LOST SONGS OVERNIGHT

[patcolombi]

Yesterday I had 3885 songs but today I have only 204. I went to the C: drive and found iTunes library also only has 204 also. None are in the recycle bin.
I'm not totally in trouble because I have them all on two other computers and 3 iPods. I don't know how to proceed from here. Any hlep would be appreciated. Thank you.
patcolombi

 

[cjmnews]

That is highly unusual. Data doesn't disappear without a cause. Odd that iTunes and the hard drive agree so readily as well.
I would usually go down the path of hard drive errors, but if iTunes agrees with hard drive, then this is not a hard drive error.

There are a couple ways this could happen that I can imagine:
1. Your iTunes Library file was corrupted with the last update. The 204 songs are just the purchased songs showing in iTunes, and if the other songs don't happen to be in the iTunes folder so they were not directly found. Please compare the size of the iTunes Library,itl file in the iTunes folder with the latest iTunes Library <date and time>.itl found in the iTunes\Previous Libraries folder and report back. My guess is if this the case the date on that Previous Libraries file is May 24 or really early May 25. Basically the fix for this is to copy iTunes Library <date and time>.itl from the Previous Libraries folder to the iTunes folder. Send iTunes Library.itl to the recycle bin. Rename iTunes Library <date and time>.itl to iTunes Library.itl and start iTunes to recover.

2. A restore of an old backup of the iTunes folder was made onto your computer. I would guess date and times are on the files, and in iTunes for Date Added, Date Modified and Last Played are all quite old. Restoring a more modern backup would recover from this.

 

[patcolombi]

Thank you for your help. I am not very knowledgable about these issues but I have tried to follow your request. There is no iTunes Library.itl anywhere on this computer. There are no folders or files named iTunes/Previous Libraries. There is a file named "Music" " and within it one named "iTunes". The iTunes folder contains two folders and four files. The two folders are empty. The four files are iTunes library, iTunes genius, iTunes Library and Sentinel. When I opened the file called iTunes Library the only date and time shown is the time I am opening it now at 1:38am 5/26/2020. There is no match when I search for iTunes Library.itl

iTunes has never backed up by me on this computer because I have it installed on both my other computers I hope I got you the information you asked for.

 

[cjmnews]

Your file extensions are hidden. A silly default that Microsoft sets, and easy to undo if you need to: https://www.howtogeek.com/205086/beginner-how-to-make-windows-show-file-extensions/

You do have an iTunes Library I see in your file list. One of the two has the ITL extension, probably the first one as the second should have an XML extension. This is why it is silly to hide extensions Microsoft.

I should have put in the whole path, I assume people know a little about the organization of their computer files. C:\Users\<login>\Music\iTunes is where all these things should be. The Previous Libraries folder should be in the iTunes folder. If you don't have a Previous Libraries folder, you must have never upgraded iTunes on this system.

If you have never backed up iTunes, nor restored it then the corruption of the iTunes Library.itl file must have occurred.

Using one of your other computers, you should be able to find the path to one of the 3600 missing songs from the computer that has only 204 songs.
Here are a couple examples of possible paths, there are thousands of possibilities:
C:\Users\<login>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\<artist>\<album>\<song name>.<ext>
C:\Users\<login>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\<artist>\<album>\<song name>.<ext>
C:\Users\<login>\Music\<song name>.<ext>
C:\Users\<login>\Downloads\Music\<song name>.<ext>

Can you find that path on the computer that is missing the song (Right click a song and choose Song Info, click on the File tab, you can see the path for the song. Click on the folder icon to see the folder where the song resides)? Is the song there but not in iTunes? If the song is there, this would be a good thing as we just need to copy the iTunes Library.itl from the other computers to this one.

