Since upgrading to version 8.1, iTunes "can't find original music files".

I've been building an extensive music file since the first iPod. It's about 110 GB large and for about three years I've stored it on an external drive with absolutely no problems. Now, within hours of upgrading to iTunes 8.1, every listed item on my iTunes library has an exclamation mark next to it and the message *"The song "whatever" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"* Of course I can show iTunes where the song is and then it will play it but I'm not gonna do that for 110 GB's worth of music! And yes, I've gone into iTunes preferences and told it again and again where the iTunes library is located but that doesn't work. Does anyone have a fix for this? And oh by the way, I will NEVER AGAIN let Software Update sway me into upgrading to a new version of iTunes until it's been up and running without bugs for at least three months!

Have you tried, importing the music into iTunes again? So delete the music from iTunes only not the system, & then import to see if it finds your musics?

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Itunes can not find original song file

Suddenly my itunes can not find the song's original file.
I see that the file is on the driver but when I double click on Itunes I get this mesage:
"the song could not be used because the original file could not be found.
Any helpers out there?
THKS

I've been experiencing this problem for a while now. It happens with version 7.1 but it started with an earlier version of iTunes 7. I never experienced it before iTunes 7. In my experience the number of files iTunes "thinks" is missing increases with the length of time iTunes has been running between restarts (I usually just put my system to sleep overnight so it can "run" for days on end). When it first started happening I used to go and find the "missing" music file(s) and reconnect it(them). Then, one day, I found a flood of "missing" songs. I decided I had nothing to lose by stopping iTunes and restarting it. When I restarted iTunes none of my songs were missing! This indicated to me that it's the iTunes code that's active after a restart that has a bug that makes it lose track of the music files.
To check, I looked in the Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml file for songs while they were being reported as "missing", and, lo and behold, the song file locations are still there. iTunes must reread the xml file when it starts up and this cures the problem, at least in my case. (Too bad it doesn't use the file while it's running.)
I usually just play my entire library in random order. So, if a song or two disappears, I'm rarely aware of it. All I've been doing lately is stopping and starting iTunes when I feel like getting rid of the "!" scourge.

HT203288 Itunes can not find my music files. But I can with Windows . Lost over 8 hours trying to fix stupid itunes, Even removed it and reinstalled. Still nothing.

But I can using Windows.
Lost over 8 hours today. Still not working
Even deleted itunes and reinstalled.
My Music files are still there. But itunes can not find them.

Empty library or library full of broken links?
tt2

ITunes can't find my music files

It appears all my songs have lost the path to their music files. The error message says "cannot find the original file do you want to locate it?" When I look in the Music folder they appear in the artist's folder but still will not play. Any suggestions?

I found a solution to this on a different thread from 2005 (but it still applies) - I promised myself that, if it worked, I would spread the news... the joy. It worked! (here is the link - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7709257#7709257) I copied the note, too (the only difference is that the "Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder selection is now in Preferences> Advanced):
It's possible that not all of the songs in your previous iTunes library were stored in your default iTunes Music folder. At this point, you should probably just double-check to make sure your default iTunes Music folder is set correctly (to the library on the new HD) and then go to iTunes > Preferences > General and make sure the option Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library is deselected. Then select all the songs in iTunes, and press Delete. Follow the prompts to remove the songs from your iTunes library, but NOT to remove them from your computer. Then, with a Finder window open, select everything in the folder iTunes Music on your new HD and drag and drop it onto the iTunes player window.
Please read the above instructions carefully, then read them again even more carefully, before proceeding.
It's a little scary, but as long as you make sure that you do not move the files to the trash on the second prompt you'll be fine. You can just drag you iTunes Music Folder into the player window and all of you sub-folders will copy back into iTunes.

Since upgrading to windows 8.1 I can not see any local files in the files window.

