Itunes regularly "forgets" my libraries and play counts

Hi,
In the last month i am experiencing the following problem. Every now and then, when i open itunes, my playlists are gone, and the play count of the songs is changed (a few songs have play count 1 and the rest 0). Moreover, itunes says I have a different number of podcasts downloaded.
The situation lasts for a few days, and after a random amount of time, my playlists are back, including the play count of the songs(most songs above 100 play count) and i get a different number of podcasts.
Not it seems to me i have two itunes, and every sync with the iphone requires the data on the phone to be deleted and freshly installs all sync songs/podcasts. This makes every sync 30 min long.
In the itunes folder i have:
itunes library extras.itdb
itunes library genius.itdb
itunes library.xml
itunes library.itl
itunes music library.xml
i found that itunes music library.xml contains information with play count 1 or 0
however the itunes library.xml contains the original infomation, with fields of play count a 100 or above.
My first thought was to delete the itunes music library. I found that whenever i restart itunes the file is automatically generated.
How can i stop this "random forgetfullness" of itunes?

Do you have Windows Live OneCare or some other security software? Tell that software not to scan the ITL and XML files. That can cause problems when itunes is trying to save/update those files while the security software has a hold on it.
Also - the "itunes music library.xml" is left over from an older version. I am fairly certain the newest versions of itunes uses "itunes library.xml".
If it was my PC, I would delete "itunes music library.xml". You could always just move it to another folder if you are hesitant to delete it, but get it out of the itunes folder.
Backing up, itunes needs an ITL file to run.
1) If no valid ITL file exists, it creates a new one (blank library) and ignores the XML file.
2) If it finds an existing ITL, it uses it and ignores the XML file.
3) If it finds a valid but damaged ITL, it looks for an XML file and tries to rebuild the ITL from that.
I suspect what is happening in your case is #3, but itunes is using the older xml with the bad play counts to rebuild its ITL file. If you get rid of that bad XML file it will have no choice but to use the recent XML file to rebuild.
Of course the main reason of why this is happening needs to get sorted, but sometimes it's difficult to find what's causing the ITL problems in the first place. I'd look at security software settings and make sure the itunes database files are excluded.
Just curious, if you look in Win Explorer, what are the dates on those XML files - created and modified?

Similar Messages

Connecting iOS 5 iPhone 4 to iTunes 10.5 deletes ratings and play count

Hi Apple community!
I just got an iPhone 4 a couple of weeks ago, and updated to iOS 5 right away. Whenever I connect my iPhone to my computer and access iTunes, however, all the plays and ratings for my music accumulated by the iPhone (ie. when my iPhone isn't connected to the computer) disappear! I like seeing my play counts and ratings, so I'd really like to fix this problem.
I currently go to university and live on residence on the weekdays, but I come home on the weekends.I'm aware that you can only manage music from one computer with the iPhone (which wasn't a problem with my iPod touch 2nd generation which I lost on the bus a few weeks prior to my iPhone purchase...). I chose to manage my music with my desktop computer at home, but I also have a laptop that I bring to school, and I only noticed this problem after connecting my phone to my laptop (though the problem may have started earlier). I'm wondering if that may be part of the problem.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Whoops, this was supposed to be posted under iTunes for Windows. Delete please!

How can I import playlists, ratings, and play counts from an old iTunes library into a new one?

After reading countless threads re: how to get the iTunes artwork screensaver to work, I decided to delete my iTunes library file and reimport all of music which resulted in fixing the iTunes artwork screensaver. Unfortunately (and expectedly), my playlists, playcounts, and other information were lost with the creation of a new library. Is there any way to import the playlists, ratings and play counts for my music from an old library file to my current one? I realize this may be complex, but I'm up for the task.
Thanks in advance,
B

I can't begin to describe how frustrating the screensaver issue has been for me (and I suspect countless others, judging by the number of threads on the topic).
I took your advice, though, just to test it. After backing up my current library.itl, I copied and pasted the old .itl file into its place. As expected the playlists, play counts, etc were instantly restored. And now the screensaver fails to work with the dreaded error 'No iTunes artwork found' which makes me think it IS an issue with the old library file. The only work around I've seen so far is to rebuild the library (which I did).
I'm afraid I'm going to be forced into choosing either a working screen saver or all my itunes data. Very frustrating indeed.
Here's a link to the 'definitive' fix for the screensaver, if you're interested.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3695200?start=0&tstart=0
Thanks again,
B

I want to move the location of my iTunes library music files. At present they are all on my time machine . I want to move them all to my imac. Can I do that and keep all my playlists and play counts? Thanks in advance

I want to move the location of my iTunes library music files. At present they are all on my time machine . I want to move them all to my imac. Can I do that and keep all my playlists and play counts? Thanks in advance
its 1000s of songs . Originally I used the time machine as a networked drive but it can cause the songs to pause so I'm thinking it would be better to have the songs on the internal imac drive
how can I move the songs so I can re-open iTunes and the playlists (with plays in the 100s) find the song in the new place?