 

[patcolombi]

Before I do anything else I just remembered something that could have something to do with the problem. Back in March I made a purchase from Best Buy that entitled me to 2 or 3 months of free Apple Music. I did not understand what Apple Music really was so I had a field day downloading about thirty songs. These songs all had a cloud next to them. Then I realized that they did not really belong to me and if I left Apple Music all the songs with a cloud would all disappear. I also noticed that very slowly all my music was having a cloud placed next to it. I then decided this was not for me and i was removing the clooud. I can't remember everything that occured. This is the best I can do. Do you think this has anything to do with this? Just so you don't think I've lost a brain or two, I am 83 years old and losing a little every day. Sorry. I will go back now to what you want me to do and will get back to you if I need help. Just a little FYI: You helped me solve an iTunes issue back in November 2015. Glad you're still at it.

 

[patcolombi]

I just followed your advice and found the location on one of the other computers. the songs are in C:\users\ottiliegirl\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\Compilations\Hit Parade 1951\25\Abba Dabba Honeymoon.m4a. the 200 songs on the problem computer just say Location iCloud.

 

[cjmnews]

Thanks for the reminder that we have chatted before. I am the last support volunteer remaining. 14 years and counting...

Apple Music is a service where you can stream songs from their catalog and even download them for playback offline or on Apple Watch devices that don't have constant connectivity. Your existing songs are also matched and upgraded to the better quality track if a match is found, and if the song is unique then it is uploaded to iCloud Music Library for streaming like the rest of Apple Music. Matched music is upgraded to the better quality and you can download this version to replace the lower quality version.

The Cloud icon was there next to the songs to allow you to download the music to your local hard drive.
If you had automatic downloads of Music enabled in iTunes or your device, they would be downloaded and stored as well. Then the Cloud icon would either disappear or you would have 2 tracks one with the Cloud icon that you stream, and one without the Cloud icon that would play locally offline.

The downsides of Apple Music are:

• No iPod support
• No CD burning
• All songs are DRM controlled, so when you quit, you lose access to the Apple Music that was downloaded.

So if you were on Apple Music, then you probably had tracks automatically downloading to your iTunes, and when Apple Music ended, those tracks should disappear or at least be unplayable.

So in a long winded answer, yes quitting Apple Music should have reduced your library to what you actually own. The timing seems right too. A 3 month trial starting on Feb 25 should have ended May 25.

I guess we need to figure out what music you own and where it is located. Based on your first post, it seems you have 204 tracks that you own.

Let's create 2 playlists in iTunes:
Create a normal playlist, click on File->New->Playlist, name it GOOD
Select all the Music in your Music section (Click on any track then type CTRL-A), drag the selection and drop on the GOOD Playlist.
Click on File->New->Smart Playlist. Set the criteria to Playlist is NOT GOOD. And click OK. Name this playlist BAD.
BAD will be the list of all songs that iTunes can't find.

Are any of your personal Music in the BAD playlist?
Do these songs play?

 

[patcolombi]

Whatever can go wrong goes wrong. I was attempting to create those two playlists and my computer froze. Cont+Alt+Del does not unfreeze it.. It just turned it off by holding down the start button for 20 sconds. This computer is only 8 months old and it is a very good model so I don't know why this happened. I have 2 playlists named GOOD and BAD. I just turned it on for the second time and it froze as soon as I touched the mouse. I don't see the other thing you wanted me to do by searching with %ProgramData% but I ran it. It located 257 items. The first bunch were started with user then apps, then it was looking for data with Microsoft and finally Windows . Nothing even close to music or iTunes was brought up. Have you any idea why it may be freezing? There is nothing further I can do right now.

 

[cjmnews]

Being a new system, you shouldn't have issues with it. If it freezes with the mouse use, try unplugging the mouse and use the touchpad (laptop) or use a different mouse (desktop) to see if that is the cause of the freeze. I doubt that will help, but if you have a wired mouse with a frayed wire, this could be a cause.

There is no need to search %ProgramData% I don't even see me mentioning that above. Not sure where that came from. Hopefully that was not some sort of delete command.

I was wondering if the BAD playlist had songs in it.

If the system refuses to boot, perhaps you have more issues than this iTunes issue. Do you see any error messages on the screen before the manufacturer logo, after the logo before Windows or while Windows is starting?

