IPOD Music Library deleted itself :(

hi everyone....i'm having some very sad ipod problems
i'm using win xp on an asus a7v333 motherboard. up to now i've been using the usb 1.0 socket built into the motherboard to transfer files onto my ipod but i found a usb 2.0 card installed on the same board most recently. delighted, i started to use the usb 2.0 socket with an impressive boost in speed but i began to have problems. my 20gig ipod photo would disconnect itself from itunes and display an "ok to disconnect checkmark" without me wanting it to do so....confused i would disconnect the ipod and reconnect it....well today it did the same thing but this time all of the data on the ipod was removed. i did not remove any of the data myself and was adding songs at the time. this is a loss of 18 gigs of music and i'm not sure why the ipod formatted itself. if i check the library it is empty, including the playlists. if i check the music folder in ipod_control, it states that there is 7 gigs in there but it won't display any of it and like i said there was 18 gigs. where has my music gone and can it be restored?

you can copy your ipod songs back to your computer by:
How to Stop the iPod from Autosyncing (and Deleting My Music)
Moving from ipod to itunes

Similar Messages

IPod Music Library Deleted, but when I browse iPod hard-drive...

I've been listening to my iPod from Winamp for about 2 weeks now, and have had not a single problem. I doubt I've used iTunes in the passed three weeks, so I don't see why this problem would arise.
The problem: I cannot view any of the media files in iTunes, Winamp, or on the actual iPod. But, when I browse the iPod's harddrive, I can find all my media files, of course it's in the iPod-readable format where all the names are random number/letter strings. Nevertheless, I'm able to open the songs from Ipod_Control folder, and play them in Winamp, but when I go to the 'Portables' tab on Winamp, it shows I have 0 files. The 'about' option also shows that I only have 9GB left, being it's a 30GB iPod.
The diagnosis: I've been told to tweak iTunes, and to use the iPod updater (What a travesty) and so far I have had no real diagnosis, or solution. So I'm asking, before I go ahead, and sell this **** thing, how do I restore it back to what glory it once had? And don't even respond if you suggest I do something that might cause all my information to dissapear, because I have 21gb's of music and ID3 tags totally filled out, including album art. (60+ hours of editing/adding/downloading)
PS: My iPod is not under warranty.

That's kind of absurd considering that the files are all there, the iPod just isn't 'picking' them up. At this point, I really don't care, mainly because I sold it, but I would hope this gets answered for those who are having the same problem.
Last time I buy from Apple. Yay for Pop Culture.

I purchased a song on my Ipod Touch 4 GEN. and i listened to it not 5 mins before i synced it with Itunes...then i looked in my Ipod music library and itunes library...GONE. but when i go to download, it wanted me to pay even tho i have bot it! HELP!!!

i purchased a song on my Ipod Touch 4 GEN. and i listened to it not 5 mins before i synced it with Itunes...then i looked in my Ipod music library and itunes library...GONE. but when i go to download it, like with Apps when if you have purchased an app and it get's deleted...you can have it back for FREE
and i tryed that with this song...and it says that " you have already purchased this song, would you like to buy it again?" but it wont let me get it again for free even tho i have bought it before...is there a way i can get it back with out having to pay??
HHHHHEEEELLLLPPPP!!!! PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!!!!

You buy one and only one download.
As it should have been transferred to your computer when you synced, you can contact itunes support and ask for an exception.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes

Need help with my iPod music library

I made a back-up of my iPod music library by enabling disk use and copying the music folder from the iPod_Control folder. I recently had to restore (some minor problems when I installed iTunes 7 and updated my iPod), and I moved the songs from the backup music folder to my iPod. All of the files transfered, but my iPod doesn't show the new library. I'm assuming that I have to refresh the library, maybe by deleting the old library file somehow. Any advice? I had songs on my iPod that I no longer have acceess to due to my laptop dying, so simply resynching to my current iTunes library won't help, and I'd rather not look through all the crazy folders in my backup to find my missing tracks. Thanks!
iPod w/video Windows XP

