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Fix: Broken Music App after update to iOS 6

T

Tha Professor

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2009
171
43
The Mothership
Hi everyone, if you have troubles getting back to your music after the update this has helped me out. I didn't want to restore and this is a how to without a restore. (no backup or large itunes match library with slow connection)

The issue on my iPhone 4 with iTunes Match after an OTA update was that there were no actual songs for albums/artists in the library and iTunes Match was stuck on the cloud icon when trying to activate.

1) turn off iTunes Match in both music and iTunes store settings (can be sometimes tricky as turning one off toggles the other)
2) install the iExplorer software (demo is sufficient)
3)connect your iPhone and delete the folder /media/itunes_control/itunes
4) now you will need to reboot (holding home and sleep until apple pops up)
5) You will now have an empty library
6) Try to re-download some of your old purchases or free songs. They will appear in library
7) reboot again (just in case)
8) Turn the Itunes Match on - it worked for me on a second try...
9)You will have all your music BUT old music will eat up your space
10) turn Match off again and shut down the music app
11) Connect phone to iTunes and navigate to music tab. Your old music will be there, play some songs to ensure they really exist on the phone
12) Run a sync and hold on, iTunes might be sluggish for a while, let it finish.
13) Your old music should be back on in the music app.
14) you can turn on the iTunes Match again on, it should load in a minute
15) check the free space on your iPhone - it might be possible that you have more free space that before updating to iOS6

the last point - I went from around 3 GB free to about 10 GB Free and I have all of the old music still on my phone - I didnt delete or redownload anything. This makes me believe that the music app - and more probably the iTunes Match - corrupt some files (remember unfinished downloads, ghost files etc..), making your memory stuck somewhere and thus breaking your Music library during the update....

Please let me know if this had been the case for you! I am very happy now:) Just found some 7 GB laying around :):p
 
Thanks for this. I'd tried a number of other things, but using iExplorer to delete the "iTunes" folder is what did the trick.

A couple of comments... You wrote:

Tha Professor said:
1) turn off iTunes Match in both music and iTunes store settings (can be sometimes tricky as turning one off toggles the other)
Click to expand...

Easier: in Settings>iTunes & App Stores, just tap your Apple ID and log out. That way you know iTunes Match is off.

That said, you can turn off iTunes Match on either Preferences>iTunes & App Store or Preferences>Music. Doing so on one page is sufficient. (I consider it a bug that after switching pages, the setting has been reversed. Just don't switch pages, and the setting will stick.)

You also wrote:

Tha Professor said:
9)You will have all your music BUT old music will eat up your space
Click to expand...

I actually stopped after this step, because i wasn't concerned about the amount of space being taken up by my library.

That said, I can't help but wonder if you were simply unaware of the way iTunes Match now works. Although in the past, any song you played was automatically downloaded to your iDevice, that's no longer the case. Now, you can play a song, and it streams -- without being downloaded -- unless you explicitly download it.

By enabling iTunes Match in your step 8, nothing is actually downloaded to your device! You're only shown a list of what's available. Because of this, your statement in step 9 that "You will have all your music, but old music will eat up your space" doesn't quite make sense, because nothing had been downloaded yet! :)

It's possible the space you reclaimed was simply a result of your having deleted the iTunes folder, which contained many songs. Then, after turning iTunes Match back on, although you could see your entire library, none of it was actually present on your device at that time -- giving the appearance that all of that music was "back on your device" while taking up far less space. :)

Regardless, your steps 1-8 resolved the issue for me. So, thanks!
 
soundsgoodtome said:
Thanks for this. I'd tried a number of other things, but using iExplorer to delete the "iTunes" folder is what did the trick.

A couple of comments... You wrote:



Easier: in Settings>iTunes & App Stores, just tap your Apple ID and log out. That way you know iTunes Match is off.

That said, you can turn off iTunes Match on either Preferences>iTunes & App Store or Preferences>Music. Doing so on one page is sufficient. (I consider it a bug that after switching pages, the setting has been reversed. Just don't switch pages, and the setting will stick.)

You also wrote:



I actually stopped after this step, because i wasn't concerned about the amount of space being taken up by my library.

That said, I can't help but wonder if you were simply unaware of the way iTunes Match now works. Although in the past, any song you played was automatically downloaded to your iDevice, that's no longer the case. Now, you can play a song, and it streams -- without being downloaded -- unless you explicitly download it.

By enabling iTunes Match in your step 8, nothing is actually downloaded to your device! You're only shown a list of what's available. Because of this, your statement in step 9 that "You will have all your music, but old music will eat up your space" doesn't quite make sense, because nothing had been downloaded yet! :)

It's possible the space you reclaimed was simply a result of your having deleted the iTunes folder, which contained many songs. Then, after turning iTunes Match back on, although you could see your entire library, none of it was actually present on your device at that time -- giving the appearance that all of that music was "back on your device" while taking up far less space. :)

Regardless, your steps 1-8 resolved the issue for me. So, thanks!
Click to expand...

Wrong wrong wrong,,,,,it still downloads when played, there are numerous threads about this. Stop misinforming!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1501381/
 
soundsgoodtome said:
According to this article (2nd and 3rd paragraphs), it is you who are misinformed:

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57517864-285/understanding-itunes-match-in-ios-6/
Click to expand...

"Temporary cache = download! This article is Bull..Read around the forums. It still downloads the song when played. Check in your About section in settings and you will see this. Plus, opposite is true of what the article states. The next song starts downloading before the current is finished for a smooth transition. Read the thread I linked in previous post.
 
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