Can't Find Music Files in C Drive

There are many AAC files that I can see in iTune library, but I can't find those in 'My Document/My Music' folder, nor can I find those in my local hard drive. Where could these file be?

Rename what, the m4a part? I wouldn't if I were you! The file extension (the m4a) tells both Windows and iTunes how to use the file. If you change it to something else, your computer won't know what to do with it.
I don't know the full history of Apple's development of these files, but AAC is the name they gave to the encoding system that turns the CD music into iPod format. Perhaps it was only after they developed it that they discovered a good reason why they couldn't use aac as the file extension, but quite frankly, you don't need to worry about any of this, because now you know that Apple's AAC files are stored as m4a files. End of problem.
Don't forget, the filename is what the computer (both Windows and MAC) and the internet use to handle the file. But that filename is not detailed enough for you and I to use on our iPods. So "tags" were introduced as an additional piece of information "within the file" so that we humans can see all the information we want. Those tags are what you see in iTunes and on the iPod.
Or, did you mean renaming the song's filename? Well you can, but why would you want to? You can change the *name of the song* in iTunes so that it's your choice in iTunes and on your iPod, but the filename would stay as before. (Note that filename and song title/artists name are separate pieces of information that are not actually connected to each other. A song called "one, two, three" could have a filename of "xyz"!) A word of caution here; if you change the filename after you have added the song to iTunes, it will be lost by iTunes and you'll then have to spend time getting iTunes to find it again, probably after another post here to find how to find the lost songs! (We've seen such posts in the past.)
Phil

Similar Messages

  • Finder can't find / display files in external drive

    Just upgraded to Lion on my MacBook, and Finder can't find / display files from my external thumb drive. I got message that the external drive was removed incorrectly, but I did not remove the thumb drive at all. After several attempts on removing and inserting the thumb drive, the files just didn't show up under Finder, and I have no way of working on files from external drive. I went to a Window based notebook and checked, the files are still in my thumb drive so they have not been corrupted, hopefully. How can I make Finder works with external drive in Lion ?

    The problem I have was finally resolved by having a "clean" install for Lion, meaning to back up your hard disc, re-install Snow Leopard, then Lion. It's a lot of work but my MacBook is now working.

  • Can't find Imovie file on external drive

    Hi,
    I finalized a project and exported it to an external hard disk. Used ' share' and 'export using quick-time' and saved it on a hard disk. However I can't find the file anywhere on the hard disk. What am I doing wrong??

    Hi
    And the external hard drive is formatted as ?
    for video - it must be Mac OS Extended (hfs) (mine are journaled)
    UNIX / DOS / FAT32 / Mac OS Exchange works for most other things BUT NOT for video whatever editing tool used. iMovie, FinalCut etc doesn't matter - it just doesnt work but cut's up video in 4GB bit's that don't connect back or play.
    Select the ext. HD icon (one click) then go up to file and down to Show Info and read
    • Formatted as : nnnnnnnnnnnn
    • Frames per second
    What does it read ?
    Yours Bengt W

  • Updated my itouch gen 4 32g to Ios 5 and now itunes can't find music files

    I did a search and could not find anything about my specific issue.  I was hoping to get some help if possible.
    So I did the update to IOS 5 and everything went fine..........except for one thing.  I have all my music stored on an external hard drive so I changed the media folder location to my external drive.  When I did the update IOS changed the location to "C:\users\name\music\itunes\itunes media folder".  I figured this is why itunes could not find the files.  So I switched it back to my external drive and it still could not find my music files.  The weird thing is that I can sync it and it won't delete the music from my ipod.  All of the music is still on the ipod but not on itunes.  I know I can manually go in and find all the folders but I REALLY don't want to have to do that.  I have done it before and it took 7 hours.  Since I don't use all the files I can't just drag the library over and problem solved.
    One other strange thing that happened:  After I did the update I downloaded an app off of the the appstore in itunes.  This is the first app that I downloaded off of itunes and not straight off my ipod.  I then recieved an email from apple saying it had been downloaded on a computer or device not associated with my apple id (which makes no sense seeing how the id on my ipod is the same as on itunes).
    If anyone has a suggestion on how to fix the music problem, I am all ears.  Thanks.

    Once a track is in your iTunes library, you should not touch it except through iTunes. But I guess you know that now.
    iTunes, to answer your question, cannot "refresh." If you re-add those files to your library, iTunes is unable to match them with the existing library entries, and will create a bunch of duplicate entries. This is a longstanding shortcoming of iTunes (and the source of lots of traffic on this fourm).
    If there are "too many to manually" reassociate, then starting over, in the sense of deleting and then re-adding, may be a good plan.

