When importing a cd on to itunes where is the original file kept because my itunes folder doesn't have it, the song does come up when i spotlight search it but i can't locate it

i cannot seem to find where the original file for tracks that have been imported from a cd are kept because they are not in the itunes folder, however the song is somewhere as it does show up on spotlight search and plays when i click it. where would i find it?!

It will be in the iTunes media folder location shown in iTunes prefs > Advanced.
Select the song, right click > Show file in Finder.

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When I try to play a song in my itunes libery I get an error saying "this song could not be used because the original file could not be found". I do I restore the file?

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Hello crispinofromfl,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information, take a look at:
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Have a nice day,
Mario

I downloaded the new version of iTunes and now over 100 songs have an exclamation mark beside them and won't play. The message says: "The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I get these songs back?

I downloaded the new version of iTunes and now over 100 songs have an exclamation mark beside them and won't play. The message says: "The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I get these songs back?

Presuming they're on your computer, right click on them and then follow the prompts to locate hte file on your computer.

Hi. I have down loaded songs and tv shows on my i phone 4s but i can remove them from my phone. I have transfered purchases and cun ticked sync music and tv shows but still i have the downloaded contenet on my phone. Please help

I have down loaded songs and tv shows on my i phone 4s but i can remove them from my phone. I have transfered purchases and cun ticked sync music and tv shows but still i have the downloaded contenet on my phone. Please help

also must mention i have never had trouble that i couldn't fix on itunes but all of this has started since i have been using icloud for basic backups hope this helps solve problem

Selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes

1- on the beginning i used to purchase any App from iTunes and will be downloaded to my MBAir with out any problems .
2- But, after 2 or 3 days i will get Apps icon as inactive icon in the itunes Aplication and cannot copy them to my iPhone neither cannot open them in his iTunes and i will get an error message " selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes".
MBAIR with Mac OS 10.8.4 with the latest iTunes version 11.1
thx.

And redownloading doesn't work...?

I have Firefox 3.6.8 and want to uninstall it and then reinstall it because of a problem. Where is my Bookmark file kept because I don't want to lose it and won't uninstall until I find where it is filed. Please help me.....Thanks John

I want to uninstall Firefox 3.6.8 because of a problem I am having and then once I do that I will reinstall it. My problem is I don't want to lose my Bookmarks. Can someone please tell me where they are filed so I can make a backup copy before I do any uninstalling. Thanks, John

Bookmarks and other personal data are located in your Profile folder. See:<br />
* http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
* https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing+up+your+information
* http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles#How_to_find_your_profile
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
* http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
When un-installing Firefox be sure that the box specified in Item 7 of the article below (and the image that I have attached) is NOT checked:
*Uninstalling Firefox: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/uninstalling+Firefox

Itunes deleting music on ipod because the original file culd not be found

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Also could it be a problem since my music is stored on a separate hard drive, maybe thats why the original file cant be found, even though its still connected to the computer.
If it cant be fixed then is there an easy way to find the original files so the i wont have to find the "lost" files then delete them and sync them over again.
Could it be deleting the files off my ipod because half the songs on Itunes "could not find the original file" even though the songs are on my ipod already?

I use manual sync for that very reason.
And also for that very reason, I maintain my iTunes folder on my laptop as a backup for my iPod; I only delete "songs" when I want to remove them from my iPod, and I use auto sync because I can. If I ever have to restore (and I did once, when I had to have my iPod replaced), I know I can do a complete job of it.
(Should my iPod files exceed the capacity of my laptop hard disk, I'll probably switch to using a folder on an external drive for this purpose.)
IPod 5G Windows XP Pro iTunes 7.0.2; iPod 1.2.1

I'm finding that songs that I have imported to Itunes are suddenly showing with "Exclamation" marks and Itunes tells me that the original file cannot be found. When I tell it to locate the file, it can't do it.

I'm finding that songs that I have imported into Itunes and played before are suddenly showing an"Exclamation" mark and Itunes tells me that the original file cannot be found. When I tell it to locate the file, it can't do it. I went to the Itunes help for locating files, but that still won't do it. It seems that somehow they are getting deleted, but not by me that I know of.
Can anyone help me?

Maybe you rename it. Somehow the path to the songs have changed if not deleted.
In Finder go to "Macintosh/Users/username/music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music" that's where all your songs located so if those songs are not there you get an exclamation mark. You can delete those entries in iTunes and re-import again.

After upgrading iTunes I can no longer play my songs. It says that "The song ________ could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have NO clue where to look.

After I recently Upgraded iTunes I can no longer play any movies or songs. It says that "The song ______ can no longer be playe because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have no clue where to look as I'm not tech savvy. I did look in previous itunes libraries file and it's empty. Any and all help is appreciated.