Do you mean on your Time Machine backup drive? Or are you actually accessing the backup? In either case you shouldn't be doing that. If you haven't space on your HDD to store the iTunes Library, then at least put it on another external drive.
Since you did not provide any information about what's actually "on my time machine," here's what you would do. The entire iTunes folder should be stored in the /Home/Music/ folder. Within that folder you would have three folders: imm Media, iTunes, and iTunes Playlists.

ITunes 9 - 'last played' and 'play count' still do not sync on manual

Tonight I upgraded to iTunes 9 and my iPod Touch to v3.1.1 but the 'improved' sync doesn't seem to have improved to what I need.
Alright, basically I have a lot of rare songs and live recordings in my library. My iPod Touch is only 16gb and my music collection is just over 99gb counting all my audiobooks. From what I can tell iTunes 9 will let me sync my music library with only select artists, but even this doesn't allow for instances where I only want four or five songs out of an artist's forty or fifty songs.
The only way to put what I want on my iPod is to set it to Manually Manage my Music and Videos. That's okay with me BUT iTunes won't sync the 'last played' and 'play count' of songs that are on my iPod and in my iTunes library.
Can someone help me solve this issue? I want to be able to manually manage my music and videos AND have iTunes sync the play count and last played for the songs I listen to.

If you manage the music on your iPod Touch manually the playcount and last played data does not get updated in iTunes. It works that way for all iPod models.
To solve this problem you can do the following:
- Create a playlist in which you add all the songs you want to add to your iPod Touch
- Set your iPod to sync music automatically. On the music tab configure the iPod Touch to only sync the previously created playlist.
- Sync your iPod Touch.
Now you can manage the content of your iPod Touch by managing the contents of the playlist and then sync. And most importantly it will update your playcount and last played data.
Hope this helps,
Marc

ITunes 11 causing ratings and play counts to disappear

Since installing iTunes 11 (and also since updating to 11.0.1), some songs (it appears to be complete albums) have lost the ratings and play counts. I cannot identify a pattern for those that are losing this data. It appears to be a small percentage, but today's loss of data is greater than the initial loss. iTunes also says that the songs are on iCloud, when I can see that the files are still on my Mac. I have not intentionally turned on any settings to move music to iCloud (I am not using iTunes Match, for instance). Is this a known issue? Can the data be restored?

I have a similar problem. Dozens of play counts are gone (but not ratings). It affects some songs that are of the kind "Purchased AAC audio file" rather than whole albums.

I want to have my iTunes play lists and play counts on my new MacBook Air

I want to have my iTunes play lists and play counts on my new MacBook Air transferred over from my old (4 years and dying) MacBook Air.
Thanks for any and all help.

Copy the entire iTunes folder including the iTunes library file from your old Mac to the same Music folder on your new Mac. Then down the Option key while launching iTunes and select the copied iTunes folder. That should get you all your playlists, playcounts etc.; those are stored in that iTunes library file.
Regards.

Ratings and play counts not synced to iTunes

I just got a 2G iPod nano 2GB. Whenever I add ratings or increase the play count for songs on the iPod and then sync to iTunes, the ratings and play counts are obliterated by whatever iTunes has for its data. Example: I make a 5 star smart playlist in iTunes with Live update, then while listening to iPod I rate some songs with 5 stars. They show up in the playlist on iPod since they have 5 stars, but once I sync with iTunes again, the stars are wiped out and the smart playlist is back to exactly what is was in iTunes.
It seems to me that syncing should take whichever has newer information (iPod or iTunes) and propagate it to the other. I read some topics from others that had this same problem and people have repeatedly stated that Automatic syncing must be enabled and not manually manage music. I don't have room to put all my music on the iPod, but I have enabled automatic syncing with selected playlists. My question is this: does this count as automatic updating for the purposes of ratings and play counts being copied to iTunes when I sync with iPod? Or does automatic sync need to be for the entire library in order for ratings and play counts to be propagated? Thanks!
iPod nano 2G Windows XP

My question is this: does this count as automatic updating for the purposes of ratings and play counts being copied to iTunes when I sync with iPod?
it should do. green eyes is a second gen nano, i'm syncing selected playlists only, and my play counts and ratings are updating in the smart playlists.
are you playing the songs through completely? i'm noticing that i only get a playcount update if i've completely played the song. (the ratings changes go through regardless of whether or not i've completely played a song on green eyes, though.)

HT3819 How can I transfer eveything (including playlists and play counts) to a new computer?

How can I transfer eveything (including playlists and play counts) to a new computer? Also, I am using PC.