The iPod usually won't view the songs properly unless iTunes puts them on there.
But, you have that folder, which is a good thing.
I would have iTunes update your iPod with those songs.
In iTunes, go to File-->Add folder to library. Add the iPod_Control folder to the library.
iTunes will import all of those songs into your iTunes library with the correct names and everything. Then you can update your iPod with iTunes and get all your music on there and recognized. Do not delete or move the folder once you add it to iTunes, as iTunes may be reading the music from it, and moving it may not allow you to play songs in your iTunes library.
I would restore your iPod before you put the music on there though, as the music you manually added to the iPod may be taking up space and iTunes won't be able to fill that space with music.
btabz

Post ios5: Why doesnt itunes updates name/album changes to 4g ipod Touch, changes show in ipod music library, but dont sync across

Post ios5: Why doesnt any music name/album changes on library show on ipod Touch 4G after sync, changes show in ipod music library, but dont sync across and show on ipod

Just wondered if anyone had any other suggestions.

IPod music library erased when synching movies

I tried putting some movies (short clips from my digital camera) that are stored in my iTunes library onto my iPod. I followed the steps to sync movies and hit "apply". For some reason all that happened is my entire iPod music library began erasing. The movies never transfered to the iPod and my photos are still on my iPod. I reloaded the music from my iTunes library and tried syncing the movies again and the same thing happend. What is going on? And, is there anyway to retrieve my original iPod music library. I had about 1800 songs on the iPod and only have about 1200 in iTunes.

I reloaded the music from my iTunes library and tried syncing the movies again and the same thing happend.
This should all be done in one sync.
Are you syncing the music then turning off sync music to sync the movies?
is there anyway to retrieve my original iPod music library. I had about 1800 songs on the iPod and only have about 1200 in iTunes.
No. They should all be in iTunes. If not, you can restore them from your backup.

