iOS 11.3 Music problems

[jjdodders]

I resisted upgrading to iOS 11 for so long because of the many many design faults and problems I've read about, but I had no choice when I bought an iPhone 8 Plus a few weeks ago. It was mostly fine, until I upgraded iTunes to the latest version (12.7.4) and since then the music app has stopped working properly.

I have a large off-line music library, built-up over the last 15 years or so, so I like to use that primarily, even though I have Apple Music. I don't use iTunes Cloud Library (or iTunes in the cloud, or whatever they call it) cos that's f**ked my library and playlists up several times in the past.

The new problem since iTunes 12.7.4 is that the iPhone isn't logging when I play music from my library. I thought the problem was that my smart playlists weren't live updating, but when I sync my iPhone to iTunes, its not updating play counts or 'last played'. So I don't think it even knows music has been played.

Anyone else having this problem?

I contacted Apple, and they told me to log out of my Apple ID and log back in (which I don't know how that would even affect off-line music that has nothing to do with my Apple ID). Surprise, surprise: It didn't work.

Any ideas?
[doublepost=1524173648][/doublepost]Oh... and this is new just now... syncing the phone... not added any new music to the phone or iTunes library, and suddenly it thinks I'm trying to add 96GB of music to it?

I'm fed up with this MESS of an OS.

-- update --

ANOTHER sync problem I've noticed is that every time the phone syncs, iTunes copies the same 320 songs to it. Even though they're already on the phone.

 

[chabig]

I resisted upgrading to iOS 11 for so long because of the many many design faults and problems I've read about, but I had no choice when I bought an iPhone 8 Plus a few weeks ago. It was mostly fine, until I upgraded iTunes to the latest version (12.7.4) and since then the music app has stopped working properly.

I have a large off-line music library, built-up over the last 15 years or so, so I like to use that primarily, even though I have Apple Music. I don't use iTunes Cloud Library (or iTunes in the cloud, or whatever they call it) cos that's f**ked my library and playlists up several times in the past.

The new problem since iTunes 12.7.4 is that the iPhone isn't logging when I play music from my library. I thought the problem was that my smart playlists weren't live updating, but when I sync my iPhone to iTunes, its not updating play counts or 'last played'. So I don't think it even knows music has been played.

Anyone else having this problem?

I contacted Apple, and they told me to log out of my Apple ID and log back in (which I don't know how that would even affect off-line music that has nothing to do with my Apple ID). Surprise, surprise: It didn't work.

Any ideas?
[doublepost=1524173648][/doublepost]Oh... and this is new just now... syncing the phone... not added any new music to the phone or iTunes library, and suddenly it thinks I'm trying to add 96GB of music to it?

I'm fed up with this MESS of an OS.

Change your sync settings so you’re only syncing a subset of your library. No matter what version of iTunes you use, your phone can’t hold 96GB.

 

[jjdodders]

Change your sync settings so you’re only syncing a subset of your library. No matter what version of iTunes you use, your phone can’t hold 96GB.

My phone is 256GB and it literally holds all of my music already (150GB of it). I'm not even trying to add more. I just want it to sync the playcounts that I got today.

 

[GermanSuplex]

This may seem like a slightly-canned response, but try this if you have time;

-Make sure you're on the most recent iOS/iTunes version (seems you're on the current iOS)
-Sync your phone, and under sync settings, uncheck all music so that when you sync your phone, all music from your computer is removed from the phone. Allow your phone to do a complete sync.
-Backup your iPhone (iCloud or computer, though a backup on your computer is faster to restore).
-Wipe your phone clean, then restore from your backup.
-Once the restore is complete, turn on Apple Music on your phone. You should only see your cloud music at this point.
-Do another sync, this time syncing whatever music you have on your computer.

