Empty playlists in ITunes 12

After upgrading to Yosemite and iTunes12, iTunes opens with most of the playlists entirely empty, a few partially filled. My library is on a NAS drive, and this was not a problem previously. Searching on anything specific, e.g. "Beatles" will bring up all Beatles songs, which will then be in their playlists. Bringing up the songs window and doing a Select All will also populate the playlists, but after computer Sleep, they will all be empty again. In addition, some playlists are now permanently empty, as their songs have disappeared from the library entirely.
This is really bad programming.
All thoughts appreciated.

i wanted to add a song to a play list, and entered the name as a search in the library.
the song popped up, so i dragged it over and dropped it into the play list.
then i noticed that the play list only contained that song.
i clicked on other playlists, and they were all empty, even though the song count listed for the playlist was correct.
i tried pressing play for various playlists, and nothing happened.
this is what was happening:
the text for the title of the song was still in the search field.
this limited what itunes would show me to that particular song.
since that song was just in the one play list,
all the playlists showed empty,
except for the one play list, which showed only that one song.
i erased the text in the search box, and itunes again showed all the playlists in full.
i hope this helps.

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Funny thing: I just reset the iPad 2 again and was careful to shut off iTunes Match. Almost immediately my iPhone 4s updated and showed no more duplicate "recent" playlists. A check of my Laptop also shows none. So now it's isolated to the iPad. Guess I'll leave Match shut off for a day or two.

Multiple empty playlists, iTunes freezes, incomplete syncs

I have a PC...don't hold it against. My iTunes freezes, I have incomplete syncs and a ridiculous number of empty playlists. I have some computer sense ( in other words if you are patient I have no problem trying to make changes to my computer). Was excited for iMatch...now not so much. Suggestions?

Assuming you've posted in the Windows forum because you have a Windows PC...
Click the link for KillEmptyPlaylists to visit the page where it is hosted. Click the link of the same name on that page to download the script to your computer. Double-click the script to run it. (You'll probably get some kind of security warning but your A-V scanner should have been happy with it - it is safe, but then I suppose if I had bad intent I would say that. You'll have to decide whether you think I can be trusted.). The script will ask you to make sure that you want it to go ahead, and then delete all the empty playlists for you if you want.
If you actually have a Mac I can point you in the right direction for an equivalent script.
tt2

Empty Playlist on iPhone after Synching with iTunes Match

I just got iTunes match and at first, it looked like a brilliant idea. Problem is, I imported 7500 songs from my network drive (the wife, the kid and I share the same music folder) and start uploading to iTunes Match. Then I created 3 folders in my playlists. 1 for me, 1 for my wife and one for my kid. Inside each folders, I created a bunch of playlist... more or less 500 total
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i had the same problem...
found the solution at this website and it worked for me...
http://www.iosappadvice.com/forum/fix-music-not-working-bug-in-ios-5-beta-7/

Itunes match has removed my playlists from itunes and my iphone. Not only that, many of the songs 'matched' on itunes do not show up on my iphone. Seriously annoyed, wish I'd never paid for it

Please read the title; itunes match has removed my playlists on itunes and iphone and the songs that are supposedly 'matched' on itunes are not showing up on my iphone.
Any Really annoyed about this

iTunes Match does not have the ability to remove local files.
The service operates by comparing the selected iTunes Library with the iTunes Store content and 'matching' or 'uploading' - it is very straightforward a 'match' provides equivalent access to iTunes Store content as a recognised 'purchase'; upload simply copies a 256k AAC variant into the cloud. There are no elements of this activity that can erase the local library content.
Would suggest you explore possible alternative causes of file loss. Given the pattern described of selective deletion, leaving many Songs intact - would suggest making at least 2 secure offline Song file backups and starting the library again from a fresh install of iTunes once a thorough sweep of the system has been completed for virus. It is also worth assessing the physical security of the system - who has access & with what privileges.
To access Songs from the cloud, you would have to manually delete the Song from the library or open an empty library - so even when accessing content, iTunes Match provides no local deletion capability.

TA47831 How can I import a playlist to iTunes?

An old article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TA47831) explained how to export an iTunes playlist to an .m3u file and reimport it. This functionality no longer works with the newer version of iTunes (I'm running iTunes 10.6 on Windows 7). This is presumably why the article has been retired and is no longer supported by Apple.
If I export a playlist, change its name, then reimport the result is an empty playlist. Here is an example of one of the lines from the .m3u file:
#EXTINF:196,My Happiness - Ella Fitzgerald
\\NEF\music\Ella Fitzgerald - 50 Classic Hits (disc 2)\Ella Fitzgerald - My Happiness.mp3
As you can see my file is an mp3 on a remote server ("nef") and works perfectly well in the "Music" section of iTunes.
What I really want to do is to import some playlists that have been generated elsewhere (for example using a script to identify all the US hits of the 1980s with the word "power" somewhere in the lyrics). I figured the easiest way to do that would be to work out what format of playlist iTunes would be able to import and generate one of those, I was somewhat surprised to discover that iTunes can't even import a playlist it has just exported.
How can I import a playlist to iTunes?