I have recently upgraded to windows 8.1 and can no longer see my local files in the files window. All remote files for all remote sites are visable.
If I change sites under local view get error thet dreamweaver can not update cache

Thanks Nancy
It certainly worked in windows 8.
I have deactivated and am trying to reload software inside of windows 8.1.
Will let you know.
Thanks again
Terry
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2013 12:13:57 -0700
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Since upgrading to windows 8.1 I can not see any local files in the files window.
    Re: Since upgrading to windows 8.1 I can not see any local files in the files window.
    created by Nancy O. in Dreamweaver support forum - View the full discussion
I honestly don't know if DW CS5 is compatible with Win 8.1. The OS compatibility FAQ only mentions DW CS6 & CC.
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/windows-8-1-compatability.ht ml
Maybe someone else can shed more light on this.
Nancy O.
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After an iTunes update I can't access my library as iTunes can't find my .itl file

After an iTunes update I now. Can't access my library as iTunes can't find my .itl file. Any ideas how to rectify this?

Your iTunes Library.itl file will normally be at C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. If it isn't there should it be somewhere else (you ought to know if you deliberately moved it) or is there a Previous iTunes Libraries folder containing backups made during iTunes updates.
See also Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.
tt2

I backup my iphone on my pc and copy backup file into drive D then i setup new OS on my pc. after that i copy the backup file into itunes backup folder but itunes can't find the backup file to restore my iphone. how can i restore my iphone?

i backup my iphone on my pc and copy backup file into drive D then i setup new OS on my pc. after that i copy the backup file into itunes backup folder but itunes can't find the backup file to restore my iphone. how can i restore my iphone?

Don't you just love changes in interfaces?
I found the answer to my question.
When you attach a device (iPhone, iPad) to your Mac, in iTunes 12 in appears as a tiny icon in the second "row" of the iTunes display. Click the icon and the familiar iTunes display for the device appears. From there, on the Summary screen, you can see the dates of the backups of the device (iCloud and backup to the computer). You can also use the button to backup to the computer.

Hello! I have one iTunes library on my iPod and one iTunes library on my computer. When I connect my iPod touch to my PC, however, I cannot find any files in my iPod except for pictures. How can I find the music files so I can add them to my iTunes?

Hello! I have one iTunes library on my iPod and one iTunes library on my computer. When I connect my iPod touch to my PC, however, I cannot find any files in my iPod except for pictures. How can I find the music files so I can add them to my iTunes?

You can't do that.
And before you decide to store any music that you own on a computer at work, talk to your IT department. Many organizations do not permit it for legal reasons. Standard policies are that anything stored on company owned computers is the property of the company. It could not be legally stored on their machines unless you transfer the licenses and all copies, physical and digital, to the company, meaning you no longer own the music. If they were to be audited and could not prove that they own the music, they would be subject to copyright violation penalties. Just use your iPod when you're at the office if you want to listen to music.

I tunes can't find original song files of all my songs. How do I fix this?

I tunes can't find original song files of all my songs. How do I fix this?

Itunes stores ripped cds in the 'itunes' folder called 'itunes music' which under normal installation should reside into your 'My music' folder. Your music folders on the DVD then have to be copied into the 'Itunes music' folder for itunes to find it.
The tracks with the exclamation marks have registered with the incorrect location into the library. You can do two things:
Either search in the folder where you copied them from the DVD at the earlier step described above which means that you will have to do this for every single track, or the fastest way, delete all the incorrect entries and re-import by drag and drop into library the folders with the music you want to show in the library.

