Contents of ITunes Music folder are missing (ITunes 8)

I used to have a ton of music in my ITunes. Now when I open ITunes the only thing that shows up are my podcasts and my audiobooks. All of my music (purchased and burned from CD) are gone. How did this happen, where are the files? I have done a search on the drive for .mp3, .mpa4 and .aac and I don't see any of the albums/songs that I used to have. I see the old libraries and the old playlists but no songs. How can the music files be recovered?
Thanks in advance!!

I have similar problem. My playlists are corrupted , that is, missing songs. My top rated have gone away as well as downloads.

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HT203167 itunes music files are missing

1. redirected my itunes music folder to mac's main music library;
2. later on, i accidentally moved all my music files to somewhere else;
3. i press cmd z for undo, and all the files went back, but;
4. now itunes can't locate any of the music files, however;
5. if i check my music library folder, its still got 19.28 GB on it, but the main music files aren't there in their respective
so where can i find them??

ps. i tried looking for a specific missing music files and it said, "missing alias"

Share iTunes music folder - Vista SP2 - iTunes 8.2.0.23

I have one new computer. There are 5 users that all need to be able to access all exactly the same music.
I've followed the instructions on page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 but it doesn't work.
Specifically, Windows Step 2 is not right for Vista - the directory \Documents and Settings\AllUsers.WINDOWS\Documents doesn't exist. And the folder \Users\Public\Public Music is publicly available.
I've set the iTunes music folder to C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
But the other user's don't 'see' any of the music.
1. Is it possible to fully share all iTunes libraries (including mobile apps and purchased songs and apps - so any rip or purchase by any user appears in everyone's libraries).
2. How do I get the other users to 'see' this music. Or asking another way, how do I reset each user's iTunes profile.
3. On a similar note, why is it not possible for each user to even load iTunes if another user is logged in and on iTunes? All other apps can be open even if another user is using it, e.g. Word or Excel.
Thanks for your help.
Peter

Step 2 for Windows lists the Vista path right below the XP path:
+Windows Vista: \Users\username\Music\iTunes+
Did you see the sentence below step 9?
+Repeat these steps for each account that is sharing music with other users.+
So to answer your questions,
1. Yes, it's possible. Make sure you read all the steps in that article.
2. Same answer.
3. Because itunes wasn't designed to use Windows fast user switching. It's quite annoying, isn't it?
Once you get things set up, you might want to look into using a little free program named "iTunes Folder Watch" so you don't have to add music to all the users by hand.

Song files in iTunes Music folder but not iTunes itself

I have some song files in my Music folder that used to be in iTunes, but now they are gone from iTunes itself (they are still in the folder). When I drag the songs from the folder to iTunes, nothing happens and the songs are not added. Is there any way to fix this or do I have to re-install iTunes?

What format are they? Are they purchased content from the iTunes Store?
Some formats are not recognized by iTunes. Also, for obvious reasons, some are imported into the Video and Movie sections.
If you try to add purchased content before authorizing the computer, they may not show up.
Where did these files come from? Are they from a backup?

Is there a way to sync my itunes music folder with my itunes library?

Hey, I have itunes set to add music that I drag and drop into it a folder and its been set like this for a long time. Then I would do whatever edits to the albums info if needed. But now I realized that my folders don't snyc with the itunes libary.
I was wondering if there was a way update the folder the way I have my music in itunes.

If the files are stored inside the iTunes media folder, and the option under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to Keep iTunes Media folder organized is enabled then files and folders should be renamed to reflect changes you make to the tags.
tt2

ITunes Music folder with my iTunes folder

I'm trying to organize my music and I have a problem: If I open my main music folder and then open my iTunes folder, I see many folders of all my assorted artists. Among those is another folder called "iTunes Music" that seems to duplicate all the same artists. What's the safest way to delete these so that I don't have all the duplicates? Also, how did that get there? I seem to recall deleting these in the past, but somehow they have reappeared. Thanks....

Read my post, as I figured my issue out and it might fix yours too:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5606206#5606206

ITunes Music Folder Organization Inproperly

After I imported music of the album "Wings Of Song", by James Galway, from my removable hard disk to "iTunes Music Folder" and had iTunes organized it, I discovered something that's a little bit wierd. All the music I just imported is put under the folder Compilation\Wings of Song. This means that when iTunes organizing the music folder, it unexpectedly "thought" all these music are by the artist Compilation. What is the reason? Could anyone tell me why? Thank you!

