How do I get iTunes 11 to locate most of my music files?

I have used iTunes since it was first introduced and have a library of 55,000 pieces of music, the music files are kept on an external Hard Drive. Since upgrading to iTunes 11 my player will not recognize most of the music files on my external hard drive and worse still it will, when I find the file, still not remember where it is and will offer to update other missing music files then "hang" / freeze until I am forced to quit iTunes. As it took a huge amount of time to load all of this onto my apple desktops over several years I would love someone to point me in the right direction to resolve this. Does the Compilation folder complicate the itunes search factor?

Do you have a working copy of the library anywhere? The key file is called iTunes Library.itl and normally exists inside <User's Music>\iTunes. This is the file that knows what is in your library and each of the playlists, and holds ratings, play counts etc. Changing the media folder path in preferences tells iTunes where you'd like it to store media in future. It doesn't magically connect iTunes to any media that might already be there, or fix links to media that has been moved, or make it pick up a non-existent library file. If the worst comes to it you will need to import the media into the new empty library.
See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device if you have any of these to recover ratings, play stats and playlists, and to associate your device with the new library.
tt2

Similar Messages

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

How do I get itunes to locate songs?

I just transferred my itunes file from an old PC to a new one. When I select a song on itunes on the new PC it cannot locate the file. How do I get itunes to locate all of my songs so they will play?

Hey jherron12,
To locate files is going to be one at a time; the easiest way to do this is to do it in one of two ways. To import music that is already on the new computer, follow the below article to get that media in iTunes. You will probably want to delete what is in iTunes to prevent double files. When you delete the files it will ask to keep the files or move to the Recycle Bin, choose the keep the files.
iTunes 11 for Windows: Import music and video already on your computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12493
The other way is to start the transfer again, and follow the steps in the this article to move files.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Regards,
-Norm G.

How can I get iTunes to locate and play all my music files?

How can I get iTunes to locate and play all my music files?

I have this problem too. I am researching now. Here is what I know so far. If you right click a song then get ifo the it will say Protected AAC or purchased AAC. Protected wont play on sonos, purchased will play on sonos. It seems that all my protected were purchased 2005 to 2009 or so. I am trying to find out if apply will convert these for a small dfee or if I use the itunes cloud these tunes will convert for me. downloading and reloading is not an option for me. Pretty much a money grab by apple either way. I am sure Steve is smiling.

How do I get itunes to recognize all of the music in my library. I backed up the library for 24.95 and not all of it went into the backed up library?

How do you get Itunes to recognize all the music in your library when you buy the backup in the cloud? Alot of my music was not backed up. These are songs I burned off my CD collection. Itunes Match did not recognize them either?

*What am I doing wrong?*
You moved it to the server.
You should let iTunes do it.
Point iTunes prefs to the new location.
Menu Advanced -> Consolidate library.

How do I get iTunes 11 to see ALL my music?

Upgraded to Windows 8 64 bit System. Only music purchased on itunes is added to library. All imported CDs and music purchased elsewhere does not show up in the library. There is no previous library file saved. How do I get iTunes to see ALL my music?
APPLE... Please FIX this!

Do you have a working copy of the library anywhere? The key file is called iTunes Library.itl and normally exists inside <User's Music>\iTunes. This is the file that knows what is in your library and each of the playlists, and holds ratings, play counts etc. Changing the media folder path in preferences tells iTunes where you'd like it to store media in future. It doesn't magically connect iTunes to any media that might already be there, or fix links to media that has been moved, or make it pick up a non-existent library file. If the worst comes to it you will need to import the media into the new empty library.
See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device if you have any of these to recover ratings, play stats and playlists, and to associate your device with the new library.
tt2

How do i get itunes to scan my computer for mp3 files

Hello,
I just got a new computer and I have all my old mp3 files on my disc. How do I get itunes to scan my drive and import all my 10,000 songs at one time?

When you first install iTunes, it offers to do a one-time scan of your hard drive.
If you miss that opportunity, you can add music at any time using the command File > Add Folder to Library. That command brings up a dialog where you can navigate to the folder you want to add, e.g. My Music.

How can I get iTunes to locate my music?

