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Trying to download entire 80,000 song library, iTunes locking up

I'm using the most recent version of iTunes from the Microsoft Store on the most recent version of Windows 10.


I uploaded my entire library to iCloud a few years ago from a hard drive that has since been wiped. I've read everywhere that the best (or only?) way to download your entire library is to select all songs, right click, and click Download. My library is nearly 80,000 songs, so once I click Download, iTunes freezes (I assume because it's trying to compile a list of files to download) and never recovers. Is there another way to go about this without downloading each album, playlist, or song individually? (Note: Probably because iTunes thinks this attempt was successful, "Download" is no longer listed when I right-click on a song, playlist, or album, or click the three dots inside a playlist or album, even if there is a blue iCloud Download icon. The only thing I can do anymore with Download in the menu is to right click all songs in the library.)

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Aug 18, 2021 5:04 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 20, 2021 5:21 AM

Try holding down Shift+Ctrl as you launch iTunes to open it in safe mode. This may repair various internal indexes. Try signing out of the iTunes Store and back in again. Make sure the computer is authorised to your Apple ID, e.g. deauthorize and then reauthorize. Do you now have a download option available?


tt2

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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 20, 2021 5:21 AM in response to JILost

Try holding down Shift+Ctrl as you launch iTunes to open it in safe mode. This may repair various internal indexes. Try signing out of the iTunes Store and back in again. Make sure the computer is authorised to your Apple ID, e.g. deauthorize and then reauthorize. Do you now have a download option available?


tt2

Aug 19, 2021 12:50 PM in response to JILost

I think you need to resign yourself to download batches. I'd start with say 50 songs and then see if larger batches work. You can make a smart playlist that matches with songs whose location is non on this computer. If you limit it to 50 songs you can select all with Ctrl-A then right click and download. When the download completes the list should have refreshed and you can repeat the process.


tt2

Aug 20, 2021 6:26 AM in response to turingtest2

Problem solved. The first thing I tried to do was log out and back in. That brought the "Download" option back to the smart playlist, but iTunes crashed yet again when I tried it. I uninstalled and reinstalled completely, Shift-started iTunes, picked my old library, and signed back in. I went to the smart playlist, hit Download, and every time a song was downloaded and removed from the list, the next would start downloading and another would appear at the end of the list automatically, causing iTunes to go seamlessly through the whole library one by one without having a huge download list. Thanks, everyone, for your ideas!

Trying to download entire 80,000 song library, iTunes locking up

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