The Compilation directory is how iTunes organizes albums that Gracenote (CDDB) considers works of various artists or collections of songs from the same artist, but differing albums (like "Best Of's" or "Greatest Hits").
The CDDB is not always consistent, as some Greatest Hits are marked as compilations and others are not. This really irked me in the beginning as I was wondering why some of my albums went missing. At first I tried to manually reorganize and move the files, but it was cumbersome. I stumbled on the "Compilations" function and it made things much easier.
For instance, if you have a Greatest Hits album of U2 sitting in the Compilations directory and would rather have it under the U2 directory (where I feel it better belongs), you would perform the process outlined below and the album and songs would move to its "improved" location.
That's why you have folders in your Compilations directory. Some you may wish to keep there, some you may want to move to a more appropriate place. This is how. Try moving some of them to their Artist's folder (if you have any that would qualify).
First check your Preferences:
-- Advanced/General: Keep iTunes Music folder organized (on)
-- Advanced/General: Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library (off) - change it back to 'on' after the song switch, if you want
To move an Album from the Compilations folder after it was imported from a CD (or otherwheres):
-- Highlight the collection of songs on that CD within the main Library
-- Right-click, 'Get Info'
-- Remove the 'Part of Compilation' check-mark - turn it to 'no'
-- Click 'OK'
iTunes will reorganize your PC folder structure, moving the songs from the Compilation folder to their Artist folder.
To defeat a Compilation designation prior to ripping the tracks from a CD, go to 'Get Info' on the CD and make sure that the 'Part of Compilation' box is not checked. This will keep the album under its designated Artist folder.
This is how I keep my music organized. I only want 'true' compilations under the Compilations folder, not some of the Artist's 'Greatest Hits'. You may have other desires.

ITunes music folder help

I have been trying to save space on my laptops small hardrive by telling iTunes to put my music folder in an external hardrive that I have connected. My problem is that I accidentally deleted my music a while ago and in an effort to try and get it back into iTunes through an iPod ripping application for some reason iTunes made another iTunes music folder in my "my music" folder. I just want to be able to listen to my music in iTunes and preferably be able to automatically update my iPod still without it taking up my regular hardrive space.
I am also wondering if there is a way to export whole playlists from my iPod into iTunes without using iPod ripping software because it will duplicate all of my songs that way.
Thank you for any and all suggestions.

I had the same problem you are having a year or so ago. I was transferring my music from a shared folder through a network. I copied the contents of the folder with the music into it and I had to locate everything manually. I can't guarantee that thie will oslve your problem because I never tried it, but maybe if you copy all of your music to your existing iTunes music folder first and then copy the music from the iTunes music folder it might work. I'm not sure exactly where your music is stored now, but if it is somewhere else than the iTunes music folder created by iTunes this could work. Before you copy the music though you will want to delete everything in your existing library (make sure you keep the files though when it asks) so that you don't have a bunch of duplicates. I hope this helps.

Songs in itunes music folder not showing

Hello all:
Songs in user/music/itunes music folder are not showing up in itunes 7.6.1 are not showing in the itunes application. Recently upgraded from previous version. TIA for any advice.

Maybe I need to expand and clarify a bit.
In my "user/music/itunes music" folder there are songs located in folders listed by artist/album. Some of these songs show up in the iTunes browser. I'm assuming this is due to my recent migration from my old Powerbook to my new Macbook Pro.
Any help would be very welcome.

My iTune music files are all shown as WMA files

When I open iTunes, I was reminded that my default audio player was not iTunes. I previously did not want to use iTunes as default because I like to choose manually when I play audio files. But there have been a lot problems with my iTunes, I decided to use iTunes as default player. I changed the system setting to use iTunes as the default. But when I open up iTunes, I got that message. I clicked OK to choose iTunes as default player. The following warning tells me that I do not have the priviledge to do that.
Most odd is that all my music files in iTunes Music folder are all shown as WMA files. Even the files I used iTunes to rip from my CD are shown as WMA. I suspect the Gates company somehow tweeked the XP not accepting iTunes as default player to frustrate less-a-computer-geeks like me.
There is one more problem. The iTunes Music File folder is all messed up. Songs of the same album get spread out in different subfolders. Many songs of the same album show up in iTunes as individual albums in the coverflow view. It seems that I can't download any album art from iTunes.
Any help will be appreciated.

Well if you have songs from the same album that are not being listed together in itunes theres one or the other happening and it depends on if all the songs are from the same artist or different artist
Same Artist
Lets say for example you have one album from....Madonna. So all tracks on the album are from the same artist. If these songs are not listing/grouped together something is wrong with the songs tags. The tags have to be EXACTLY the same on all tracks/songs of the album. You do this by rightclicking the song and hitting "Get Info"
Different artist
This is known as a compliation album, usually soundtracks and dance mix albums where you have one album and each song is by a different artist. In this case you need to highlight all tracks that are apart of the album THEN rightclick and hit "Get Info". At the bottom select "Yes" under compilation and hit OK, this will group all songs under the same album

Multiple itunes music folder locations

Guys,
Does anyone know if it is possible to have multiple itunes music folder locations for itunes?
I am quickly running out of space on my macbook pro and would like to move my less used music and movies to a separate external drive whilst leaving my most popular stuff on the macbook pro.
Cheers
Kegan

