iPhone Syncs Incorrect Tracks

[Wavertonwood]

Hopefully somebody can assist with this small but annoying bug.

 

Here is the background: I have an iPhone 8 that I sync to my iTunes library on a daily basis.  The iPhone 8 syncs to a single dynamic playlist that I have on my iTunes,. The iTunes is on a MacBook Air. The dynamic playlist is set to choose 1,200 of my least often played songs (I like to listen on shuffle at work). The iPhone is deliberately set to sync just this single playlist only and I have no other albums / artists / playlist syncing with the iPhone.  My MacBook Air and iPhone both have the iTunes Store disabled, I don't use Apple Music or Apple Match. No other Apple device syncs with the two devices mentioned above.

 

The Problem: When I set the iPhone to play the playlist at work three songs/tracks appear in the iPhone playlist that are not included on MacBook Air dynamic playlist. I always chose the Downloaded Music section of the iPhone's iTunes App when playing the playlist and the iPhone in question does not have internet or network access at my workplace (airplane mode effectively). The incorrect tracks usually appear as the top three tracks on the playlist, when shown on the iPhone. I regularly delete the tracks from the iPhone but they appear after every Sync. It always seems to be the same three particular tracks. These songs have a couple of things in common: they were purchased from iTunes originally, they don't have DRM and their library play count means they should not be picked up in the least often played filter. I have been through the Sync options windows (that is shown when you dock the iPhone for it to sync) and these tracks or artists are definatley not ticked/selected.

 

I suspect it is something to do with the iCloud monkeying around with my iTunes or iPhone in the background that causes the problem but I cannot isolate the cause.  

 

If some wise person can help removing this reoccurring problem it would be much appreciated.

 

[spin33]

Just a shot in the dark...

Those particular files may be corrupted in some manner that causes their metadata to not be read correctly. Try playing just those three on a repeating loop for an hour or two and perhaps they will have picked up enough recognized plays that they will no longer appear in your dynamic playlist. As an alternative, aquire or create fresh copies of the tracks first before putting them on repeat. (Create your own fresh copies by  exporting the offending tracks into a different format of equal or higher resolution, using iTunes or another application such as Audacity, and then back again to your original preferred format.)

[dalethorn]

I found that when I purchased songs from iTunes and I wanted more control of them, I would move them from the download folder, delete them from the iTunes library**, then edit the metadata, then copy them to my music folder and add them from there back to the iTunes library.

 

**To keep these in proper sync, it's necessary when deleting them from the library to check the box "Also Hide These Songs".  If that box isn't checked, the phone's music player, the phone's General About, and the computer's iTunes count can get mismatched.

[kirkmc]

I think the first thing to do is to restore the iPhone. Sometimes the music database on the device gets corrupted, and restoring wipes it, and then you do a new sync. It's time-consuming, but I have found it solves a lot of sync issues.