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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Mac pundit Jim Dalrymple bemoans 'nightmarish' iTunes struggles

Mac pundit Jim Dalrymple bemoans 'nightmarish' iTunes struggles
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NewsPoster
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Jul 23, 2015, 10:53 AM
 
Apple cognoscenti Jim Dalrymple posted a missive about his poor experience with iTunes and Apple Music yesterday, confirming ongoing MacNN testing of the issue dating back to just after the launch, and subsequent update of the Apple music player. The pundit notes amongst other problems the loss of 4,700 songs that he has little hope of getting back, and that the service is selective as to which tracks are actually added to his Internet-accessible library, sometimes drawing from "greatest hits" albums, and not the actual source of the original recording.

Dalrymple notes that the problems started for him about a week after installing Apple Music. He isn't clear on which version of iTunes he's currently using on OS X, but it would have to be 12.2 or later. Regardless, when he would add an album to the library, not all the songs would get added. Dalrymple elaborates on this, saying that "when I looked at the list of songs, there would be some missing-sometimes, most of the album would be missing. When I clicked the 'Show Complete Album' button on my Mac, all of the missing songs would show up with an 'Add' button beside them."

"From what I can tell in my tests, Apple Music is deciding itself, based on your library, that it will not add duplicate songs," said the writer. Noting previous purchases, he says that "I went into Apple Music and added a compilation album, but it didn't all get added to my library. When I looked at all of the songs that didn't get added, they were ones that I already had in my library."

The Loop's primary author's problems aren't unheard of -- but we haven't seen this particular manifestation in our two-part ongoing testing. However, it may explain some music metadata changes we've been seeing periodically. Adding to the issues being experienced, Dalrymple complains that "none of my devices seem to sync, so my Macs don't have the same songs that my iPhone has, and neither of them match my iPad."

Regarding Dalrymple's 4,700 missing songs, he said that "over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it. Sadly, many of the songs were added from CDs years ago that I no longer have access to." This has been a problem that we have experienced, and the solution to this is re-ripping the music. Lack of physical media access is clearly a problem in this case, however.

MacNN's advice at this time for current -- or former -- iTunes Match users is to remain on OS X 12.1.2 from April 9 of this year. If that isn't an option, storing media on a drive internal to the computer is the safest choice, but still not without risk. MacNN has expanded testing, and more results are expected next week.
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Aug 5, 2015 at 04:24 AM. )
     
aroxnicadi
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Jul 23, 2015, 11:36 AM
 
Still no apology from Apple even two weeks after the snafu. I am slowly when time allows rebuilding mine but it is pain. This is what happens when companies push out software without internal testing with a eye on profits before customers.
     
sgginc
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Jul 23, 2015, 01:57 PM
 
If I rip a CD to add to my library
I backup the ripped files.
I also backup my entire iTunes folder.

Are you saying a backup would not
have alleviated your pain?

Thanks ... Ken
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Jul 23, 2015, 02:03 PM
 
It would have saved the 4000+ missing files for sure. The rest? Not so much.
     
pairof9s
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Jul 23, 2015, 04:10 PM
 
Yes, luckily, I had been backing up my library for some time; and this was with the iTunes Match service, I d/l the higher quality copies over the last year. That stated, I'm like Jim and many others....Apple Music is full of problems! I'm trying my best to give the 3-month trial the full allotment to allow Apple to hopefully fix these many snafus (iOS 7 and MobileMe...I hear your haunts), but it really is getting hard.

I'm ready to pull the plug and return to the simplicity of my music, my computer, my storage.
     
Charles Martin
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Jul 23, 2015, 04:16 PM
 
Dalrymple is talking mostly about adding songs/albums from the paid (free trial at the moment) Apple Music service, not his own personal collection. The snafu he had with missing purchased songs will eventually be sorted out, since Apple retains records of what was purchased and allows unlimited re-downloads. The syncing issue sounds terrible, but I have to say that although I am seeing some issues with iTunes 12.2.x myself, it's NOTHING on the scale he's seeing.

In addition to the advice to stay put or downgrade to 12.1 if you can, those who cannot I would say just stay where you are, but avoid adding any songs or albums from Apple Music to your libraries for now. Sit tight, enjoy the services that work (90 percent of it), and wait for the inevitable updates.

To those demanding an immediate apology, I have to ask you: are you new here? You know full well that's not how Apple works. You'll get an apology -- but only when the fix is ready and really works. Ask any Apple veteran, and in the meantime relax as much as possible. It's not Apple's first self-inflicted crisis, it won't be the last, I find that remaining calm but sending civil feedback using the built-in iTunes feedback tool works best.
Charles Martin
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panjandrum
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Jul 23, 2015, 05:43 PM
 
One thing that this whole thing has clearly illustrated is that far too few people have a good backup system (or, indeed, any backups at all). I doesn't surprise me; I've worked with an astonishing number of people who think paying $80 for a backup drive is "unreasonable" and increasing that amount to include an offsite backup? Forget it! These are the people who lose years of important files and don't understand why it happened. Nothing you have in digital form is safe unless you have at least three copies, at least one of which is physically located offsite. Yes, this iTunes thing is a big issue; but the lack of proper backups has cause many users increased grief.
     
Sanjiv Sathiah
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Jul 23, 2015, 07:33 PM
 
I'm with Jim on this one. Apple Music has done all kinds of weird things to my collection -- all I can say is thank the Lord that I have all my collection backed up on my iPod Classic and an external drive.

But more than the standard Apple cloud snafus, I just can't stand the iOS Apple Music app. It is quite possibly the worst iOS app I have ever used, and by some margin. As I have mentioned previously, having most of the functionality of the old Music app relegated to a single tab in the new app almost makes that part of the app unusable and that is where I spend most of my time - in the My Music tab.

I couldn't care less about all the curation side of things. I like to listen to albums and this part of the app is just horrible to use.

I really wish that Apple had not tried to integrate my music collection with the albums and tracks I download through Apple Music. Although a nice idea, I would much prefer that the old Music app and Apple Music were two separate apps.

Until Apple Music reverts to a separate app, I am now using my iPod Classic for my album collection, and Google Play Music for my streaming/offline download service.
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