iTunes not updating Playcount

Strange, I have a brand new mp3 album in my library, and playing it from my Mac to my stereo-pair HomePods gave mixed results ... most songs didn't update playcount or last played date, but some did! Very strange.

Changing AirPlay output in iTunes to play to my AirPort Express-connected Bose resulted in consistent playcount and last played date updates.

Must be a bug, please submit your feedback here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Just curious, does this happen with songs that you did NOT purchase from the iTunes store? Since a HomePod can stream directly from the iTunes store, I wonder if that's what's happening even though it appears as though you're playing via your Mac over AirPlay.

OK, rules out that theory!

I typically AirPlay to my HPs from iOS, will try from my Mac tonight to see if I can duplicate your symptoms (and I am not an Apple Music nor iTunes Match subscriber, so will see if that has any bearing).

I'm having the same issue.

I've played around turning AirPlay2 off to one ATV off and leaving the HomePod on and vice versa. I've tried it with just the HomePod and just the ATV. The only time the play count updates is when I'm not AirPlay'ing to anything.

The source file, Apple Music or Matched, doesn't make a difference with my issue.

Hopefully its a bug that is fixed quickly.

That looks like the problem. My trouble is, I have a paid-for podcast that I can't play via my HomePod. So I play it from an iTunes smart playlist that has songs that have a play count less than 1.

I guess I can see why Apple decided that listening to something on the HomePod wouldn't count on iTunes. But doesn't it count songs played on my iPad or iPhone? (I always assumed so).

I *want* songs I listen to with my HomePod via AirPlay to increment.

I just think this is a bug, not intentional.

Playing via computer speakers or streaming to an Airplay 1 device updates the playcount, streaming to an Airplay 2 devices does not.

If I stream from an iPad to an Airplay 2 device the playcount from the track on the iPad is updated.

Don't know. Do they ever admit something is a bug? 🙂

Apple still does not have an option to submit bugs. Best thing you can do is use the feedback link already given above. The more people report this, the better.

Marc Hofstede wrote:

Apple still does not have an option to submit bugs. Best thing you can do is use the feedback link already given above. The more people report this, the better.

Submitting feedback is submitting a bug report, in fact that's one of the categories of your submission.

I'm having the exact same problem (play counts not being recorded when using an AirPlay device). I do not have iTunes Match or Apple Music. And I have the problem both with music ripped from CD and purchased from the iTunes store. Also, for what it's worth, the problem exists both with a HomePod and with my Onkyo receiver. I only had this problem after installing the latest iTunes update, which added AirPlay 2 support.

I called Apple and gave them the feedback over the phone. I mentioned seeing a message thread online where other people have the same problem and they asked for the link. So I pointed them to this page. Hopefully, they will implement a fix for this soon, because it totally breaks things for me. I rely upon play count (and the last date played) Smart Playlists and things simply aren't working for me now. The band-aid solution is to not use AirPlay, which means my HomePod is basically useless until Apple fixes this, as AirPlay is the primary reason I have it!

Same problem here. When I play music on my macbook pro, itunes updates playcount without a problem. However when I stream and sync playback with my apple tv 4k then itunes fails to update count. Not sure of a fix unfortunately.

libertino85 wrote:

I play 99% of my music on my iPhone. And it's not updating playcount in iTunes. It usually takes about 24 hours to update. But now it's not updating, even beyond the usual 24 hours.

I mostly play music from my iPhone as well, but the play history does immediately update iTunes when I re-sync, and my smart playlists update accordingly.

Do you auto-sync from iTunes, or manually manage the iPhone's contents. If you manually manage, playcounts from the iOS device don't always update iTunes (IIRC, this varies with iTunes releases, likely a recurring bug, or "programmer's whim").

Do you use iTunes Match or iCloud Music Library? I don't know how those may or may not update iTunes, but could certainly be a variable.

I use Apple Music/iCloud Music library.

I have not 'synced' my iPhone to my MacBook (by plugging it in) ever since Apple Music began. Do you recommend I sync in that manner?

I usually just allow music to sync 'automatically'...

Thanks.

libertino85 wrote:

I use Apple Music/iCloud Music library.

I have not 'synced' my iPhone to my MacBook (by plugging it in) ever since Apple Music began. Do you recommend I sync in that manner?

I usually just allow music to sync 'automatically'...

Thanks.

I don't use Apple Music/iCloud Music Library so I can't say for sure. However, connecting your iPhone to your Mac and syncing with iTunes may be worth trying -- I would not be surprised if that works.