iTunes 12.7 play count not updating

Right, just got off the phone with Apple Support. After music demonstrating and screen Sharing we found this out;

I switched to another user account on my PC and ran iTunes and played a track and the play count and Last played updated. So, it seems to be linked to your PC account.

So, I created a dummy account on my PC. Pointed iTunes as all my music files and copied across the Music folder files for iTunes from my normal account into this dummy account Music folder and tried and the play count and last played updated.

so, one solution is to create a new account on your PC and copy over your Apple Music files to this to get it to work.

Im going to experiment when I have time with copying the working dummy library files back across over to my real account files and see if it keeps working.

That got me thinking.

If you quit iTunes and rename:

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes

and

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes

then it will work. Rename rather than delete as they may contain important settings. Now it's just a case of finding which setting in those folders is causing the problem.

This worked! I:

Deauthorized the computer

Signed out of iTunes

Restarted Computer

Logged back in to iTunes

Reauthorized (I got a pop-up that said "this computer is already authorized").

Played . . . et voila! Song showed up in history, my smart playlist updated, etc. Would deauth/reauth have worked on its own? Sign-in/sign-out alone? Was the computer restart necessary? Not sure - but I'll test if the problem recurs.

Now, can someone figure out how to make the column browser height setting persistent?? ;-)

If anyone is having trouble with the new iTunes 12.7.0.166 on Windows, like play count not updating, last played not updating, etc., the fix is so simple! When you play a track, and the play count doesn't update and neither does the 'Last played' stat, go to the Account menu in iTunes, and click Sign Out. Now, just sign back in and all should be well. Thanks!

“well it worked for an hour or so, then it suddenly stopped again 😟 signed out of itunes and back in again and the play counts start updating again”

did you do anything in iTunes that could have caused it to stop registering playcounts? Buy anything in iTunes Store or sync a device? Or was it just playing music and decided to stop registering playcounts?

dman3372,

I had the same problem until I signed out of iTunes. After I signed out, Play Count and Last Played started updating even before shutting down and restarting. You should make sure that you are signing out, too.

Hi, XRayLexx,

When I turned off the "iCloud Download" column, the "Last Played" and "Play Counts" stop updating and I need to sign out of iTunes and sign back in to get it to start updating again. (This also replaces the "iCloud Download" column into all of my playlists.) So, it seems the "iCloud Download" column is also somehow linked to this problem.

Apple may have become substandard in terms of hardware innovation or software reliability, but they are constantly setting new standards in the field of superior mistake artistry!

Darren.Jones:

Did you turn off the "iCloud Download" column in your playlists? As soon as I did that, "Last Played" and "Play Count" stopped updating. Signing out and back in fixed it and, afterward, I left "iCloud Download" alone and things seem to be working.

So, it appears to be mainly related to if you are signed into your iTunes acccount. Sign in and you don’t get Play Counts and sign out and they work.

I wonder if your sign in state at time of update to 12.7 has any bearing. I’m usually signed in because I buy a lot of music and videos on iTunes. I wonder if I signed out, uninstalled itunes and then re-installed itunes I would get a more steady working play count?

I did all those things including deleting the Apple directories in AppData and even created a new user profile and no luck. What DID work for me is uninstalling 12.7, reinstalling 12.6.2.20, turning-off auto updates, and reverting to the previous library file.

XRayLexx,

I disagree. I am signed in and "Last Played" is updating. My problem seems to have to do with the "iCloud Download" column in my playlists and NOT with my being signed in. (For example, if I remove the "iCloud Download" column, the "Last Played and "Play Count" stop updating.)

So, here’s my experience over the weekend. Did “the fix” which appeared to work. Then was playing music and after half an hour or so it stopped registering play counts. So I signed out of my iTunes account in iTunes and it started play counts again, for a while anyway and then they stopped registering. So I signed in again and hey presto play counts.

I had this issue too. I contacted Apple Support about it and mentioned the fix in here, but the fix (deauthorize, sign out, reboot, authorize, sign in) wasn't permanent. Same with the signing in and out of the Apple ID while iTunes is still active. They seem to be aware of the issue but not that these "fixes" aren't permanent. And there is of course no ETA on when they will have identified the source and put out a fix for it.

I think so. I have installed this version on Windows 10 32-bit machines, which DO work, and on a 64-bit system which DOES NOT. In addition to what I have seen reported, I have found that podcasts that have been played to the end are not flagged as having been completed, either. I have involved Apple with this. They say that it IS a bug. They have no estimate as to when a fix will be released.

So, having been on the road while the thread was building, I finally got to try it.

So far, it is working as presented after more than 2 hours of continuous play.

I remain signed in to my account.

I skipped a couple tracks and the updates continued appropriately.

I synced an older iPod that I used while traveling and those updates were integrated properly into the lists and it did not interrupt the plays in progress.

This is on Windows 10 64-bit with no particularly odd updates or audio equipment.

I am cautiously optimistic that this has resolved. I will try again later today and over the next couple days to confirm.

Thanks!