The most recent versions of iOS/iTunes have been "better" at syncing music/playcounts for me, though not perfect. However, in the past I have had similar issues to you, and yes, I will probably never use iCloud Music Library/iTunes Match, as it has wrecked my library multiple times. Luckily, I think I learned that when iTunes Match first came out. My library is about 13 years old, and I do not want to lose my data again. I really wish I could shut off all cloud activity on the Music app, and use Apple Music purely as a streaming/radio-like service. That you have to go to "Downloaded Music" all the time just to see your local library is a huge pet peeve of mine. There should be an option to hide all cloud/purchased music you have chosen to not sync to your phone.

 

[Shirasaki]

Another option is to build a duplicate of your entire library (150GB+) instead of just the single file as a backup, then try the step above. If you are really low on space, at the very least backup iTunes library file (usually no larger than 10MB).

And regarding syncing the same song over and over, download a desktop app that allows limited phone file system access such as iExplorer, browse through iTunes_Control folder, delete everything inside, sync your music again. This should fix some library issues without wiping the entire phone out.
[doublepost=1524204343][/doublepost]

Change your sync settings so you’re only syncing a subset of your library. No matter what version of iTunes you use, your phone can’t hold 96GB.

There is no reason why a 256GB phone can not sync a library larger than 96GB. It does not make any sense.

 

[jjdodders]

This may seem like a slightly-canned response, but try this if you have time;

-Make sure you're on the most recent iOS/iTunes version (seems you're on the current iOS)
-Sync your phone, and under sync settings, uncheck all music so that when you sync your phone, all music from your computer is removed from the phone. Allow your phone to do a complete sync.
-Backup your iPhone (iCloud or computer, though a backup on your computer is faster to restore).
-Wipe your phone clean, then restore from your backup.
-Once the restore is complete, turn on Apple Music on your phone. You should only see your cloud music at this point.
-Do another sync, this time syncing whatever music you have on your computer.

The most recent versions of iOS/iTunes have been "better" at syncing music/playcounts for me, though not perfect. However, in the past I have had similar issues to you, and yes, I will probably never use iCloud Music Library/iTunes Match, as it has wrecked my library multiple times. Luckily, I think I learned that when iTunes Match first came out. My library is about 13 years old, and I do not want to lose my data again. I really wish I could shut off all cloud activity on the Music app, and use Apple Music purely as a streaming/radio-like service. That you have to go to "Downloaded Music" all the time just to see your local library is a huge pet peeve of mine. There should be an option to hide all cloud/purchased music you have chosen to not sync to your phone.

Sadly, that didn't work.
[doublepost=1524261854][/doublepost]And regarding syncing the same song over and over, download a desktop app that allows limited phone file system access such as iExplorer, browse through iTunes_Control folder, delete everything inside, sync your music again. This should fix some library issues without wiping the entire phone out.
[doublepost=1524204343][/doublepost]

There is no reason why a 256GB phone can not sync a library larger than 96GB. It does not make any sense.[/QUOTE]

Yeah it was a stupid response with no intelligent input.
[doublepost=1524261889][/doublepost]

Sadly, that didn't work.
[doublepost=1524261854][/doublepost]And regarding syncing the same song over and over, download a desktop app that allows limited phone file system access such as iExplorer, browse through iTunes_Control folder, delete everything inside, sync your music again. This should fix some library issues without wiping the entire phone out.
[doublepost=1524204343][/doublepost]

There is no reason why a 256GB phone can not sync a library larger than 96GB. It does not make any sense.

Yeah it was a stupid response with no intelligent input.[/QUOTE]

 

[Shirasaki]

Mind updating your current status again? I am rather curious about your situation now.

 

[jjdodders]

Gladly. I've followed the instructions of GermanSuplex, and I am still in the same place I was before I tried their instructions. I've removed music from my phone, backed up, resynced, erased the phone, restored from the backup without music, readded music from the library, synced, synced, and synced again, until all music was on the phone and sadly the smart playlists were still not updating, which also showed when I synced music and nothing updated (playcounts, last played, etc.).

So to update you, I'm still at square 1.

 

[Shirasaki]

Gladly. I've followed the instructions of GermanSuplex, and I am still in the same place I was before I tried their instructions. I've removed music from my phone, backed up, resynced, erased the phone, restored from the backup without music, readded music from the library, synced, synced, and synced again, until all music was on the phone and sadly the smart playlists were still not updating, which also showed when I synced music and nothing updated (playcounts, last played, etc.).