ITunes to iPod Sync corrupts iPod Music Library - Data Usage Chart Incorrect

Issue 1: Syncing Music Library
Issue 2: Data Usage Sync Displaying Incorrect Data
Conflicting Device: iPod Touch (5th Gen- Model MD717LL/A- 32GB)
Conflicting Device OS: iOS 7.0.4 (11B554a)
Capacity of Device: 28.01 GB
Current (As of February 18, 2014 at 11:30 PM EST) Total Space Used on Device: 19.05 GB
Current (As of February 18, 2014 at 11:30 PM EST) Total Space Available on Device: 8.95 GB
Conflicting Device 2: iTunes for Windows Vista (iTunes 11.1.4.62)
Back Up Config: iCloud
Option(s) selected on iTunes (in iPod Menu):
-Sync with this iPod over Wi-Fi
-Sync Music
     -Entire Music Library
     -Include Music Videos
     -Include Voice Memos
-Sync Movies
-Sync TV Shows
Number of Songs in iTunes Library: 1245
Number of Songs in iPod Library: 1395
Note on Previous Data: This is due to errors with purchased songs from iTunes. I have a downloaded version of the purchased songs with added lyrics as well as a iTunes download for a fresh version of the song (has the cloud icon next to them).
Mutual Step(s) Leading to Issue(s):
- 1 - Open iTunes
Individual Step(s) Leading to Issue 1:
- 2 - Alter, Add, Change, Remove, or Edit any Music in my iTunes library
- 3 - Connect to iPod either via lightning to USB cable or Wi-Fi
- 4 - Click on the "iPod" button on the Navigation Bar
- 5 - Click "Sync" at the bottom of the screen
Individual Step(s) Leading to Issue 2:
Issue: Syncing Music Library
Issue 2: Data Usage Sync Displaying Incorrect Data
Conflicting Device: iPod Touch (5th Gen- Model MD717LL/A- 32GB)
Conflicting Device OS: iOS 7.0.4 (11B554a)
Conflicting Device 2: iTunes for Windows Vista (iTunes 11.1.4.62)
Back Up Config: iCloud
Option(s) selected on iTunes (in iPod Menu):
-Sync with this iPod over Wi-Fi
-Sync Music
     -Entire Music Library
     -Include Music Videos
     -Include Voice Memos
-Sync Movies
-Sync TV Shows
Number of Songs in iTunes Library: 1245
Number of Songs in iPod Library: 1395
Note on Previous Data: This is due to errors with purchased songs from iTunes. I have a downloaded version of the purchased songs with added lyrics as well as a iTunes download for a fresh version of the song (has the cloud icon next to them).
Mutual Step(s) Leading to Issue(s):
- 1 - Open iTunes
Individual Step(s) Leading to Issue 1:
- 2 - Alter, Add, Change, Remove, or Edit any Music in my iTunes library
- 3 - Connect to iPod either via lightning to USB cable or iCloud
- 4 - Click on the "iPod" button on the Navigation Bar
- 5 - Click "Sync" at the bottom of the screen
Individual Step(s) Leading to Issue 2:
- 2 - Connect to iPod either via lightning to USB cable or iCloud
- 3 - Click on the "iPod" button on the Navigation Bar
- 4 - Hover over data usage bar
Description of Issue 1:
-When following steps, sync completes by corrupting all music files on the iPod Touch and not syncing altered/changed/added/removed/edited music with iPod.
-All music is either not shown or greyed out/inaccessible.
-When tapping a seemingly accessible song after sync, song immediately skips to next seemingly playable song. This process repeats until all songs are skipped. After the song is skipped, the song is grayed out/inaccessible. A download circle eventually shows showing the process of downloading the music file again. The file is never downloaded and remains stuck at 0% downloaded.
-Music purchased from iTunes is shown as downloadable and will download properly from iTunes if clicked on
-No known cause
Description of Issue 2:
-When looking at the data usage bar for my iPod Touch the status shows approx. 512 Mbs of data over capacity of the iPod and all data shown is categorizes as "Other"
-No known cause
-Causes Sync to Fail
-No Other Symptoms Seen
Affected Functions with Issue 1:
-Music Playback on iPod Touch
-Playlist Creation on iPod Touch
-Successful Sync Process
Affected Functions with Issue 2:
-Proper and Valid Sync with iPod
Failed Attempted Fixes for Issue 1:
-Restart of iPod
-Restart of iTunes
-Restart of Computer
-Hard Reboot of iPod
-All Combinations of listings above
-Multiple Syncs
-Ejecting iPod-> Removing USB from Port-> Connecting USB to Port again
-Deselecting "Sync over Wi-Fi with this iPod" option-> Clicking "Apply"
-Trying all of the above with and without the Music app running (including in the background).
Failed Attempted Fixes for Issue 2:
-Restart of iPod
-Restart of iTunes
-Restart of Computer
-Hard Reboot of iPod
-All Combinations of listings above
-Multiple Syncs
-Ejecting iPod-> Removing USB from Port-> Connecting USB to Port again
-Deselecting "Sync over Wi-Fi with this iPod" option-> Clicking "Apply"
Successful Attempted Fixes for Issue 1:
- 1 - Open iTunes
- 2 - Connect to iPod either via lightning to USB cable or iCloud
- 3 - Click on the "iPod" button on the Navigation Bar
- 4 - Navigate to the "Music" Tab on the Navigation Bar
- 5 - Deselect "Sync Music"
- 6 - When pop-up comes up click "Remove"
- 7 - Click "Sync"
- 8 - Wait for Sync to Finish
- 9 - Reboot iPod
- 10 - Reselect "Sync Music"
- 11 - Click Sync
- 12 - Wait for Sync to Finish
Successful Attempted Fixes for Issue 2: N/A
Unattempted Known Fixes for Issue 1:
-iTunes Match (I do not want to pay extra for this service)
Unattempted Known Fixes for Issue 2:
N/A
Annoyances of Issue 1:
-Having to delete all songs and redownload all songs onto iPod, it's very time consuming and frustrating due to the fact this doesn't always work.
-Having every song I bought on iTunes show twice- one downloaded with lyrics and one not downloaded without lyrics.
Annoyances of Issue 2: Disrupts the iPod Sync process (does not let it complete or even start- no error messages occur though) and I am unable to see the proper state of my iPod.
After Effects for Issue 1: A copy of any song purchased off of the iTunes Store is
After Effects for Issue 2: N/A
Occurrence Rate of Issue 1: Every Sync
Occurrence Rate of Issue 2: Occasionally during sync or daily iPod status check.
Origin Date of Issue 1: January 1, 2014 was the first noticed occurrence of this.
Origin Date of Issue 2: January 1, 2014 was the first noticed occurrence of this.
Note: If there is anything else needed please tell me- I would like to find a better solution or have this turned in as a bug. Thank you for your help!

