Several iTunes users are miffed about a glitch that inadvertently deletes all their previously matched songs from the iTunes library in the Cloud as well as the downloaded copy of the song from the computer.
An Apple spokesperson has publicly acknowledged the issue, following multiple complaints from affected users regarding the unexpected deletion of music files from their computer without any consent.
The company is yet to identify the root cause of this problem as it has failed to reproduce any such case with iTunes. Nevertheless, users can rest assured as Apple has promised an update or fix in a week's time.
Here is what Apple reported on their findings to The Loop, after their failed attempt at reproducing the issue:
In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission. 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.
The company has confirmed that it will soon update the iTunes to modify the confusing dialog prompt (see image below) for deleting music files and make it less intimidating.
It is still unclear if the root cause of this issue is even remotely linked to Apple's FairPlay digital-rights management policy and the measures to curb copyright violations.
As you can see in the dialog box above, the option to delete a matched song from your personal library will automatically redirect the dialog link to remove the chosen song permanently from iTunes Cloud storage as well as locally from the computer. Consequently, any user performing such an action will lose both the downloaded version and the backup in the Cloud.
