Selecting any Playlist Folder lists the entire music library

I recently switched to a new computer from an old one (both were XP Professional, iTunes version was not completely up-to-date on the older computer) and after migrating the old iTunes library and reconfiguring automatic playlists dependent on others, I found myself with a problem. Some of my playlists didn't show correct information, and after poking around for some time, I noticed every playlist folder, once selected or added as a dependency on an automatic playlist, listed the entire music library. Most of my affected playlists now depend on a workaround, and automatic playlist that corresponds to whatever the folders are supposed to list. This, however, is extremely inconvenient as I have one folder containing easily over a hundred playlists, the number of which increases nearly daily. As it happens, I have several playlists dependent of this folder. There is no workaround I can think of short of creating an automatic playlist with over a hundred separate rules, updated as the playlists grow.
Help would be appreciated.

I'm not quite sure how a screenshot would illuminate the issue. I can, however, try to explain this in simpler terms.
I have my playlists in their folders (the sort created by selecting File -> New Playlist Folder). I imported (through File -> Library -> Import Playlist) my music library from an other computer. The playlist folders imported showed every item in my library (automatic playlists didn't). Apparently, moving any playlist out of a folder fixes this problem.

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I am trying to sync a playlist to my Nano, but when I click on the Music tab at the top, it will not allow me to select the option Selected Playlist, Artists, etc. I cannot un-check the Entire Music library option and check the Selected Artist - on

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How can I change this to the second option?
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There is a checkbox above those two options for how to sync. It says Sync Music; it enables automatic syncing. That box needs to be checked before you can select from the two options for how automatic syncing is performed.
NOTE: If the iPod is current set up to Manually manage music [and videos], checking that Sync Music box replaces its current content with content from your iTunes library, based on how automatic syncing is set up on that screen.
So, if your goal is to add ONE playlist to an iPod that is managed manually, you do not want to do this because iTunes will erase the iPod's current content and replace it with just that ONE selected playlist (and whatever else you select on that Music settings screen).
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Backing up Playlist (Or the Entire Music Library) on a Second Hard Drive

I know there are many solutions for this subject online, but neither suits my needs. I have already read many tutorials on how to backup your entire music library using your ipod as a hard drive, but I have a different matter. I have all my music stored on my second hard drive (witch has a capacity 80 Gigabytes), the size of the music folder is about 49 Gigabytes; my ipod has a capacity of 30 Gigabytes, and my first drive (where Windows runs has a capacity of 20 Gigabytes.) On my current library I have all my playlists the way I like them. My problem is that I constantly need to re-install Windows for testing matters, so I would like to keep all my playlists, my ratings, and my play counts when I reinstall windows. I can not use my ipod as a hard drive, because all my music won’t fit. I have also read that it is necessary to have the option (Keep my Itunes music folder organized), but I am not able to do that also, because of the lack of space on my 1st hard drive. What would be my best option to backup my library?
Thanks in advance,
Dirk Breeuwer
[email protected]

Dirk Breeuwer,
It sounds like you may have your songs stored on the external hard drive, and linked to the library on the internal hard drive. Is that correct?
You can move your iTunes Library folder to the external drive, and then tell iTunes to keep the library organized. This article discusses creating a different library, and how to switch between them. (This is a feature that was added as part of iTunes 7)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
The initial configuration of that option may take a while, but once setup would be the easiest way to accomplish keeping the library intact through reinstall of Windows with the songs stored on a second hard drive.
Personally I would try this if you have sufficient space on the second hard drive free for all the music:
1. Copy the iTunes folder from My Documents to the external hard drive
2. Hold down shift when launching iTunes as directed in the article above
3. Select that iTunes folder on the external hard drive.
4. If you music doesn't have !'s next to it when you try to play songs you know are on the external hard drive, then go to Advanced->Consolidate library.
5. Consolidating library will copy all the songs into the iTunes folder on the external hard drive, as long as the links were not broke by copying the library to the external hard drive.
Hope this helps,
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It's not a feature of iTunes but can be done using various work-arounds.
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https://discussions.apple.com/message/10160819#10160819 - Change location of media folder to start putting files on second drive. Note later follow-up post about leaving 'organize media' and 'copy to drive' checked.
TuneSpan: (OS X app) A utility that allows you to distribute the media files in your iTunes Library across multiple drives. - http://tunespan.com/ - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tunespan/id528459889?mt=12 - Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later, 64-bit processor

