Apple devotees are in conspiracy-theory overdrive after a report from earlier this month in which Apple Music user James Pinkstone claimed that the online music streaming service deleted 122GB of music from his library for no apparent reason. Many Apple Music users reported similar issues, and the iPhone maker eventually acknowledged a bug in iTunes that is apparently causing the glitch. However, Apple doesn’t really know why “some” users are experiencing the music purge.
“When I signed up for Apple Music, iTunes evaluated my massive collection of Mp3s and WAV files, scanned Apple’s database for what it considered matches, then removed the original files from my internal hard drive,” Pinkstone claimed in his blog. “REMOVED them. Deleted.”
Pinkstone says the Apple rep told him Apple Music replaced his songs with cloud-based versions from its digital collection, deleting the originals in the process.
Apple has promised to issue an update to iTunes in the coming days which include additional safeguards. The company confirmed, in a statement given to iMore, that “in an extremely small number of cases, users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission.” However, Apple was unable to reproduce the glitch, resulting in something of a mystery on both sides of the equation.
“The company adds: 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.”
