14 DAY TRIAL // With the jump to iOS 7, a great deal of users have seen their music libraries get messed up by the software update, leaving them unable to sync and/or regain the same playlists. However, at least a handful of them have found an easy solution to this problem.
Discussed in a thread viewed over 350,000 times since September 2013, the issue is not exactly a bug, but rather a combination of factors that causes music syncing to behave differently following the iOS 7 upgrade.
According to two separate users in that thread, the fix is as simple as adding all of the music into a new playlist folder, erase all the music on the iDevice, then re-sync with iTunes.
One of the users specifically outlines his simple procedure, saying, “I started having problems adding new songs to my iPhone 5 and for me this is what worked: I erased my whole list of songs from itunes and then readded [sic] the songs. Hope it helps. I also check marked the ‘copy songs to itunes library’ in the preferences.”
However, it should be worth noting that this fix only works for some users. Depending on your configuration and your OS/iTunes version, your mileage may vary. For example, here’s what one user has to say about the same problem which he believes is caused not by iOS 7, but by iTunes.
“I'm facing this same hiccup. After updating my iTunes to 11.1, and iPhone 4S to iOS 7, my apps and tones are syncing fine, but my music just isn't syncing. iTunes just get stuck at ‘Waiting for changes to be applied,’ and after a while the status moves to ‘Canceling Sync.’ And after 4 hours, it is still canceling sync!”
“I have tried resets on the phone and restarts on the laptop, hasn't helped. I've even tried to un-sync and re-sync, restore factory settings, sync with cable and over wifi, and also tried to sync it to iTunes on a different laptop. No go.. It is still ‘waiting for changes to applied,’ followed by ‘canceling sync/’”
It is unclear if updating to iTunes 11.2.1 helps in this scenario, but it’s worth the shot. However, it appears that most syncing problems are affecting iOS 7 installments. Users who are still running older versions of the iPhone/iPad software are not experiencing these issues (albeit not half as often).