Consolidating Music Files into Itunes - File Name Invalid/Too Long!

When trying to consolidate music files into my library, I get an error message stating "Failed, The file name was invalid or too long." ????
I have tons of songs and don't know which file name is invalid or too long???

hiya!
hmmmm. we're looking for filenames here where the path and the filename has more than 256 characters in it. (at least i believe that's what the path-filename length limit is.)
possibly the easiest way to check for that is to use a spreadsheet like excel.
right-click your library in your itunes sourcelist, and select "export songlist ...". save it as a .txt file.
open the .txt file with Excel (or whatever spreadsheet application you have on the PC). the column with the path-filename in it is the one to the extreme right (you can delete the other columns and resize them to make looking for things a bit easier).
scroll through that looking for extremely long path-filenames.
can you track down some that seem to be above the length limit?
love, b

Similar Messages

File name invalid/too long error

When I try to import folders purchased from eMusic into iTunes, I sometimes get a message: "Attempting to copy to the disk "C:\" failed. File name invalid or too long. Some of the tracks may transfer, but others may not. Can anything be done about this? Thanks for any suggestions.
Precision Windows XP Pro

BUMP
Yes, I just get that message. I don't see how I could investigate this problem.
I didn't mention that this happened when I was consolidating my library, not copying files to another computer.
In other words, I'm using a "normal" itunes procedure, itunes won't complete it, and won't tell me exactly why or how to figure out how to fix it...
Is there at least some easy way to tell which files were successfully copied to my itunes music folder so I can work on moving the uncopied files?
Can anybody help me?

New to Imac,music file into itunes

Hi,Transferred my itunes folder from pc into new imac, using dvd,added to library,i drag file into itunes and it does nothing, sorry very new to this

It would be easier to answer if you use the word "iTunes" to refer to the application, and "songs" to refer to the tracks themselves, otherwise it is confusing.
The reason why iTunes still "sees" your songs is that the database files are still there even if you manually trashed the songs themselves. You need to start over IF you added no NEW music in iTunes on the new machine :- trash the iTunes folder in Music on the new iMac (iTunes should not be running).
Next, link the two computers via their FireWire ports, then start the old iMac in Target Disk Mode (hold the T key down while it is booting). The old iMac will then appear on your new iMac's desktop. Start iTunes on your new iMac, check "Copy songs to iTunes..." in Preferences. Then using Add to Library... point to your old Music Folder which is in the old iMac (and which you can access just as if it was an external HD).
If you had Protected (DRM) tracks on the old computer, you will need to Authorise your new machine in iTunes in order to play them.

Many CD's will include a DVD disc as well containing music videos. Is there a way to import these video files into iTunes as well as the music files?

I have a number of music CD's that also include a DVD which has music videos or concert movies. Is there a way to import these video files into iTunes as well?

wjosten - thanks very much for the detailed instructions. I'll try this as soon as I get my replacement and it looks like you'll probably end up getting the green tick

HT1727 How do i get itunes to recognize music imported into the file structure?

How do I get iTunes to recognize music imported into the file structure?

Press Alt or Ctrl+B to reveal the menu bar if needed.
Use File > Add Folder to Library if you just want to import it.
If you're trying to relink broken entries in a library with the corresponding media then some more details would help.
tt2

Cant Drag Music files into iTunes

Hi there,
I have been using iTunes for ages with out any problems but from yesterday I have found that I cant drag music files from a folder (My Music etc)into iTunes library or straight to my iPod.
I can still use the "add file or folder" to library commands which work fine but I just cant drag files into iTunes like I used to. When I try I just get the circle with a line through it. The music files I am trying to drag are in the right format and I have even tried some files with are already on my iPod.
Also I use winamp as my default player. When I double click on any music files in a folder winamp will open but does not play the file. I can still select "play file" from winamp and browse for the track I want to play. That works fine.
So the same kind of thing is happening for both iTunes and winamp. I have searched for answers but still cant fix it. I have uninstalled and installed both iTunes and winamp. I remember having a problem like this before a long time ago but cant remember how to fix it.
Its driving me insane!

Are you just looking through the main library?
My videos never show up under the main library anymore.
They just show up under the movie or tv show headers.

Why can't I drag and drop music files into itunes logo anymore??

I used to be able to drag and drop files into itunes logo and it would show p! now i cant? Big stop sign logo! I have to go to file and import from file! why???

did you manage to fix your problem.
i tunes 6 used to be great for me but i upgraded to 7 which wiped my i tunes and ipod. im back to ver 6 now but i cant drag files from my c drive to any playlists

How to best import existing audio files into iTunes?

Hello,
In sum, my question is: What is the difference between adding music to iTunes Library by the following methods:
Placing the audio files in the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' Folder;
Dragging the files from my hard drive to the Source Pane in iTunes; or
Using the File > Add Folder to Library dialogue?
Here are the particulars of my situation:
I have over 3,000 music files, and I would like to know the best way to get them into iTunes. From a lynda.com training video about using iTunes, I learned that there is a folder called "Automatically Add to iTunes", which is monitored by iTunes for new files to import into the iTunes library. However, I would like to know if this is the *best* way to do this. For example, can I just *move* my 3,000 music files into this 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder and then let iTunes do its thing?
Will iTunes *move* the files that it is able to manage OUT of this folder and into one of its managed folders, such that there would be no duplicate file left behind? Is it correct in saying that the files that are left in this folder that were not able to be handled by iTunes and must be handled differently before they can be imported into iTunes? Or is there just an all around different, and better, way to get these music files into iTunes?
Thanks for your advice and opinions!
~Antonio

