occurs

If the problem still occurs, OR if you have iTune set to Sync Music using the Entire music library choice, so you can "uncheck" a particular playlist; please post back with more information.