iTunes users - Is anyone having problems with the recent update?

People who use iTunes to manage their own purchased files, CD and vinyl rips, iTunes AAC or hi-res downloads, etc. — especially people who want to control album art and metadata — need to do their homework and carefully choose their library settings in order to keep Apple's iCloud syncing and/or Apple Music streaming library interventions away from those local files.

To me, the stuff the OP describes suddenly happening out of the blue doesn't sound like drastic changes unilaterally introduced by an iTunes version update, but instead the results of choosing or accepting iTunes settings that permit Apple's iCloud robots to do things like intervene in your local library and sync/mirror your music in the cloud, and thus fiddle with your metadata and other choices.

I maintain a separate iTunes library with every relevant setting (iCloud, syncing, etc.) switched off to keep Apple away and to leave the music files I own and their metadata untouched. I have a separate library for Apple Music streaming and downloading and my Apple Music library (i.e. stuff I don't own, but simply lease by paying my monthly Apple Music fee). You have to quit and reopen iTunes to switch libraries but that's a quick and easy thing to do.

With the big changes coming up with macOS Catalina, I'm NOT going to be an early adopter; instead I'm gonna wait and see how the disappearance of the the old-school iTunes app affects music library management, see who yells bloody murder and why, and make sure I completely understand exactly how everything works, before upgrading to the new OS.

 

I agree with @Stone Turntable. I have never allowed iCloud to touch my iMac. I keep a local hard drive for backups and that is all I need. I will also watch and see what happens with Catalina. I am in no rush to upgrade my Mac OS since I don’t even use my iMac any more for anything other than managing my music collection, downloading the occasional live show, and filling out the occasional pdf insurance form! I basically live my life on my iPad, but will not throw away iTunes in exchange for streaming because of all the rare recordings I have acquired over the years that will never be on any streaming service.

 

The iTunes XML file is just a spreadsheet file readable in Microsoft Excel. It contains all the metadata to the music files in iTunes. It should not be that large but you can learn its size by highlighting it, right click it and highlight Get Info. Most importantly, you want to copy it then paste it to another folder. Do not move it from its original location! Otherwise, it screws up iTunes and the program will do a search of your library and build a new XML file.

 

we're the outliers here. the vast majority of Apple users have been bitching about iTunes for ages and most have considered iTunes a bloated mess for years. For the most part, we're the only people lamenting its demise.

That said, I have a 2010 MacBook Pro that I use exclusively as a music server. I won't be updating the OS until I know how everything works.

 

There are no iTune 'users,' only victims.

 

THANK YOU for the info, I appreciate it!

 

Your post above looks and sound like all brilliant ideas, but I need it in layman's terms. I realize that the songs that I have purchased from APPLE will be there in whatever eventually gets updated, but I, like you, do NOT want APPLE or the iCloud or whatever robots of theirs to touch my own huge library of music, that I downloaded for the last ten or more years, on a near daily basis. So, please, what do I turn off to prevent that from happening a.s.a.p.? In other words, what do I have to "turn off" or "turn on" to keep my non purchased library songs untouched or updated by anyone other than myself?

 

Thirty seconds on Google and you'd have your answer.

 

For starters, check your iCloud settings(particularly iCloud Drive and you may discover an identical folder name as your music library which might be causing the problem) and be sure it's not set to upload your library to iTunes. Do not sign into iCloud while using iTunes. This will make your purchased tracks unplayable if you have not downloaded them. Back up that library of music onto another separate drive for further security and safekeeping.

 

Thanks Charlie! Where exactly do I look for this button on my computer that will not allow my library to upload to iCloud, as I can't seem to find that exact button anywhere to click or unclick? I have already backed up the library of music, but if I'm about to start playing music at a wedding reception and the songs are not there or something has been changed, then I'll have no time to do some sort of quick fix, then and there. I don't really think that members like @Rolltide understand that I have been contracted by a bride and groom to play music for their reception, on their one and only special day and that by telling me that a 20 year old program like iTunes is obsolete now and that I should be thankful for our time together, doesn't really help my situation. I would hope that the members of this forum, would instead help, as some in this thread have and I thank you for that and understand that while iTunes may be old and clunky, I have had full faith and support in using it for years and I don't want to have to start over with something new. Clearly, still using and trusting in iTunes, I must be old school, but I don't understand computer lingo, so when someone says just go to Google and search for it, doesn't help me, because I know that there are a LOT of bad links out there to just randomly hit, so if anybody can possibly show me some trustworthy links or even better, videos that will show me what to do, I would be most thankful for your time!

 

Assuming you're using a Mac, open up iTunes, then Preferences. Once there, make sure the following are NOT checked:

• In the General section, the first box for iCloud Music Library
• In the Store section, the box to Automatically Download Album Artwork
• In the Advanced section, the box to Keep the iTunes Media folder organized

 

THANK YOU @cdash99, that is exactly what I needed to know.