Hello tt2,
I have given this a lot of thought and attention over the last few days. As well, I appreciate very much your input and offers of help.
The major 'problem' that I have is that the files are most definitely not consistently named. For example, they include the likes of the following:
07 - Song Name - Song Artist.mp3
01 - Song Artist_Song Name.wma
Song Name [Song Artist].aac
And these are only examples, based on my trying to get across how variant the names are. The actual file names are far more wildly various than even these, seemingly consistent file names.
So, this is what I was thinking of doing, per your suggestion:
An alternative aproach would be to use something like MediaMonkey (has advanced filename/path to tag tools) or MusicBrainz Picard (attempts to match audio fingerprints) to update the tags before the files get introduced to iTunes.
Then...
1. Move the files into the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder, then let iTunes have a go at getting them in to iTunes.
2. Using either Tuneup or MusicBrainz Picard (Any comment on which is better?) to cleanup the file names (again) properly; and
3. Then using your script to force iTunes to update itself, based on any new id3 data.
Does this sound like madness? Or is it a good solution for this application? I am very grateful for your, or any other, input.
Take good care,
~Antonio

How to import large library of .wav files into itunes with tags?

I have an external NAS drive where I imported approximately 400 CDs in .wav format utilizing itunes many years ago. My itunes library was recently corrupted requiring a reinstall of itunes. The .wav files are preserved and are filed by Artist folders containing Album subfolders which contain the tracks listed by number and name. The problem is when I reimport the files into itunes the artist and album name is lost leaving only the track name, which makes it impossible to organize a library of music.
I would like to batch process and import the .wav files on my NAS drive into itunes in either a high-quality mp3 or AAC format with the songs tagged correctly to allow for an organized and searchable library. I would rather not have to reburn all of the CDs since that required substantial time and effort.
I welcome any solution to this problem.

itunes can't do what you want. It will do exactly what you said, lose everything, because wav files don't have ID3 tags. And, I suspect it dumps it all into an "Unknown Album" subfolder under "Unknown Artist".
You can try the tagFromFileName script on this page, brought to you by an apple discussion forum regular turingtest2. I have not used it myself, but have seen posts from several people happy with the results!
http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp

I have many thousands of songs in my itunes library. Unfortunately, most are now pointing toward .jpgs instead of the m4a files in my itunes library. Is there anyway to fix this without reimporting all the files into itunes from scratch??

I have many thousands of songs in my itunes library. Unfortunately, most are now pointing toward .jpgs instead of the m4a files in my itunes library. Is there anyway to fix this without reimporting all the files into itunes from scratch?

OMG...I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. Since my computer is a goner, I don't have any other way to access all that music.

I can't get audio or video files into iTunes from my computer. Please help!

Using Windows 7: My wife and I have seperate iTune accounts in our respective computer profiles. In my profile and iTune account, everything works fine. In my wife's account, she's always being asked to sign into iTunes as an administrator. Also, her account will not allow her to transfer music or video files into iTunes by drag and drop. If I click on "Add File to Library" or "Add Folder To Library", It will add the file but double it in the process so there are two of everything. And to make matters worse, when iTunes open in her profile, it changes the color of the Windows theme. Someone PLEASE help me. Thank you.

Am I correct in saying that the file is on your computer? Is it in a format that iTunes recognises?
If so, open iTunes, click on the small icon in the top left of the iTunes window and select Add File to Library. Navigate to the folder where the file is located and select it, click on Open. The song is now in your Library, but don't forget that the song's title, artist etc. will reflect the information within the file. So if the file did not have a song title or artist, it will appear in your iTunes as something like "Track 01", by "Unknown Artist".

How to import WMA files into iTunes to burn to CD?

My coworker gave me a voice recorder that records in WMA files. I cannot simply drag the audio file into iTunes like I have from other recorders. I need to get the audio into iTunes so I can burn to CD. Any ideas?

Problems -
EasyWMA is not free.
Switch looks fine, but after installing the wma plugin as prompted, and feeding it the first batch of .wma files, it crashed.
I'm now 'borrowing' an EasyWMA.
Pros : simple to use. you can have it process your entire music folder at once. adds songs to itunes right away.
Cons : limited functionality! E.g. there's no option for VBR (variable bit rate), so I set it to 256 fixed. E.g. when having it run through my entire music folder, there was no option to restrict it to wma files - it also worked my flac's, for which I'd already found a better solution (fluke).
Sigh Hate to complain, but hey, this stuff would be easier on Windows

Importing WMA files into itunes 4

Is there a way to import my windows WMA files into itunes 4 on my mac? I tried upgrading to the new itunes but the system upgrade of 10.4.9 slowed it down to where it would barely run so I have to keep it with the older version of 10.4.

Ok, I upgraded to itunes 8 and still can't import the WMA files. It says it is importing for a while then just quits. I have over 10gb of music files in WMA format and they are all sorted into folders. Is there a free program to bulk convert all of them to M4A formats so itunes will work with them?

Converting Files into iTunes

I recently installed iTunes and the program transfered over my music from My music folder into iTunes it also started converting file types over. I had to stop the process of converting the file types and iTunes didn't completely convert all my files. How do I tell it to finish?
Thanks
Alexis

Just read other articles re: livewire or what eveer it is. I went to add/remove programs and immediately got rid of it. I'm not sure how it got there and have talked to other users of my computer aboutit.
Was able to copy some of my songs (some of my own compositons from midi device even) but after update ipod, couldn't transfer more songs next time I tried.

I have Videora. But still cant get files into Itunes

Hey
I have Videora Ipod Converter. Videora converts the files but when I drag the file into Itunes, it doesnt go in. I got my first couple of music videos to work but then nothing works. Can somebody please help. I am converting to MP4 files.

i had the same problem, so i removed it from my programs. i think im gon' buy cucusoft............

Consolidating Music Files into Itunes - File Name Invalid/Too Long!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for