I have these exact same questions as the user above, but for a different reason. I want to have two different locations for my iTunes Music folder. One on my laptop for recent music (so I have it when I travel) and another "archive library" on the Time Capsule for the remainder of my music (accessible only over my wireless LAN when at home).
I have gone through the "hold the option key" process to create a second "library" on the Time Capsule, but it still references the same iTunes folder location. Of course, I could relocate the entire iTunes Music folder to the Time Capsule and re-reference it in Preferences->Advanced, but then I wouldn't have access to my recent songs when traveling.
Then, there's the whole question of how to transfer songs between folders (when my "recent" folder gets to large and I need to archive), but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
Thanks,
John Mac

ITunes Won't Let Me Change Location Of Itunes Music Folder

iTunes isn't letting me change the location of the folder iTunes folder. I don't want the iTunes folder to be in the default 'My Music' folder, I'd rather keep it in 'My Documents'. Problem is, everytime I change the location (I change it through edit>preferences>advanced btw) it just makes a new one under 'My Music' as soon as I restart iTunes.
I've tried making a copy of the original iTunes folder thats located in 'My Music', copying it to 'My Documents', changing the location under the iTunes preferences, and then deleting the 'My Music' version but after a restart I simply get it back. What gives?
Btw, I have both 'Keep songs organized' and 'Copy Songs' turned off.

It will be easier to resolve your problem if you can settle for moving the iTunes Music folder - the sub-folder that actually contains all your iTunes media files - and leave the iTunes folder alone, since iTunes will, as you have discovered, continue to recreate a new iTunes folder when one isn't present.
That being said, can you confirm that you're following the instructions in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base. (The same method appplies whether you're moving the iTunes Music folder to a different drive or a different location on the same drive.)
After moving it, iTunes will not recreate the iTunes Music folder in the iTunes folder.

Restored my Macbook Pro but my iTunes content was saved on a separate partition. When I re-setup iTunes the status bar reports 30gb less content than my iTunes Music folder. How can I find what is 'missing'?

My Macbook Pro software was failing and the Apple Store was able to restore it without removing the partition on my hard drive that contained most of my files including all my iTunes content. Initially when I re-setup my library I simply went to file--> add to library. Shortly after I realized that was essentially copying the library to the other portion of the partition because I forgot to change the location of the library. So I deleted the content already copied & then I re-setup the library, by asking it to be pulled from the previous location using this pages advice: iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
It appeared to work & everything I thought was imported. But on closer inspection, it appears that I have 30gbs less appearing on the status bar in the iTunes app than I do when I pull up the info on the iTunes Music folder in my finder. I'm not sure if this means somehow I have 30gbs of duplicates in my finder folder or if (most likely) I somehow didn't fully import the library from that file. Any advice? Is there a way to restore iTunes to factory settings again & set it up correctly this time?
Also I never actually trashed the original content I accidentally transferred to the other drive but when i skimmed those in my trash bin it appears they ARE indeed in iTunes, so I have no clue what didn't actually import. Any ideas?! I'd greatly appreciate it!

You could have all the computers point to the same library but it can't be opened by more than one at any time.
No answer for knowing which library is in use other than selecting it at startup. This question gets asked here occasionally but I don't think it is a high-demand feature since most people have just one library. I guess you could put in an empty playlist with the library name so you have an identifier.

My music files are "missing". How do I get itunes to locate the files without identifying each music folder (files are in separate folders under torrent data and I don't want to open each one of them individually)

Just like the title... Music files are missing and I don't want to locate each folder individually, how do I get itunes to locate all of the music without taking each music file out from the album folders they're in?

Hi,
The article below will explain in general how your iTunes files are organized on your computer.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Hope this helps ....
- Judy

.xml file and iTunes library files are missing from the music folder

I recently made a second itunes library on my external hd, today when I open itunes and choose this library, the .xml file and itunes music file are invisible or translucent, therefore I can't open my library. But when I go to my music folder they are missing. Another odd thing is that all my music is still in the folder. Is there a way to re-open my library w/o re-importing all my music? Can I some how get a new itunes library file?
Mac OS X (10.4.10)

This is not an answer but I have the same problem. From time to time I clone my music drive to an external drive for back up. When I do, I burn a copy of the album artwork folder, iTunes Music folder, iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Music Libraru.xml, and iTunes Library file to CDRW. This is so I can copy them into the music folder in my user home drive of my laptop then hook up the external and have access my library. Trouble is the .xml file and iTunes library files don't always show up when I go to the iTunes folder in my Music folder. There either is a blank where they should be or the names appear with no icon and when I click to select, that dissappers too. I thought I had a solve by exiting iTunes and letting it save everything. It seems to bring the .xml file back but not the itunes Library file. Any thoughts?

Contents of ITunes Music folder are missing (ITunes 8)

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