iTunes -69
In terms of design, simplicity, the correct default behavior Apple usually gets it right but this is not always the case. I just spent over an hour that I would like to bill Apple at my $200/hour rate. While syncing a nearly three year old iPod nano on the most recent version of iTunes I got the following non-descriptive, yet sexually ambiguous error message.
Attempting to copy to the disk failed. An unknown error occurred (-69).
I found that Apple has a support article describing the iTunes -69 error. Essentially, this error occurs when syncing your iPod when a file is unusable. It might be unusable because it is corrupt or perhaps a bad rip from a music CD or other media. There is no real fix to this issue other than to painstakingly identify the song, podcast, or application that is at fault. The solution described by Apple support is to sync your iPod and while keeping an an eye on the status display at the top of iTunes. The last song to flash prior the -69 error is at fault.
My pain with this solution is that I was updating a playlist with nearly 5,000 songs. The sync process took a long time and I had to redo it several times because it was visual straining to stare at the iTunes message box and see hundreds of song names flash through… Also, the stream of song names is interrupted by the ‘do not disconnect’ message.
From going through this, here is a tip, break down the playlist to a sub playlist of about 300 songs. If you are able to sync without a -69 error, the corrupt file is not present in this batch. If the file is present, stare as the song names stream by and hope you don’t blink prior to the error popping up.
This is the solution Apple should implement, don’t disrupt the sync process when on corrupt file is encountered. I bad apple, pun intended, should not spoil the sync process. Apple needs to provide better diagnostic and report tools, especially since many iTunes users invest hundreds of dollars on their music collection.
This is how I wish iTunes should have handled this issue…
- DO NOT interrupt sync process, sync remaining files
- Report on songs, apps, and podcasts that where not synced
- Allow options to fix the issue, re-download from iTunes
- Provide diagnostic tools to quickly identify, remove, and re-download corrupt resources