Sync Issue - Invisible Songs Displaying On My iPhone

It could well be that iTunes isn't detecting and stripping out the tag(s) properly when you use Convert to none. This could leave residual information, some of which is blank. iTunes reports what it is in its database, which should tally with what it has read from the tag(s) and/or written to them. Windows Explorer shows only the values that it reads from the tag(s). It might help to use a third party tool such as Mp3tag to inspect the tags and strip them. If they are completely clean as viewed from Windows Explorer, then Convert > ID3v2.3 ought to push data into the file in a way that works correctly in iTunes, in Windows Explorer, and on your iPhone.

tt2

Today I started loading individual songs (not tied to an album) on the phone.

iTunes treats all songs as if they are part of an album. If the album field is blank iTunes may call it Unknown Album. It is possible that the iOS app doesn't handle this missing metadata well. Fill in the blanks. Use something like Misc. Ben Folds Songs if you wish, or for single songs use the name of the song as the name of the album.

tt2

Aha, an outdated step in my instructions. 😊

Use File > Convert > Convert ID3 Tags... > None a few times to remove all existing tags and then File > Convert > Convert ID3 Tags... > v2.3 to create a valid tag.

tt2

I help here in my free time when I can. I can probably guide you through using one my scripts here as easily as I could over the phone, and the posts here might help someone else.

Start by reading the information at the top of the scripts page. That should explain how to download the scripts to your computer. Select the tracks of one of the problem albums and run the CreateFolderArt script and ExportImport script in turn. The first will create a Folder.jpg image that can be used to restore the artwork later. The second will make a small text file with the metadata from the selected tracks. Now use Convert ID3 tags > None several times until Windows Explorer shows that the data has been cleaned. Use Mp3tag if iTunes cannot clear the data. Use Convert ID3 tags > v2.3 to recreate a tag, then drag and drop the text file made earlier onto the ExportImport script. This should add back all the archived metadata that iTunes didn't manage to preserve itself, or that you cleared using Mp3tag. Finally use EmbedFolderArt to add back the artwork.

If the process works with one album it should work with many at once, the only provisio being that each album is in its own folder.

My scripts generally have a couple of screens that guide you through using them. Feel free to ask me to flesh out any of the steps in more detail.

tt2

Settings > Music > iCloud Music Library > Off should make sure that the only cloud entries you might see relate to past purchases.

tt2

Yes. Perhaps that control only appears if you have Apple Music or iTunes Match enabled, but you shouldn't have clouds for non-purchased media unless iCloud Music Library is active. 😕

Perhaps it is time for a factory restore of the device, then test with small batches of music to see if it will behave, or if there is any pattern to the tracks that won't display properly.

tt2

Doing the whole album at once should do the trick if it is going to work at all.

Having the artwork removed is part of the process. An untagged file cannot hold embedded art.

Syncing doesn't always seem to update changes, so removing the album, then adding it back might help.

If that still hasn't fixed it then I think we can rule multiple tags out as a causal mechanism for your mystery.

😕

tt2

As I may have said before somewhere iTunes and Apple devices don't play well when there are multiple embedded tags. If those contain some inconsistencies then there is scope for things to go wrong, particularly if iTunes and devices don't have matching rules on which tag to give priority to, and the rules can change from one build to another. Ideally iTunes would either clean things up by itself, or update all available tags at the same time, but since it doesn't we're left with workarounds.

tt2

I cannot say for certain if adding in the extra details will help without spending some time trying to replicate what you see, but it would be something that I would test on a few albums to start with. Every one of my own tracks is set up as an album, either the same name as the song, or with the original details of the album it comes from. All have relevant artwork. You could be up against the unexpected consequences of an assumption made by Apple's programmers.

I notice the first image in your most recent post shows a track in the cloud, which seems odd if you don't have either Apple Music or iTunes Match. A purchased track ought to have all of the correct metadata. 😕

tt2

It would seem to be a tagging issue after all, although I'm not sure why the steps I've given haven't fixed it. You could try my script TagFromFilename to see if it can fill in any of the blanks, but if they don't show up in iTunes then I don't think it will help.

tt2

I would suggest update software on iOS and computer and iTunes then attempt to restore the music to your iOS if that doesn’t work create a backup with iCloud and iTunes erase the iOS and restore device from previous backup then attempt to restore iTunes music on the device if all the troubleshooting issues are not resolved contact iTunes support directly they will resolve it right away without the transfer or not being resolved this is a iTunes iss

Try the following all-purpose steps for dealing with erratic device or sync behaviour (including the troublesome grey dotted circles). They assume that all of the content you 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.

(*) The downside with backup encryption is that if you forget the password when you need it again, which could be years later, you may need to invoke a workaround to turn off encryption as shown in Re: disable encrypted backups, which can only help if your device is in a state that can backup to iCloud.

tt2