Apple Confirms Music Deletion Glitch, Says Fix Incoming in Future iTunes Update

[sofila]

"Glitches"...how about these.

Apple now does the same thing with eBooks! I had about 200 Comics and another 100 eBooks in my iBooks collection that I downloaded/purchased from other sources like Bittorrent's Big Bundle. iOS9.3 finally support eBooks/iBooks on iCloud. It uploaded to the service and then when I decided I didn't want to deal with iCloud and turned it off. EVERY non-iTunes purchased book was DELETED from my account AND off my hard drive! Luckily I had it backed up. But that's just BS.

I just went through an identical situation, but with iBooks instead of Apple Music. I run an eBook store so I have 500 PDFs in iBooks. New update came to allow you to share PDFs over iCloud to all devices, so I clicked to turn it on. It uploaded the books, then deleted them all from my computer. When the Metadata was incorrect on my other devices, I turned iCloud for iBooks off. Then, of course, iBooks was completely empty, books lost forever.

I had a Time Machine backup and Apple Support was able to help me find the hidden iBooks folders I would need to restore to get my books back. I definitely won't be turning on any iCloud file sharing services without a very recent backup.

Yes I have iBooks issues but nobody talks about it as I don't think it's widely used- I have lots of audiobooks and it's so confusing!!

I think it is deliberate from Apple, not a mistake.

I have a massive iTunes library, including tons of music not available on Apple Music, or iTunes in general. I have used Match since it debuted, as well as a continued subscription to Apple Music. I have used Match to move the same massive library to new computers, over time. I have never lost a song.

I think theses services work as intended, and work very well. This sounds like user error to me.

I've never experienced this bug (if it really is happening, and is not user error or user confusion). Apple Music just works perfectly as intended to me every single day.

I hope Apple's fix won't interfere with your already perfect world. That would be... curious

 

[SusanK]

Apple, regularly putting out crap work since 2013. Awesome.

Are they still bragging about no more green felt?

 

[lederermc]

This is actually crazy, Apple is known for music and when your music isn't safe ... Why would anything else work

Your logic is flawed. If I get a flat tire on my car why would I suspect my windshield wipers might also fail.

 

[SusanK]

B.S.

Mobile Me was put out under Steve Jobs and that was a DISASTER!!! SO was iOS 6 Apple Maps. Same with the iPhone 4 antenna crap (and for which I had that issue). Hmmm, what else.... Hockey Puck mouse anyone?

iOS 6 launch date was September 2012. Steve died October 2011. Maps is still a disaster. Cook is a disaster as CEO.
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Apple has changed. Stay if Apple still continues to meet your needs, and leave when it no longer does. No point reminiscing over a time that is long past, IMO.

Good idea. Apple should get rid of revenue to protect expense. Helps TC on his recently stepped up and very successful quest to make the share price thinner.

 

[Juicy Box]

People saying that software is on the decline are not being realistic here... I think people are just louder and more vocal because Apple has more customers now

The software decline is from my personal experience.

 

[SusanK]

Let me fix that for you. Since October 5, 2011.

Thank you, my friend.

 

[Juicy Box]

Your logic is flawed. If I get a flat tire on my car why would I suspect my windshield wipers might also fail.

Your analogy doesn't really fit. What car company is known for their tires?

 

[SusanK]

How do we know that the people responsible aren't being taken to task for this issue?

Cook is unemployed?

 

[SRLMJ23]

So what compensation are they going to give us that were affected? My library was affected, it deleted a few full albums but it also deleted just like a random song or two from some albums. I just want my songs back, they do not have to give me any iTunes credit or anything like that. Just let me get back what I legally paid for and own!!! I have a whole Apple Case open on this and it has been a pain in the you know what!

 

[John Mcgregor]

Your logic is flawed. If I get a flat tire on my car why would I suspect my windshield wipers might also fail.

Cook is unemployed?

Soon.

 

[SusanK]

Soon.

You give me hope. Thank you.

 

[Stella]

This would never have happened under Steve Jobs. Not being funny.

Since Apple were unable to reproduce it, Jobs would have just blamed the user.

Bugs, bugs, bugs, never ending story of today's Apple...

Bugs in software is a fact of life. Does Apple have more bugs per lines of code than average? We don't know.

 

[tw1ll]

It is possible that a bug deletes files but only under particular circumstances. When you say "unpredictably" you mean "under particular circumstances, but I cannot figure out which circumstances". It is entirely possible that nobody in QA will ever create exactly the circumstances that are needed to reproduce the problem.

It always gives me the s...h...one...t's when softies get defended for poor quality and shoddy work. You are right that testing is highly unlikely to simulate every circumstance or undercover everything. That's why any code which has the potential to result in actual loss of data (and hence possibly valuable 3rd party property) ought to be designed to be robust and designed to be testable - haven't Apple heard of designing for V&V?

 

[navaira]

So what compensation are they going to give us that were affected? My library was affected, it deleted a few full albums but it also deleted just like a random song or two from some albums. I just want my songs back, they do not have to give me any iTunes credit or anything like that. Just let me get back what I legally paid for and own!!! I have a whole Apple Case open on this and it has been a pain in the you know what!

My experience exactly. And there is no way I would accidentally delete them. Not even by holding them wrong. They were album tracks, not on any playlist. I never used icloud or Match.

 

[tw1ll]

I still think it's more likely it was human error. Just my opinion.

As for losing data, I don't understand why anyone would not have 2 or 3 secure backups of anything important. Drives and cloud services are very cheap now.

Quite right - however you shouldn't have to be defending against poor quality product.

 

[usamaah]

This would never have happened under Steve Jobs. Not being funny.