Hi Steve,
I was wondering this myself and a quick Google found your post here along with an Apple support article published three weeks ago. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH1744?viewlocale=en_US
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dave

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how to delete multiple playlists from itunes?

Have you subscribed to iTunes Match? There is a bug that can sometimes create hundreds of duplicate empty playlists. I've two scripts which might help you clean up: KillEmptyPlaylists and KillTopLevelPlaylists. This post describes a technique for resetting iTunes Match to stop it happening again.
tt2

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Hello Nataroo007,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
There is a file in the iTunes library folder that contains your playlist information is the iTunes Library.xml file.
Try and find the file, usually located in one of these locations depending on your OS:
Operating System
Default location of iTunes Folder
Mac OS X
/Users/[your username]/Music
Microsoft Windows XP
\Documents and Settings\[your username]\My Documents\My Music\
Microsoft Windows Vista
\Users\[your username]\Music\
Microsoft Windows 7
\Users\[your username]\My Music\
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1. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist.
2. Navigate to the "iTunes Library.xml" file
3. Windows users: Click Open.
If your Podcasts list in iTunes is empty after following these steps, learn how to add them back into iTunes.
Note: information in this post comes from article:
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
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How to create an Empty Playlist File on Mac?

Hello everyone, I'm working on a Music Player script, I was able to play a file via the default player as when we doubleclick on a file. The problem is I have no control over the Player, so to "stop" a file I could play a "silent" mp3, one with 1 second of silence in it for example. I discarded the idea since I had to distribute this silent.mp3 file along with the script. A better option is to play a "playlist", since playlist files are text only, I could create them an empty playlist file on the fly...
so, the question is, what's the default playlist extension on a mac? and how to create one on the Mac?
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<?wpl version="1.0"?>
<smil>
    <head>
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        <meta name="ItemCount" content="0"/>
        <title>empyPlaylist</title>
    </head>
</smil>
here's the script, so far Windows only, at least to stop the file being played.
// script.name = musicPlayer_Windows.jsx;
// script.needs = I need to create an Empty Playlist File for the Mac, that will play on the default music player when executed
// carlos canto, 10/12/2014
var w = new Window('dialog', 'Music Player');
var btnFile = w.add('button', undefined, 'Select an *.mp3 file to play...');
var lblSong = w.add('edittext', undefined, '');
lblSong.characters = 30;
var btnPlay = w.add('button', undefined, 'Play');
var btnStop = w.add('button', undefined, 'Stop');
var btnClose = w.add('button', undefined, 'Close');
btnPlay.enabled = btnStop.enabled = false;
var emptyPlaylist = getEmptyPlaylist ();
btnFile.onClick = function () {
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btnPlay.onClick = function () {
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btnStop.onClick = function () {
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btnClose.onClick = function () {
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w.show();
// this function creates an Empty Playlist file (Windows) on the fly, this file will be used to "stop" a playing file
// I need a similar function for Mac
function getEmptyPlaylist () {
    var desk = Folder.desktop;
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        var s_emptyPlaylist = (new String("<?wpl version=\"1.0\"?>\n<smil>\n    <head>\n        <meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Windows Media Player -- 12.0.7601.18150\"/>\n        <meta name=\"ItemCount\" content=\"0\"/>\n        <title>empyPlaylist</title>\n    </head>\n</smil>\n"));
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thanks in advance
Carlos

hmm...I think it's going to be more complicated than I thought.
correct, this script targets the ESTK, it is part of a larger Illustrator script, which doesn't have doScript either...I would go with applescript as last resort. I think going with the playlist file is easier.
based on your comment I realized users might change their default players, so on Windows I'm going to change the playlist file from *.wpl to the more universal *.m3u, I guess whatever decent player made the default, supports this file.
so, will an *.m3u playlist file play on the default mac player (itunes) when executed?
File("~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/emptyPlaylist.m3u").execute(); // will this play on itunes?
I noticed that the *.m3u file can be blank, it will still "play" when executed() and effectively "stops" any music file currently being played...if this happens on Mac also, that's what I'm after.
thanks for helping Dirk.

How do i create a playlist in itunes from my iphone 4s?

how do i create a playlist in itunes from my iphone 4s?

denisefromnj wrote:
On my iphone 4s I have 2 songs in the purchased category that I want to manually move into an existing playlist. I can not figure it out.
If the existing playlist is a regular (non-smart) playlist, then you can edit it directly on the iPhone. Just select the playlist and you should see an "Edit" button at the top, above the songs. If you don't see that, then it must be a smart playlist since those can't be edited on the device. Once you tap the Edit button you would then navigate to the song you want to add and press the blue + sign to the right of the song, then press Done when you're finished.
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But if you manually manage your iPhone, the playlist should remain in its edited state even if you connect to your library (but admittedly its been awhile since I tried manual mode).

Empty Playlists & Duplicate Songs!

