Playlists can be unintentionally deleted from the Mac when deleted from synced attached device. Apple neither acknowledges this nor specifies how to avoid this error.
Playlists can have years of effort and their loss is catastrophic.
Mac mini, macOS 14.7
See Empty/corrupt iTunes/Music library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community. You will want to restore a copy of the Music Library.musiclibrary package from Time Machine for a suitable date & time before the unwanted change in the library. If music source files have been removed from the library, and not just the playlists, then you will also want to restore those files.
tt2
I tried it and it did not work. Ironically the music file had songs that did not get added until after the backup date.
perhaps it was the wrong file?
That is the purpose of syncing Apple Music so they are exactly the same on all devices. If you do not want to sync your Mac, then turn off Sync Library in the Music settings. That is same way it works for Photos, when syncing and changing the Albums on one device automatically changes it on all synced devices.
I have manual sync. If I delete the playlist on my phone it deletes on my computer. Not intended.
worse yet I have not figured out how to recover the music file with the deleted playlist from Time Machine backup.
The file to recover is not clear.
donaldfromgoshen wrote:
I tried it and it did not work. Ironically the music file had songs that did not get added until after the backup date.
perhaps it was the wrong file?
Almost certainly. You must use the option-start-Music process to choose a restored library database. Selecting it in Finder will open Music, but not necessarily with the selected package.
tt2
Music playlist unintended deletions when playlists are removed from synced device