Bought new HD and now iTunes can't find my music

I just bought a new FW HD, WD My Passport. I copied all of my music from my old USB 2.0 HD to the new one and now iTunes can't find all the songs. It'll play probably 40 or 50 songs but the rest of them show the "!" next to the song name. Right now the only thing I can do to show iTunes where the songs are without having to rebuild my playlists is to manually point it to each individual song but since but that would mean pointing it to over 14,000 songs......... I DID go in to the preferences and changed the folder location to the new HD and it still won't find the files. But strangely enough, when I have the old HD plugged in, as well as the new one, it'll play everything just fine, checking the preferences shows that iTunes is pointed to the new folder but "Get Info" on individual tracks shows iTunes finding the file in the old HD, unplug old HD and files cannot be found. Why doesn't the **** program look where I want it to and what do I have to do to fix it? I know my description here isn't crystal clear so I'll gladly answer any question to help clear it up a little. ANY help is very much appreciated as I do not want to spend the next 3 weeks teaching iTunes one song at a time. Thank you.
Chris

For moving your iTunes library, I recommend this method...
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Patrick

File://localhost/ Issue Itunes Can't Find My Music.

I recently upgraded my old hard drive on my computer so after removing the old one and turning it into an external hard drive I have issues with Itunes finding my music files. The files are always in file://localhost/c:/.... is there anyway to get rid of the file://localhost/ because the rest of the directory is correct.

+changed the location of the music folder to E: iTunes Music.+
All this does is make future additions go to that new place.
When you move things around outside of itunes, it loses the path, as you've found.
Can you move everything back and use the Consolidate Library command to move it to the new location?
Here is a good article from iLounge on what you need to understand about the process.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

ITunes can't find the music - long post

Here’s the situation; apologies for length, I want to get all the details down.
The music collection:
8Tb (and growing) in lossless format, on an Ethernet network, accessed via the Mac Mini running OS 10.9.2 that’s my entertainment centre. The music is stored on a D-Link server in a RAID 1 setup. I’ve disabled the iTunes import features keep the iTunes media folder organised and copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library because with a very large library of opera and other classical music with multiple artists, this produces chaos. I’ve tried editing the file info before import, but the organisational results are still awful. I put the music files into folders named by composer, then subfolders for each work named by composer and performer(s), then add them to the library. If I didn’t do this I’d have (and have had), e.g. Turandot sorted by artist into eight separate albums. I’m sure many of you know the problem already, I just want to make sure everything’s clear.
There’s also a separate, lower bit rate, collection for my iPod.
The music library (.itl) files:
There are two, the complete library file for home listening, and the separate library file for iPod music. I’ve tried keeping the library files on my hard drive so they’re included in Time Machine backups; and keeping them on the server with the music collection. The same problem happens whichever way I do this.
I option+click when loading iTunes to select the library file I want to use, to make iTunes point to the correct media file location. I make sure I’m connected to the server before I do this(!)
The problems:
Every time I select a playlist either the playlist doesn’t list any tracks but shows me how many songs there are in the playlist; or iTunes tells me it can’t find the first file in the list - do I want to locate it manually? I do locate it and then I have to tell iTunes to find the other missing files; it finds the files in that playlist but then takes several minutes to tell me that it can’t find all the other ‘missing’ files in that big library. Meanwhile, I’m not able to listen to any music.
It seems to me that iTunes only works properly if the music is actually on the local hard drive but how many of us have that little music? I buy DVDs and rip the music myself, at max bit rate, I don’t buy downloads.
One problem seems to be that the Mac OS doesn’t index external drives automatically, is this true? This morning I’ve forced Spotlight to index the server drives using the terminal mdutil command but it’s made no difference, the problems are still there. What is Spotlight supposed to do? I’ve followed the instructions for using it and researched using it on the Web, but it’s never been able to find files I know are there, yet EasyFind has no trouble locating anything on the local drive, the music server or other external drives. I suspect that there are more fundamental bugs in the OS affecting this, because sometimes I’ve looked at a folder count in the Finder and know that the displayed number of files is wrong, it’s less than the number of files I know are there. Get Info will give me different numbers for the same folder at different times when I haven’t added or deleted any files in it.
I’m looking at Music Collector as a replacement for iTunes, but if iTunes’ problems are based in the OS, there doesn’t seem any point in switching. The price is reasonable, I’m happy to pay for it if it will work properly on the Mac OS. If I’d had to pay for iTunes I’d be getting my money back as it obviously isn’t fit for purpose. I’m in the EU, we have proper consumer protection laws here.
The Mini is 17 months old, still under a 3-year high ed warranty and has just come back from servicing at an Apple retailer, which fixed a software problem that prevented the OS from loading, so it should be problem-free... right?
Do you think reimporting the whole music collection again, using the two iTunes settings I’ve disabled, would make iTunes retain its links? I have the server space. It’s a nightmare scenario, imagine that Turandot again, 55 tracks split into eight albums, by soloists, conductor, and orchestra, and iTunes’ and/or Mac OS search facilities not working properly. How would I find all the tracks and create playlists for everything? There’s a lot of CDs that would give me the same problems. I have a 50-CD set of the Berlin Philharmonic covering 100 years of recordings, trying to organise this into coherent playlists multiplies the Turandot problem many times over. It goes on. That’s why I switched to organising the music myself in the first place, I was getting migraines trying to find everything to create playlists and not listening to any music.
I’ve been running various Linux distros on a dedicated box for several months, but again, music is the obstacle to switching. I haven’t found products that do what Audio Hijack Pro (especially) and Fission do, on Linux. Everything else on that platform works for me.
Sorry about the length, but music is the most important thing my Macs do. I’m disabled and music matters a lot. Any tips, links or advice generally would be much appreciated. I don’t mind spending a reasonable amount of money to get something that’s reliable, because iTunes doesn’t seem to be it, although I wish it was.
TIA.