  • ITunes can't find music files

    Somehow my iTunes library got messed up, though everything worked fine before. I think that something happened when I did an iTunes upgrade but I am not sure anymore.
    The library file is at
    -- C:\Documents and Settings\i080151\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
    and all my music is at an external HD at
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
    In iTunes under Advanced I set it to the right music location, it says
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
    On a side note I also have a library file at
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
    and it is a few months old, when the problem started. In any case, if I remember right the library file needs to be where iTunes is installed itself, and that is on C:. The library file on C: is current.
    So all my music is on G:, my library shows all that music, but when I try to play any song I get the exclamation mark and that message that iTunes could not find the file.
    When I today add a new music file, say a podcast, it gets properly added to the G: drive, shows up in iTunes, and I can play it there. I also see that the file date of the library file on C: gets updated to when I added the new podcast. But none of the older music files play.
    I am confused... can someone help?

    Try this as a test - open iTunes and tell it to get the old library from G:
    Here aer directions on how to do that - don't create a new library, just hold down the shift key while starting iTunes and browse out to that old library file.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/7.5/en/15502.html
    Does it find the old songs with the old library?
    Something else to check-
    Do you have any old libraries with a date near when you upgraded?
    As mentioned in this article
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301895

  • Can't find some files after changing drive name

    I keep all my music files on an external drive, and my iTunes folder (and iTunes Music folder) on the internal drive. After changing the name of the external drive, a good number of files (not all, and probably not even most, but a lot) couldn't be found by iTunes.
    I'm suspecting that this problem results from having my files stored externally and separate from the internal default iTunes Music folder, but I'm hoping someone can give me some more details about this and hopefully help find a solution. Thanks.

    In the root of the filesystem there normally is a folder "lost+found", in which files with strange names are found. These are the files cvfsck has collected in the recovering of the filesystemnames. It is sometimes not possible to recover the original file name and location. So this is the only way for cvfsck to give them back.
    If you think the content of these files is allright, you can rename and relocate them.
    Regards
    Donald

  • Moved iTunes library to Vista PC but iTunes 'can't find music files'. Help!

    I'm running iTunes 7.1.1 on a new Vista PC and I followed the instructions on this support site for transferring the library using an iPod.
    All songs (with artwork) are showing in the new PC's iTunes library, BUT all have a '!' symbol to the left and refuse to play. It offers to let me find them, but this would take hours for the thousands of tracks. I've tried consolidating but to no effect. All the music files are in the iTunes library folder, so why can't iTunes access them?
    Can anyone help?

    I'm running iTunes 7.1.1 on a new Vista PC and I
    followed the instructions on this support site for
    transferring the library using an iPod.
    All songs (with artwork) are showing in the new PC's
    iTunes library, BUT all have a '!' symbol to the left
    and refuse to play. It offers to let me find them,
    but this would take hours for the thousands of
    tracks. I've tried consolidating but to no effect.
    All the music files are in the iTunes library folder,
    so why can't iTunes access them?
    Can anyone help?
    hi i to have a similar problem, i moved my music file for another problem i had and now it has removed all my files from itunes, albums and playlists as well, they are still on the pc and i have moved them back but i seem to have to start again, this will take weeks to do, i hope someone can help us.

  • Mac Air storage indicates music storage is big but can not find music files

    I am going in to check the storage on my hard drive. In the music section it says there is 74.14 GB of storage being used but I am unable to locate the files. I have checked everything that can be checked on this mac and no music. Can you please help. I fequently use Final Cut Pro and I know they render files but there are no music files rendered in there. Especially not to amount to that amount of storage. Please Help.

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and open it.  It will show all of you files and the respective sizes.
    Ciao.

  • I can't find music files even though I have purchased them through iTunes.

    I have 274 music files that my itunes library can't locate. About 75 of those songs I have purchased through itunes store but still can't find and I can't re-download them but they show up in my "purchased" playlist with the i warning next to the song. Please help me determine what is wrong.

    Hello Hmahon,
    The Default Location for iTunes Music on your Mac OS X: /Users/username/Music/iTunes/
    (Username is your Account Name on Mac) go to the location as mentioned above and see if you find your Music there, if No Music is available there then you can download the Purchased songs by Deleting the Dead Tracks from your iTunes Library and then Download it from your Account.
    Download previous purchases on Mac or PC  :
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519

  • I can't find my files through iCloud Drive

    Through Safari, on my Mac, I added files to Preview in my iCloud account. I cannot find them on my iPhone or iPad. Can anybody help?