Type "move itunes library" into the google search bar.

Erased/missing ratings and play counts

I searched for something similar in the boards but didn't come across any.
Here's the problem I've just encountered. I'm running iTunes 8.0.2 with all my music files on an external drive. I've haven't had any real issues with iTunes in all the years I've used it. A few months ago I finally finished going through all my music playing it at least once with itunes and rating them all. I turn it on today and my smart playlist which lists all the unplayed songs is showing 3.1 days of songs that have lost their play count and ratings data. Kinda frustrating.
Does anyone know what happened and if it is correctable?

My question is this: does this count as automatic updating for the purposes of ratings and play counts being copied to iTunes when I sync with iPod?
it should do. green eyes is a second gen nano, i'm syncing selected playlists only, and my play counts and ratings are updating in the smart playlists.
are you playing the songs through completely? i'm noticing that i only get a playcount update if i've completely played the song. (the ratings changes go through regardless of whether or not i've completely played a song on green eyes, though.)

Transfering Album Artwork and Play Counts

I'm about to buy a new computer but want to make sure that when I install iTunes that I can take the play counts and album art work from my old computer and transfer them to the new one. My music is on an external hard drive and isn't an issue.

OK, so your music files are on an EHD. Is folder where your music files are located on the EHD the designated "iTunes Music" folder?
The location of the "iTunes Music" folder is set in Edit>>Preferences>>advanced>>General.
You need to have all your music files in the designated iTunes Music folder if you want a trouble free transfer. If this is not the case, you need to sort it out before the transfer. Ask if you need help with this.
Next what is the location of your iTunes folder? By default it is in My Music on the c:drive, but some people with EHDs have it on the EHD.
Assuming you have the default loaction...
The iTunes folder contains the library database files and the album artwork folder, so it will need to be transferred. The best way to do this is to install iTunes on the new PC, then drag the iTunes folder that was created out to of Music the desk top and replace it with the one from the old PC.
You will probably have to adjust the permissions of the copied iTunes folder to give your account full control or Vista may not grant the new account write access.
Then with the EHD plugged in, start iTunes and set the location of the iTunes Music folder in preferences.
If you want to copy the music to the new computer after you have everything working on the new computer, you can set the loaction of the iTunes Music folder back to iTunes Music in the iTunes folder on the c: drive and then consolidate. This will copy the files across.
P.S. For info:
Here is the Apple help on migrating using an iPod:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329?viewlocale=en_US
They are using the iPod as an EHD but the difference from your situation is that they assume a default set up with the iTunes Music folder in the iTunes folder on the c: drive.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Missing playlists and play counts

I recently upgraded from a MacBook to a MacBook Pro. I have everything back up via Time Machine, when I looked into iTunes I discovered all my music was there but my playlists and play counts were missing. Does anyone know how to recover these from Time Machine?

found the solution it's the file "itunes library.itl" I just pulled that from my latest backup and voila everything is back in place. sweet!

Syncing my iphone and lost my song ratings and play counts

Hi,
everytime I lost all the song ratings that I made and play counts in my iphone and my mac itunes overwrites with its one...
so if I want to have a 5 stars song I have to rate in the Mac to keep in the iphone.... but I want to change it I have to do it again in my itunes in my mac
do you where I could change the preference from MAC to Iphone?
thanks in advance
Im kinda newbie on this thing
I have a MacBook Pro
Itunes 11.0.5.
iphone 4s
IOS 6.1.3

JoeleMoore,
You just need to re-authorize your computer to play those purchases, then they will be able to sync to your iPhone.
1. Open iTunes.
2. From the Store menu (at the top of the iTunes window), choose Deauthorize Computer.
3. Enter your Apple ID and password and click Deauthorize.
4. From the Store menu (at the top of the iTunes window), choose Authorize Computer.
5. Enter your Apple ID and password and click Authorize.
6. Repeat these steps for each Apple ID you use.
Hope this helps,
Jennifer B.

When I sync my iPad with iTunes it does not update the play count? Is there a setting I need to change?

When I sync my iPad with iTunes it does not update my play counts. Is there a way to make this happen?

Are you using iTunes Match by chance? I had no problems whatsoever with play counts synching between any of my devices until I started using iTunes Match. I turned it off and magically my play counts synced. Once. Hasn't happened again though.

Rating and Play Count

I had a problem with me HD, so I replaced it. Now i'm reorganizing it.
I imported my music back to iTunes, but now I don't have the ratings and play counts- which are important to me.
I have the entire iTunes library on my iPod Touch (which "remember" the ratings and play counts), and I want to know if I can export the wanted information from the iPod and importing it to the iTunes.

try if this KB article helps.
also, check this post by Zevoneer.
JGG

Itunes regularly "forgets" my libraries and play counts

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for