I think you have forgotten MobileMe?

“Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?” Having received a satisfactory answer, he continued, “So why the **** doesn’t it do that?”

http://fortune.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/

 

[gnipgnop]

My experience exactly. And there is no way I would accidentally delete them. Not even by holding them wrong. They were album tracks, not on any playlist. I never used icloud or Match.

Accidental deletion is not the only way you could be missing albums or songs. Disk error and file corruption are possibilities. Music files/folders in different locations on different drives that are no longer being used or connected is a possibility. Thinking that you're creating a copy of a file/folder when you're really just moving it to a different location is a possibility. Making mistakes in copying drive content when updating to a new computer or internal/external drive is a possibility. Or it's even possible that the files were missing within your library before even making use of services like iTunes Match or Apple Music...which is certainly a possibility for people with large libraries.

There are all kinds of things that are more likely to be the cause of missing files/folders than the software auto-deleting original files.

 

[macfacts]

If someone is paying for Apple Music or iTunes Match (songs stored in iCloud Music Library), why would they want to turn it off in the settings? Only Tim would believe people would keep paying for Apple services but not use them.

 

[gnipgnop]

If someone is paying for Apple Music or iTunes Match (songs stored in iCloud Music Library), why would they want to turn it off in the settings? Only Tim would believe people would keep paying for Apple services but not use them.

Simple explanation: Apple Music gives you access to roughly 2/3 of the content in the iTunes music store (tens of millions of tracks), which means that a significant percentage of users are going to find iCloud Library to be largely irrelevant, i.e., the vast majority of their library is already available without it. I know that's the case with my own files. I find it easier to just add the things that aren't available manually, since it's such a small percentage of my library and doesn't take up that much space on my devices as a result.

 

[whsbuss]

This would never have happened under Steve Jobs. Not being funny.

Sure it would have. Steve is dead, let him RIP

 

[Exponent]

I bought Adam Lambert's "The Original High (Deluxe)" and it got deleted. (not by me)

That's not a bug, that's a feature!

 

[samcraig]

Not premature or condescending at all, unlike your snarky response (#186) to my post up above.

People, including Apple, are looking for potential scenarios that would cause the deletion of a user's music, as that's a very serious issue. Since it appears to be happening to a small number of users, rather than everyone, and, since Apple cannot replicate the problem in their lab, the possibility I mentioned above seems like a good candidate. And thus explains how Apple is able to provide a fix in the next couple of weeks.

If you choose to believe that's not a possibility, and/or are not able to articulate your own, as you say, carry on...

It was condescending to assert that it's user error. You really don't know. You're guessing. And that's fine - but that's all it is. I know several people (anecdotal, I know) that it has happened to. And Apple's original response was not that it was a glitch - but an intentional part of the matching service. Now they (as they have in the past) are touting that it may be an issue, but only affects a small portion of their customers. This is the standard line Apple gives. They've done it several times before in regards to the iPhone, iMacs, MacBook Pros and other "issues."

You're taking it at face value that Apple can't replicate it because they said so. That's your prerogative. I've been involved in software and hardware production and not every problem is "easily" replicated. There could be a bunch of different factors contributing to the glitch that have nothing to do with user error. We simply (and apparently Apple doesn't either) know.

So I'd rather give those affected the benefit of the doubt that they have a genuine issue. Then again, you're responding to someone who experienced dropped data and calls because of the iPhone 4 antenna and got an email from Steve that said "Non issue. Just avoid holding it in that way." And yet - it was an issue. Putting a case on the phone was a bandaid fix. Funny how they made a point to announce new antenna design later. And Apple's line then was also "a small portion of our users are experiencing..."

Different scenarios I know - and I don't want to get into a debate about the iPhone 4 antenna. I'm just giving you the lay of the land on where I'm coming from. There's a lot of "whining" or noise about issues an individual has. And those I can easily dismiss as some people being retentive or that it's really their issue. This problem, however, is not one in my opinion.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

People saying that software is on the decline are not being realistic here... I think people are just louder and more vocal because Apple has more customers now. I think their software has gotten better tbqh....

The only kind of customers Apple has more of now are people coming from Android who have dealt with worse or people who got an iPhone for the first time and don't use it enough to care. The people who are vocal about software issues are the people who have been using iPhones already for 5+ years and have reasonable standards for quality.

I'd also like to mention that 2016 is the year that an Apple software engineer went to work and committed suicide.
But we know that there isn't something going on with the software and the people who make it. It's just the increase in customers. /s

 

[JackieInCo]

More like people would simply have given Apple a free pass under Steve Jobs. Products and services were never perfect nor bug free under Steve Jobs. Bad things happen. Live with it.

Remember the MobileMe mess? Steve even joked about it himself about how they messed that up.

 

[Juicy Box]

As a long time Apple user, I have noticed a recent decline QA in software, hardware, and decline customer service at Apple Support.

I have talked to Apple Support and visited the Genius Bar more in in the past year for problems with my Spple products, than the the previous 20 years that I have been using Apple stuff.

People saying that software is on the decline are not being realistic here... I think people are just louder and more vocal because Apple has more customers now. I think their software has gotten better tbqh....

The only kind of customers Apple has more of now are people coming from Android who have dealt with worse or people who got an iPhone for the first time and don't use it enough to care. The people who are vocal about software issues are the people who have been using iPhones already for 5+ years and have reasonable standards for quality.

Great post.
This is exactly what I was thinking.

I am not saying that Apple has ever made a perfect product/hardware/software/service, but lately, they are headed farther away from perfect than they were a few years ago, and more so a decade ago.

Apple has made mistakes before, I could name many, but there has been so much crap in the last year.