The links below illustrate how your iTunes should look if you use default settings in preferences. If you don't use those settings then you have to know what you're doing.
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605
The above links also illustrate the Media folder and its subfolders. Look for a file in there in the logical structure by folder artist and album. If you're lucky, linking one file will get an offer to link others and it iwll all come together again.
I see you are running OSX 10.5.8 it would help to know which version of iTunes you use now and which one you used before.

I can't listen to at least 100 of my songs on itunes. When I try it gives me a message that it can't play that song because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? What do I do?

When I try to listen to certain songs a message pops up that the original file could not be found. Do you want to locate file? I don't know how this happened and I don't know what to do. I have tried repairing Itunes and also uninstallng and reinstalling. I have restarted my computer and even done some troubleshooting. When I tried hooking my ipod up to my computer to see if that would help I got a message that said "At least 100 songs could not be transferred, including "You found me."" I have no such song in my itunes. Can itunes get a virus?
Does anyone have any ideas what I can do? I'm at a loss and would really like my itunes to be back to normal.

I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music

When selecting a song to play in iTunes, I get an error message indicating the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it. I have no idea where to look since the library hold all my files.

When selecting a song to play from iTunes library, I continually get an error message indicating the original file could not be found. Then asks, would you like to locate it? Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm not even able to play the songs I purchased due to this error message. Any ideas how to remedy this problem?
Thanks

It would help to have more background about your iTunes collection such as if you keep it on an external drive, or if you have moved or renamed anything recently. iTunes is very sensitive to you renaming or moving files or folders involved with your media. iTunes only keeps a reference to where a media file is located and then goes to look for it when you try to play it. If you have changed things since it was added to itunes then it's like me sending you to look for a friend in my addressbook but that friend has moved.
The other possibility is your computer is starting to lose files. Again, the computer uses a reference database to tell it where on the drive to look for a file. If that database gets corrupt then it starts losing files. Use Dsk Utility's first aid to verify your hard drive.

HT1657 I cannot play my rented movie because itunes cannot locate where the original file, has anyone face this problem before? Where can I find the location of the downloaded movie?

I cannot play my rented movie because itunes cannot locate where the original file, has anyone face this problem before? Where can I find the location of the downloaded movie?

What did you use to download it with? iPad? iPhone? Computer?
If it's an iPad/iPhone, play it using the videos app.
If on the computer, look on the left side of iTunes in the library under movies.

How do I redownload previous purchases? Itunes says that the items are downloaded, but when I select them in my library it says that the original file can not be located.

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If you plug in your iphone, click on it in iTunes, and go to the apps section, it should be checked to sync apps if you want them to show up in iTunes as well as your iPhone. Once synced they will show on both.
Then if you click Apps under the Library header in the left panel of iTunes, you'll be able to permanently delete apps, removing them entirely from iTunes. Highlight an app's icon or a group of icons by holding down Shift and hit the delete key (or select Edit > Delete from the top menu or right-click on an icon and selecting delete).

ITunes tells me "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want it?

iTunes tells me my song selection: "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want?
Message was edited by: Woildbill

I just spent several hours dealing with this when switching to a new PC. It was extremely frustrating as I knew my files were on my external HD but no matter how many times I copied my old iTunes folder over the files were still missing...because dummy me had forgotten to "unhide folders" on my new PC and my old files were actually stored in a hidden folder created long long ago.
This is how I did it on Windows 7 with iTunes 10
1. Look in iTunes Advanced Preferences to see where iTunes is saving files. (Edit, Preferences, Advanced)
Example: C:/Users/Woildbill/My Music/iTunes/Music
2. Ensure you are able to see hidden files - Control Panel, Folder Option, View, Show Hidden Files
3. Use Your Computer's Search Function to Locate the Missing File (Start, Search, type name of song - I started my search in "My Music" folder but be sure to expand to entire Computer if not found right away)
4. In Search Results, right-click found folder and select properties. This will tell you where the file is actually stored.
5. Use Windows Explorer (right-click start) to navigate to the location of the file. It is likley your other missing files are in the same location.
6. In Windows Explorer, copy the newly located files to the iTumes location from Step 1 and everything should work again.
Hope this helps!

I recently restored my laptop and also iTunes from an external hard drive, but when I play songs, it says the original file could not be found. How do I locate and fix this?

I recently restored my laptop with Windows 7 and imported my iTunes library from my external hard drive. When I try to play songs, it says it cannot and that the original file could not be located. How do I fix this?

Put the files back where iTunes expects them to be.

When importing a cd on to itunes where is the original file kept because my itunes folder doesn't have it, the song does come up when i spotlight search it but i can't locate it

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