    There is no icloud drive app available for ios devices so icloud drive is kinda useless on ios devices.
    You have too use other apps with icloud drive support like documents 5 but this does not work perfect for me.

  • ITunes can't find music on external hard drive Help!

    We moved my friend's iTunes music to an external hard drive. Everything was working fine until this week. Somehow the location of the music got changed back to her C drive. I redid the location but now every song has the exclamation mark. I would trash the music folder on the external drive and have her import the songs again from her DVD back ups but she has over 4,000 songs. Any other way to do this? I'm a Mac person so please explain the PC steps clearly. She is running Windows Vista.
    Thanks for any help you can offer.

    Somehow the location of the music got changed back to her C drive.
    Because iTunes was started with the external drive not plugged in or not online and ready.
    I redid the location but now every song has the exclamation mark
    Select all the songs in iTunes, right click - Get info.

  • Can't find photo files on my drive

    When i upload photos to my iphoto account from my iphone or a digital camera, they only show up when i open iphoto. if i try to find the actual photo files on my computer, they are not there. I have a Macbook running OS 10.6.4 When i go to Pictures/iPhoto Library, no files come up, it just automatically opens iPhoto when i double click. How can i access the photo files once they are uploaded without opening iphoto?

    There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
    *For Users of 10.5 and later*
    You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
    Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
    (Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
    You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
    Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
    *For users of 10.4 and later* ...
    Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
    To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
    This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
    If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
    If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
    *If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
    For users of 10.6 and later:
    You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
    For Users of 10.4 and later:
    Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
    Other options include:
    1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
    2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
    3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
    Regards
    TD

  • Can not find music files

    I moved all my files to an external HD trying to opens up some space and then moved them back,  now when I try to open a song either in I tunes (that I have already purchased) or on the computer I get the followoing message:  The song “All Your Life” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

    iTunes really, really doesn't like it when you move files yourself in Finder.  The best answer requires knowing exact detail of what you did and your folder strucuture.  Probably the easiest thing would be to rebuild your library from scratch by adding the relocated media to an empty iTunes library.

  • Why does my itunes tell me they can not find music files on my computer?

    Why does itunes only play 10 sec. of a selected song instead of the 1:30?

    The question in your text is not the question you ask in the topic.  I already posted a response to that one in your other topic.
    It would help if you tell us on which computer you are doing this, and I assume you are using itunes.
    The topic needs to be reposted in the iTunes forum for the system (Mac or PC) you are using, under the correct topic, or you may never get an aswer.

  • I have problem with Itunes losing where podcasts and some purchased music is located. Don't know how Itunes losing the locations of the files and I can't find the files on my hard drive. What can I do to stop Itunes losing location and restore my files?

    I have problem with Itunes losing where podcasts and some purchased music is located. Don't know how Itunes losing the locations of the files and I can't find the files on my hard drive. What can I do to stop Itunes losing location and restore my files?

    Try assigning Queen as the Album Artist on the compilations in iTunes on your computer.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Downloaded iTunes 10 - Will not open

    Hello everyone - This is my first time posting here, but I am at an impass and need some help. I upgraded to itunes 10 and now it will not open. I have removed all other itunes files and quick time and loaded it again, still nothing. I have done all

  • SAP NetWeaver 7.0 SR3 Developer Workplace Installation on Windows 7 64-bit

    I am trying to install 32 bit version of NW 7.0 SR3 Developer Workplace (Max DB) on Windows 7 64 computer but the installation fails. Has any one tried this? Is SAP planning to release 64 bit version of Developer Worlplace? Edited by: Anand Bhambure

  • IPad connected to a Bose portable sound?

    Is there any way that I can connect an iPad to a Bose sound portable system? Is there any accessory that Incan use? Where can I find it?

  • [svn:fx-trunk] 12972: Commit Catalyst-submitted patch for fixing up unicode path/ file names in ActiveX.

    Revision: 12972 Revision: 12972 Author:   [email protected] Date:     2009-12-15 15:27:40 -0800 (Tue, 15 Dec 2009) Log Message: Commit Catalyst-submitted patch for fixing up unicode path/file names in ActiveX. QE notes: None. Doc notes: None. Bugs: S

  • Podcasts deleted

    I have the new iTunes 12. I have no idea why, but a lot of my podcasts just got deleted when I plugged the iPod into the computer. I use Windows and I have Unplayed/My Episodes and Saved showing on the bottom? Can anyone please help me restore them?