Is this a NAS type of setup (of which I know very little)? Mine is not a response based upon strong technical knowledge but iTunes seems to have problems with those. Just about everybody has issues with iTunes but you say it is not fit for the purpose. What is that? I bet for 99% of people it does. Not everybody has 8TB collections they are trying to use with a RAID structured external server. iTunes is really a mass consumer piece of software. Yes, many people have expanded beyond internal drives, but NAS arrangements seem to add levels of complexity beyond a direct external drive that is Mac formatted and at most served by an Apple brand wireless router which I suspect is probably how everything is tested. Anything more is fortuitous in terms of support. Except that you say the library files are on the external drive too it sounds to me like the server is asleep when you say it cannot find files and then suddenly can when you go to find one.

ITunes can not find my music on external hard drive

Had to redo my hard drive; had all music on external hard drive; copied iTunes folder onto external hard drive. Now that my desktop hard drive is clean, and new iTunes downloaded, it can not find my music on the external drive which I have always used. Is there some setting I am missing, do I have to copy music onto CPU?

Hold the SHIFT key while launching iTunes. You will get the option to navigate to the iTunes folder on your external drive. In the iTunes folder point it to the iTunes Library.itl file.

Itunes can't find my music folder

I can't install Itunes....it downloads fine from the exe file but when i try to open itunes it gives me the error msg that it can't find My Music folder. I went to the support page and it told me that if i couldn't find My Music folder to create one in My documents and download/install Tweak UI. I did and followed all the steps except when it asks me to click on My computer, then special folder and can't find the My Music folder to move it. I am using Windows XP....Please help. Has anyone ever had this problems?

I finally found a solution here: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/983948.htm
it's stupid, you have to hold down the shift key while you open iTunes (don't just hold it while you click, keep holding it until iTunes actually shows the library dialog).

Itunes can't find my music from old file

Although my music is available on my ipad and phone, Itunes can't find and play my music on my laptop. WTH?

+changed the location of the music folder to E: iTunes Music.+
All this does is make future additions go to that new place.
When you move things around outside of itunes, it loses the path, as you've found.
Can you move everything back and use the Consolidate Library command to move it to the new location?
Here is a good article from iLounge on what you need to understand about the process.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

Since upgrading to version 8.1, iTunes "can't find original music files".

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