Were you ever able to solve this problem? If so,
how? If not, did you see the same slowness copying
the files in Windows Explorer from the NAS to the
iPod?
No I wasn't. To be honest I have essentially given up as even if I can fix it, disk space is cheaper than life is long!
Using the NAS in general is no problem. In fact, once iTunes got beyond the initial working out of what needed to be removed from and copied to the iPod, having all my MP3s on the NAS and copying direct to the iPod was no issue.
Following some sage (and frankly scary!) advice at ilounge (http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=163611), I've decided to keep two copies of my MP3s. The fact that my fiendish NAS plan has failed is hurting more than the not-all-that-traumatic reality of duplicating 140GB of files if truth be told!

IPod Music Library "Greyed Out" in iTunes when I plug my iPod in... help!

Hi... not sure how to explain this, so I'll do my best... if anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it!
When I plug my video iPod into iTunes via USB, I can see all of the songs in my iPod's music library in iTunes, but they are all "greyed out." The songs in my iTunes are fine and can be accessed, but when I look in the iPod's music library in iTunes, all of the songs show up but are inaccessible. Any ideas??? I'd really appreciate any help!
Message was edited by: bfphillip
Message was edited by: bfphillip

Grey text when you look at the content and a lock symbol at the bottom of the screen just indicates that the iPod is set to sync automatically with iTunes. If you want to play the iPod songs through iTunes, delete songs from the iPod, drag songs from iTunes, add playlists to the iPod etc. you need to change the update setting to "manually manage songs and videos". The text will change from grey to black and everything will be directly accessible through iTunes:
Managing content manually on iPod
Syncing Music to iPod
Something to remember about using an iPod in manual mode is that the "Do Not Disconnect" message will remain on the display until you physically eject the device: Safely Disconnect IPod

Changing organization of iPod music library

I have the newest generation (I think it's 4G?) 120G iPod. When I sync it to my computer, it organizes the music the way it is organized in my music library rather than the way it is organized in iTunes. The problem with that is the "Compilations" folder. iTunes frequently puts in a "Compilations" (even ones that are not compilations). But all the artists music will appear in iTunes on my computer arranged by the artist regardless of where it is in the music folder. However, when I sync the music to my iPod, it places all the "Compilations" together on the iPod and they do not show up when I search by artist. Rather, I have to either perform a search or go to compilations and find the album there. On my previous iPod G2, it organized more like iTunes so that even the music under "Compilations" would show up under the artists' names. Is there a way to have the music that loads that loads from the "Compilations" folder to my iPod show up when I go to select by artist?
Thank you.

The iPod Classic (120 GB) is Generation 6. The issue with organization is with iTunes. If you open your iTunes browser, you'll see Compilations there. It's not really organized the way that it sorts in the list view.
I don't really know the answer to your question, though. When I browse through my artists in iTunes and on the iPod, their songs from compilations appear in the list (i.e., the compilation name itself appears) IF the artist has other songs/albums not in compilation. Any artist which appears only in a compilation will not appear in the list.
As far as I know, the only way to change that is to deselect "part of a compilation."

Entire Music Library Deleted

iPod Touch 4th Gen. For the past few years I've been using iTunes on my work computer to play music from my iPod Touch via Apple USB connector. I add and remove all music on my iPod only from my home computer. Over the past few days, iTunes on my work computer has been deleting my entire music library, over 4000 songs (with the exception of songs purchased from iTunes). I've already restored and added these songs once from my home computer but this morning, the same thing happened. I did select the option in iTunes to not automatically sync any devices and also have selected Manually Manage Music and Videos. Not sure why all of the sudden I'm losing all stored music when plugging into another computer. Any ideas?? Frustrated...

Thanks. Was this something that was changed with a newer iTunes release? Just strange that I've been doing this for a few years now all of the sudden I'm losing all music Too bad because it is easy to sort and search through iPod using iTunes.

Why does my ipod music library need restoring several times a day?