 

[patcolombi]

As I was reading your last reply I started up that computer. My mouse is a logitech wireless mouse and a logitech separate keyboard. I was not able to try anything after the playlists were setup. That is when it froze. Going to try it now. I just logged on and was able to do my regular startup by visiting AOL, Tiny Beans, Facebook and my newspapers and have had no problem. Just opened iTunes, saw the 204 songs and the two empty playlists. I tried to play one of the 204 songs to put in the playlist and the computer froze. Does that limit the problem to iTunes?

 

[patcolombi]

Update: I am using the computer that has the iTunes problem. I have opened and used almost all my regular programs, like Word, Excel, OneNote, Hallmark Cards. and I played Canasta and Solitaire. Everything seems to be fine as long as I stay away from iTunes.

 

[cjmnews]

That is good news.

My suggestion is to uninstall iTunes, Bonjour, Apple Mobile Device Service and Apple Updater then reboot, then get iTunes from Apple https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

You probably need the 64 bit version, you absolutely do not want the Microsoft Store version.

That should fix the iTunes hang without needing to figure out why.

 

[patcolombi]

Ok, thanks for that input. I never would have thought I had to delete all those things. When I finish deleting and installing new versiion will iTunes automatically know I have other computers . How is this possible? I just went to control panel to delets those items and not one of them can be found. There is no mention of iTunes anywhere in control panel.

 

[patcolombi]

There is an uninstall button on the start menu. Should I use that. Once it is uninstalled how do I get my songs back in? My songs take up 13.4gb. I have ordered a 32gb thumb drive arriving this weekend which I could use to cop and paste. How would you suggest reinstalling

 

[cjmnews]

I am glad you found the Control Panel, in there you should look in Programs and Features which should have a list of all your applications.
If you see them there than you can right click each one and uninstall each one.

If you don't see iTunes or any of the other applications listed there, then you probably have the Microsoft Store version.
In this case, yes you find the Shortcut in the Start menu, right click it and choose uninstall.
You can see the list of all apps (normal and Microsoft Store) by right clicking on Start, then click on Settings, then click on Apps. You can also uninstall here by clicking on the app, then clicking on the Uninstall button.

Get the version from Apple.
https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
You probably need the 64 bit version, you absolutely do not want the Microsoft Store version.
This will download an installer to your Downloads folder.
Go to the Folder and run the executable, follow the steps.

As for your music, it will remain in place, and when you reinstall iTunes it should all be in iTunes when you start it up.
iTunes uninstall usually does not affect the library.

 

[patcolombi]

that sounds all good for the uninstalling but as for my music it is not anywhere on this computer. Remember I only have the 204 songs in the cloud. The songs have to come form somewhere else. Can they be pasted in from a USB thumb drive?

 

[cjmnews]

In the first post you said you found 204 songs on the C drive, so I expect them to be there.

Don't worry if your songs are in the cloud, it would be in the iCloud Music Library also available with the new installation.

Also if you have a copy of your songs on a thumb drive, you can use Window Explorer to see the songs on the USB drive, select them all, drag them from the USB drive and drop them onto the Music section of iTunes (Top of the left column) to import the tracks into iTunes.

 

[patcolombi]

I went to https://www.apple.com/iTunes/download/ twice and both times I was directed to Apple Site Map. Once there I found sections for Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV & Music. I entered Music and found something named iTunes Overview and no other mention of iTunes. When I clicked on Overview I was presented with large picture and words "download latest version at Microsoft store". I heard recently that Apple was making big changes to iTunes for Mac and basically ignoring windows. Could that be why it can't be downloaded from them? By the way, I have copied all 3889 songs to a thumb drive. I'm happy about that.

 

[cjmnews]

The link must have changed., my bad for not checking it. Here is the direct link. https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/win64

 

[patcolombi]

That link was good to a point. Again, I did this twice. I was able to use that link . However, once it finished downloading I get this message "the installation cannot directly upgrade the version of iPod software found on this computer. Please uninstall the iPod software and try again." There is a program called iPod support in control panel. I use 3 iPods but didn't realize this software was there. Do you think I need it or is it ok to remove?