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Hi
Quite a simple thing, but explaining it may prove complicated, but here goes...
I have quite a few thousand tunes in my entire library now, I also have many playlists. What I would like to be able to do is click on a playlist then click on my entire music library and have one of the columns show the tunes that are in the playlist I just previously clicked on.
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Cheers
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PocketJem wrote:
In the meantime does anyone know of a workaround other than the obvious way of blindly going through the entire music library again and adding tracks only to be told by a message box that the tracks were already in the playlist and did I want to skip the duplicated tracks.
Compared to anything else we could suggest, that is pretty darn efficient! In older versions of iTunes, you did not even get that warning.
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Hope that helps. If you want to make an official suggestion to Apple, you can use their feedback page.

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Check HERE.

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Hi Cliff554,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
It sounds like you might have automatic syncing turned on for this device? Hopefully this article will help:
Managing content manually on iPhone, iPad, and iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1535?viewlocale=en_US
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1205?viewlocale=en_US
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http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7065803#7065803
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You have two separate questions here...
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I don't know if it's possible to download all Purchased content (or do you mean iTunes Match content?) at once; try a few Google searches.

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All the information you list above is contained in the library.itl file in the iTunes folder. You can copy the whole iTunes folder to another drive (or DVD if it will all fit on one).
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No... do not move programs.
About the iTunes library files
Your iTunes library files track the media you add to iTunes, how you've organized it, and other information such as playlists. By default, these two files are in your iTunes folder:
Mac OS X: /Users/username/Music/iTunes/
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\
Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\
Windows 7: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\
Windows 8: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\

HELP! I Accidentally deleted the iTunes folder in the My Music folder

HELP! I Accidentally deleted the iTunes folder in the My Music folder so I lost the two files
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Music Library.xml
As I understand it, these files contain all the play counts, ratings, etc. and I've spent weeks getting this info the way I want it and don't want to lose it.
I have all my mp3 files on my desktop computer HD under a seperate directories, so I'm not worried about loosig origninal music files. I don't have iTunes copying the files when I add them to the library and I do have "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checked. I have not relocated any of the original music files.
I have not auto synced my iPod, and I can open the iPod in iTunes and all my songs, with play counts, ratings, etc. are there. I just want to get the playlists, play counts. ratings, catagories, etc. back to my PC.
Is there any way to get the playlists, play counts. ratings, catagories, etc. from the data on the iPod and recreate the .itl & .xml files on my PC? I see there are many files on the iPod two of which look promising "iTunesDB" & "iTunesPlaylists".
Can someone please tell my how to recreate just the .itl & .xml files by using the info on the iPod itself? Again, I have not relocated or lost any of the original music files, I just want to get the playlists, play counts. ratings, catagories, etc. back that are stored in the .itl file.
I really don't want to have a software utility copy the info over as then I will have two copies of my music files and I've spent a lot of time organizing and naming the mp3 files just the way I want (not the way iTunes wants).
I've read many posts and it seems many have screwed up recovery by trying things without clear direction.
Thanks for the help in advance.

Try some of the more robust recovery/trnsfer programs. Several can recover the playlists, and metadata of the songs on the iPod. Do some reading on the respective websites.
These links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software
PodUtil Software
Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
XPlay (Software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
After recovering your song files, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation.
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is not considered having any backup.
If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
Backup both the music files and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl). What are the iTunes Library files?
Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy: http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=394618&messageID=1263275

I accidentally deleted my entire music library and it's in the trash, how do I move it back?

I just deleted my entire music library and its in the trash, how do I move it back?

How did you delete it? Please provide more details to see what options you have available. Did you use iTunes by deleting the directory and confirming putting it in the trash or did you drag the actual iTunes folder in the trash? If you dragged the folder the solution is easy, either right click on the folder and select Put Back or manually return the folder to the previous location.
Do you have a recent backup of the entire iTunes Music folder including the iTunes Library.itl file or just the iTunes Library.itl file?

Selecting any Playlist Folder lists the entire music library

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