I recently updated my ipod touch to the newest software and the whole music library was removed and restored from backup, this did not seem to be a concern until later on that day my library was wiped clean, the ipod was not connected to the comuter while the songs were wiped, i just tapped the music app and it said that my library was empty.
This is very annoying as every time this happens i need to restore my ipod which can take a couple of hours, please help!

Sounds like the 'genius' wasn't much of a genius. There are many people that run/jog with their iPod with no problems. I've dropped mine off a table onto a hardwood floor and had no problems. Sounds like you have a lemon. If you recently purchased it, I would look into exchanging it.

I have purchased music from itunes on my iphone and it won't show up in my Ipod music library on my phone. It shows up in my itunes library on my computer. This is a recent glitch as up until this week purchased music downloads fine on phone.

I purchased music on itunes on my iphone and the songs won't show up in my music library on the phone. They are on my computer itunes library but it won't let me transfer the purchases back to my phone (which I have never had to do before). Never had this problem before this week when purchasing music on my iphone.
My Itunes library on my laptop is slightly different from my Iphone library so I don't want to erase and sync the entire library.

In iTunes, try signing out of your Apple ID & then back in: click on iTunes Store on the left sidebar of iTunes, click on your Apple ID on the top right, sign out, sign back in. Then try to sync your purchased music to your phone again.

My account keeps resetting and my music is deleting itself from my library. Help!

Every time I log into my account it starts everything the way it had at the start of the last thing, I'll open up an application like Firefox and it'll ask if I want to open it like when you have just downloaded it from the internet. All my settings revert to the last point and it's becoming quite a hassle for me. If that wasn't enough, most of my music has disappeared from my iTunes library and I cannot locate it anywhere on my iMac. The other accounts on my computer do not have these problems. Any suggestions?

Hi Darcy, it sounds like your home folder got renamed.
Return to default desktop, apparent "loss" of home directory, (it can happen spontaneously too)...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

IPod music got deleted, freaking out here

Today was the first time I plugged my iPod into my macbook since updating to iTunes 11 (huge mistake). I added a few albums to it, then ejected.
After ejecting, I look at it, and where is music? Nowhere to be seen. All of it, GONE. 86gb of music, most of which I can't get back since I just moved to a new country and all my albums are back home.
Now, the weird thing is, the iPod says there's 86gb of files in it, but in Other. What the **** happened?
Please, someone help me... this is absolutely shattering me

You also said:
Today was the first time I plugged my iPod into my macbook since updating to iTunes 11 ....I added a few albums to it, then ejected.
After ejecting, I look at it, and where is music? Nowhere to be seen.
So are you saying that the music already on your iPod was not in your iTunes Library - that you have deleted that music from the Library and then allowed your iPod to Sync with a Library that only has the new added music?
If so, I don't think there is anything you can do until you have access to the albums at home.
The idea of iTunes is that you put all your music into the iTunes Library and then allow a Sync of the iPod with your iTunes to make a copy of what is in iTunes. If you make a change to the Library, a subsequent Sync will synchronise (copy those changes) onto your iPod.

Library deleted itself!

My computer restarted itself for no apparent reason (it seems to do be doing that often nowadays) and when I rebooted it and started up my iTunes, my library was cleared and there were no playlists. The play count of my songs were also erased, as well as a few songs have been erased.
This is not the first time that I have had this problem. I do not understand why this happens. Could someone maybe please tell me the possible reasons for this happening?
Thank you for your time.

*I had nearly 6000 songs in my itunes library and I turned on my PC today to find it had all erased itself from the library somehow*
Try holding down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. The default location for your iTunes library is in \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\. Look in there and see if you have more than one library file (they have the extension .itl) If you have more than one try opening them in turn, you may find your original library is still intact: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
*All the songs and podcasts etc are on my ipod but I daren't reconnect it incase the ipod automatically syncs itself and loses everything currently on it*
You can use a keyboard command to prevent your iPod auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on Windows with iTunes 7.3 or later installed hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys together. This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and the iPod will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer: iTunes - Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to "manually manage songs and videos", that way you can continue to use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Keep your iPod in manual mode until you can sort out the issue with your library: Managing content manually on iPod

IPOD Music Library deleted itself :(

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