So to update you, I'm still at square 1.

What will happen if you only nuke iTunes library on your phone but not your entire phone? Aka, delete iphone library using third party software? I use this method to fix a problem with similar symptom as yours.

 

[jjdodders]

What will happen if you only nuke iTunes library on your phone but not your entire phone? Aka, delete iphone library using third party software? I use this method to fix a problem with similar symptom as yours.

I'll try this tomorrow and see how it goes. I'll let you know!

 

[dk001]

Google Music.
Load and play on almost any device.
After AM problems I did this for my library.

 

[Shirasaki]

Google Music.
Load and play on almost any device.
After AM problems I did this for my library.

This is not a solution for a person with a 15 year-old local library.
Btw, I just realize my iTunes library is also a few years old. Prolly 5-7 years now.

 

[dk001]

This is not a solution for a person with a 15 year-old local library.
Btw, I just realize my iTunes library is also a few years old. Prolly 5-7 years now.

15 year old local library?
My CD collection dates from the 80’s till now. I have a number of LP’s from the 50’s till,,,, hmmmm
Spent the time to rip them all and store them on an external HDD.
Loaded into my Google Drive.
Loaded into Google Music.
Occasionally add anything new to the HDD. Actually it is an SSD now.

Not getting the 15 year old reference.

 

[Shirasaki]

15 year old local library?
My CD collection dates from the 80’s till now. I have a number of LP’s from the 50’s till,,,, hmmmm
Spent the time to rip them all and store them on an external HDD.
Loaded into my Google Drive.
Loaded into Google Music.
Occasionally add anything new to the HDD. Actually it is an SSD now.

Not getting the 15 year old reference.

I have a large off-line music library, built-up over the last 15 years or so

This is the source of my 15-year claim. It’s not my library. It’s OP’s library.

 

[dk001]

This is the source of my 15-year claim. It’s not my library. It’s OP’s library.

My miss
Thanks!

 

[jjdodders]

15 year old local library?
My CD collection dates from the 80’s till now. I have a number of LP’s from the 50’s till,,,, hmmmm
Spent the time to rip them all and store them on an external HDD.
Loaded into my Google Drive.
Loaded into Google Music.
Occasionally add anything new to the HDD. Actually it is an SSD now.

Not getting the 15 year old reference.

Is Google Music the same as Google Play Music? Cos that app looks like a cloud streaming service?

 

[dk001]

Is Google Music the same as Google Play Music? Cos that app looks like a cloud streaming service?

Yes. See below. Works well for me both as a cast and a streaming. Works on iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, etc...

Google Play Music is a music and podcast streaming service and online music locker operated by Google. The service was announced on May 10, 2011, and after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, it was publicly launched on November 16.
Availability: 63 countries
Format: MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg, ALAC
Streaming: On-demand
Features: Free online storage and listening for 50,000 songs; Chromecast support; custom radio stations
Catalogue: 40 million songs
Opened: November 16, 2011; 6 years ago

 

[Bill Av]

I've had the same problems as you in the past. I don't know if this will help, but here goes.

When I had the "songs copying over" problem, it seemed to be a metadata problem. In my case, with .mp3s I bought on eMusic. I used a metadata tag stripper and rebuilt each file by hand, which was a huge PITA. If the files are from CDs, it would be easier to re-rip. Hint: record your screen with Quicktime or a screen cap app while syncing so that you can look frame-by-frame at which songs are getting copied over and over again - it could be ~23 albums that get copied over and over.

With the "storage full problem" - have you had a number of failed syncs? Check the "storage bar" in iTunes and see if your "other" space is hogging up everything. I've noticed that when music doesn't copy over properly (possibly due to the aforementioned metadata issue) and the sync stalls, all of the music is moved over to "other". I've had over 100 gigs in "other" after a failed sync or two. The only cure for bloated "other", is a clean wipe of the phone.