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I am having this problem also. I have searched and found many posts on the subject, but no solutions found.
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I haven't used it for awhile but can't you simply
download the playlist without downloading the music?
I wish, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Senuti will let you download the music IN the playlist, but not just the playlist info. Same, AFAICT, with iPodRip.
What I may do is the following:
1. Delete everything (scary).
2. Restore from my iPod first (I'm Dad, mine is biggest!).
3. Duplicate the resulting Library and playlists to a new library for my wife, and rename it.
4. Delete a few playlists she doesn't want and restore the playlists that (she wants but I don't want) from her iPod using Senuti.
5. Repeat for my daughter. She has a nano and not much music, so this will be much faster. Her tastes run to standard pop fare, no classical.
I think, when all is said and done, I will have one Music folder with all the actual MP3s, AACs, and the occasionall AIFF in it, and three libraries corresponding to the three iPods with Library subsets of the total Music folder.
Does that sound about right?
marmer

Thousands of empty playlists

I recently moved from a PC to a Mac and I had thousands of empty playlists in my iTunes library, which I know is a problem from iTunes Match. I thought I could fix the problem on a Mac using the Automator or a script, but now every time I try to do that, iTunes freezes, becomes non-responsive, and nothing happens. As it was, iTunes was taking about 10 minutes to open and become responsive, and then it would only work for a little while before becoming non-responsive again. Now, after running the Automator "Remove Empty Playlists" and a script, the playlists didn't go anywhere, and I can't get iTunes to open at all.
All day, I've been trying to fix this by turning off iTunes Match on all my iOS devices and getting the script to run, but nothing is working and somehow iTunes is running even worse. I don't know what else to try, but iTunes is completely unusable. Frankly, I don't even know if getting rid of all the playlists would fix the problem. I know I could check by just turning off iTunes Match on my Mac, but it would need to open first for me to do that.
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Hello MrStuntman,
You may need to recreate your iTunes Library. The following article details this process.
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
Note: After re-creating your library, any devices that you sync with iTunes (Apple TV, iPod, iPhone, iPad) will see your iTunes library as a new library and will completely resync. The next sync with such a device will take longer and may reset some options since your rebuilt library isn't familiar to the device.
Cheers,
Allen

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After I set up iTunes Match, iTunes spontaneously created hundreds, possibly thousands of duplicate playlists, all empty. The number created is so large that it is seriously affecting iTunes performance. I've no idea how this happened, and am not conscious of having done anything to cause this. The palylists were just there one day when I switched on.
I've tried deleting, but that is only possible one at a time, and I don't seem to have made any impact on the number.
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My imac, iphone and ipad developed this problem. Absolutely thousands of empty playlists, all with the same name. These appeared only when iTunes match was enabled. I finally got it worked out. Hoping that this will be of use to others, here's what I did:
1) Turn off itunes match on all i-devices, but left it enabled on the imac.
2) Installed Tracksift on the imac to remove the empty playlists. It found >11,000!!
3) I left iTunes on overnight hoping that the deletions propagated back to apple's iTunes servers. I have no idea if this helped.
4) Next day, turned off itunes match and quit itunes.
5) Restarted itunes and turned on match, with fingers crossed that the playlists would not return....
6) Success! Enabled itunes match on the i-devices. No more empty playlists, and the proper playlists synced across the computer and i-devices. Good.
Couple of extra points. First, several threads suggest that holding the shift key while enabling itunes match keeps the emptly playlists from returning. Didn't work for me. Instead, steps 3 - 6 above worked. Second, I emailed Apple and their rep gave me instructions for removing playlists... one by one. I appreciate the contact, but not too helpful for 11,000. Seems that they are not aware of this bug.

How can I import an m3u playlist into iTunes that intentionally contains duplicate tracks? I want the duplicates in this case.

For instance, if my M3u file looks like the 2 lines below, only one copy of the mp3 file is imported. I'd like the same track to be imported twice.
Back To Black.mp3
Back To Black.mp3
btw, the reason I'd like this to work is that I use a separater track in playlists between groups of similar tracks. This separater is not being imported correctly as is being unhelpfully recognised as an unwanted duplicate.
Any advice appreciated.

I just did the following.
Created a m3u file with a series of tracks with one entry duplicated.
Made a new empty playlist in a test iTunes library which did not contain the files and dragged the m3u file to that playlist.
It created a duplicate playlist entry for that one duplicated track but of course it points to the same file. If you really want iTunes to duplicate the file you will have to trick it into thinking it is a different file. Using your library management preferences (which are identical to mine) you will have to duplicate the file in Finder so you really do have two files and add it again. Perhaps if iTunes was managing the media it would not behave that way and might add the file twice since dragging to iTunes with default preferences settings just places a copy on the iTunes folder and leaves the original in place, so you'd be dong hte equivalent of dragging twice (I'd have to test to check this since I don't use default settings either). With your settings it just refers to the original wherever it is. Hopefully I've phrased that well enough.

Empty playlists in ITunes 12

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