I guess that it should be noted that I do have a Mac (Two Macbook Pro's, an iMac, an iPad, two iPhones and about six older iPods). I should also note that I have never (on any of these devices) asked to open either APPLE MUSIC or iCloud Music Library, so that first feature is not even listed in my General section.
I also never ask for auto album artwork downloads, so that is good.
The third thing, to uncheck my iTunes Media folder organized, is something that I do currently have checked, but that is because I was always previously told that it's smart to keep that checked or else other troubles occur (I seem to remember that was because of downloading playlists or something to other devices). So I just want to be sure BEFORE I uncheck that one?

 

The only clarification I'll make regarding the artwork downloads is that this is not an issue with albums purchased from iTunes. I rarely do (or did, in the pre-streaming days) this, but the artwork for any purchased items is uncorrupted since it is embedded in the files.

 

iTunes is killing me! After I thought I had solved the problem by unchecking iCloud Music Library everything seemed okay. I never checked it but it seems Apple is doing it for me. After spending several hours putting new sorting dates everything seemed fine. I was able to close and open iTunes with no irregularities. This morning I closed iTunes but when I opened it back up, the screen says it's loading my iCloud library. I immediately go to preferences and sure enough iCloud library is checked. I uncheck it and now, once again, all my music is missing.

 

I so wish that I could help you with some answers, as this has to be terrible to deal with. You may want to set up an appointment immediately at your nearest APPLE Store and see if they can help you?

There has to be some APPLE employees on this forum and I'm sure that a few of them have had to have stumbled onto this thread. Is it a law of being an APPLE employee to not help fellow APPLE customers in "public"? Maybe you could private message @PageLesPaul and lend him a hand, as he is clearly in distress!

 

Did anybody on the forum ever privately reach out and help you with your issues? Did you do as I suggested and go to the APPLE store and see if they could help you?

 

Slightly off topic. Today I'm reformatting the HD of my late 2012 Mac Mini and putting on an older Mac OS X. I'm going back to 10.8.5 Mountain Lion. When completed the Mini goes off line for good.

 

No. But everything seems to be okay at this point. I had to input release dates in the sorting feature on some of the albums but it seems to remember the dates now. I am having to remake my playlist though. Luckily, I can use the playlists on my phone as a guide.

 

Best of luck to you! One of my radio friends suggesting to me that since APPLE doesn't want to keep iTunes alive for me, as a mobile DJ, to just finally move on to another PC and transfer my entire music library (Apple AAC and Lossless) to WAV files (he gave me the name of a trusted company that he uses, that can do that for around $30 bucks). He also recommended using a radio station type program, rather than trusting the usual DJ programs.

I did a wedding reception last night and played Foreigners "Waiting On A Girl Like you" and my DJ PRO program had a photo of (of all people), the country singer Don Williams??? The only songs that I have in my library that have album photos, are the ones that I bought directly from APPLE (that song I did NOT) and songs that friends have shared with me, who do use "album art" (again, this song was downloaded directly by me, using NO album art), so who knows what crazy sh%t APPLE is up too?

Truly a shame that I feel compelled to drop a computer, phone, iPad, iPhone company, after so many years with them, but they have seriously dropped the ball for me, by killing off iTunes. I have been loving all of my other friends Samsung Galaxy phones and the MUCH better photos that they take, a hundred times better than my iPhone, so I guess that it's finally time to exit stage right. I realize that a LOT of APPLE fans will read this and laugh it off, but I can promise you that before this iTunes death is over, they will rue the day that they made that particular change ... mark my words!

 

That truly sounds like a GREAT idea too, but I don't have a MAC MINI. My only question regarding going rouge offline, how will we be able to add new songs to our libraries without being connected to the internet to retrieve the song titles from Gracenotes? I realize that I can type all of that info in myself, but that is a LOT of extra work, in my opinion!

 

Purchased Disc (I have a portable disc drive) or USB thumb drive from a connected computer.

 

Follow up: My 2012 Mac Mini is up and running again and loaded with my Music. Wow fast again. During the downtime I cleaned the duplicate files. Before the music was loaded, I disabled all Update/Upgrade features and verified they didn't function. Note: I have two other older Mac's, another 2112 MM and 2010 MBP which are used for streaming video and they were also "downgraded" to Mountain Lion. Finding comparable software like "Firefox" and "VLC" took a while. These two old Mac's are perky again. Mountain Lion cost $16.00 from Amazon and is worth every penny.

 

Switch to JRiver!
JRiver Media Center

 

My Vista system can't get the latest version

I guess that's a good thing?