Apple Acknowledges Bug That Deletes iTunes Music; Fix Due This Week

There have been several reports by Apple Music users of music disappearing from libraries without any intimation, soon after the service's launch last year. The Cupertino giant on Friday has finally acknowledged the issue, saying it only affects a small number of users, and that it will issue an iTunes update to fix the issue this week. However, the company added it could not yet find the exact problem.

In Apple's words, "We have not been able to reproduce this issue, however, we are releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards."

Apple Music users have been losing their music from their iTunes library, and for a while now, and the problems appear to be related to the way iCloud Music Library syncs music. However, the issue took Apple's attention after freelance composer James Pinkstone wrote a blog post complaining about 122GB worth of files missing from his computer.

The deleted music data also included some of Pinkstone's original compositions, and he accused Apple of "vastly overstepping its boundaries." After speaking to an Apple representative, Pinkstone learned that Apple Music subscription allows iTunes to scan the user's mp3 and wav files. It matches them with Apple's own database, and deletes the original files from the internal hard drive. Essentially, Apple stores all the files on cloud, deleting them from the device, inadvertently forcing the user to have a data connection to access their music on Apple Music or iTunes.

Here's Apple's full statement, issued to iMore, "In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission. We're taking these reports seriously as we know how important music is to our customers and our teams are focused on identifying the cause. We have not been able to reproduce this issue; however, we're releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards. If a user experiences this issue they should contact AppleCare."

Even though Apple says that it is taking these complaints seriously, a fix for this may take some time. In the meantime, users are recommended to take backups of their music files, just in case a mishap of this nature takes place.