Alright, a couple days ago I found myself with a problem. iTunes could not locate my music. I went on the internet looking up solutions and loe and behold... they didn't work. Then, just today, I found one that put myself in another mess. It had me go get my iTunes Music Library and post it on my desktop, then delete my iTunes Library itself. Then I was to import the iTunes Music Library back into iTunes. Makes sense right? Didn't work either. When I tried to upload it back on, it just said "Unable to upload because some files cannot be found." Now not only do I not have the files themselves in iTunes (I still have this iTunes Music Library to keep record of what they were), but my computer cannot find where they are.
Keep in mind my raw music files are not the same as my library, I had edited, deleted, etc several songs to my liking.
I even tried pasting all of the raw music into iTunes (hopefully it would remember where they were) and deleting them, but then when I tried importing the iTunes Music Library again, it STILL could not find them.
Can anyone think of any solutions to my dilemma? Any help will be appreciated!

Typical reasons for missing files are, you've deleted the files, they are on a disconnected external drive, or the drive has a changed drive letter, you've moved the folder where the files live in some other fashion, a third party app has rearranged the files, or iTunes has got confused about the layout they are supposed to be in.
Generally you need to work out what has happend, reverse the action and everything will be alright again. If it is something you can't/don't want to undo, e.g. a drive letter change, then as long as you can track down the current location of the folder containing the media then my script FindTracks should be able to reconnect it to iTunes.
tt2

How can I get Itunes to recognize all of my music

I've gotten a new computer and have put all of my music stored on an external drive. I have downloaded itunes, changed the directory to find music to the external drive with my music but it still only chooses some songs. Help, please.

Morning, rozlee.
Getting our music succesfully from one computer to our new computer is always one of those things we just want to have done. I was able to find the following article which reviews what file formats are compatible with iTunes specifically.
Adding music and other content to iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1473#2
Compare your file formats to the information under "Adding Content on your computer to iTunes":
Adding content on your computer to iTunes
iTunes helps you add digital audio and video files on your computer directly to your iTunes library. You can add audio files that are in AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless, or Audible.com (.aa) format. If you have unprotected WMA content, iTunes for Windows can convert these files to one of these formats. You can also add video content in QuickTime or MPEG-4 format to iTunes. To learn how to add these files to iTunes follow the steps below.
Open iTunes
From the File menu, choose one of the following choices:
MacAdd to Library
Windows
Add File to Library
Add Folder to Library
Navigate to and select the file or folder that you want to add
Hope this information serves to be useful. Thanks for using Apple Support Communities to find answers to your questions.
Cheers,
Pedro D.

How do I get iTunes 11 to see my existing music?

iTunes 11.1.5.5 was just downloaded to my Windows 8 laptop. No previous version of itunes was on this device. My 35 gigs of music is stored in a dropbox file.
The existing dropbox "itunes" folder does not have the current iTunes 11.1 folder structure (no "iTunes Media" subfolder). Similarly the existing "itunes" folder does not have an "iTunes Music" folder.
I've tried several things.
1st: I "Changed" the itunes Media location the existing Dropbox iTunes folder. ITunes did not see anything.
2nd: I "Reorganized the files" Files\Library\Organize Library. Nothing Happened. Except the reorganize option became grey and unaccessable.
3rd: I restored the original default loacation installed when 11.1 was downloaded and CONSOLDATED also at Files\Library\Organize Library. - Nothing Happened.
HELP....What is my next Option?

Do you have a working copy of the library anywhere? The key file is called iTunes Library.itl and normally exists inside <User's Music>\iTunes. This is the file that knows what is in your library and each of the playlists, and holds ratings, play counts etc. Changing the media folder path in preferences tells iTunes where you'd like it to store media in future. It doesn't magically connect iTunes to any media that might already be there, or fix links to media that has been moved, or make it pick up a non-existent library file. If the worst comes to it you will need to import the media into the new empty library.
See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device if you have any of these to recover ratings, play stats and playlists, and to associate your device with the new library.
tt2

How do i get itunes to download ONLY my purchased music, not movies or tv shows or anything else on my windows machine?

Today, I had to retire my Macbook 17" Pro because it would not do wireless internet anymore. It is now an expensive dust-gatherer in my storage closet. I had all my music and movies and tv shows on there, but I wasn't all that worried, the movies and tv shows I'll probably never watch again, but the music was another matter - music that I purchased via iTunes.
"Not to worry," I thought,"It's all in the cloud."
And so it was. But the problem is that iTunes on my Windows 7 desktop insists on downloading all my 150GB of movies and tv shows that I don't want on there. I want ONLY the music that I purchased. Yes, the Windows 7 desktop is authorized, just to get that little matter out of the way. But I can see nowhere in Edit -> Preferences where I can actually set it NOT to download movies or tv shows, but to allow music to download. Are there any workarounds for this?
I'd love to just be able to go back to my Macbook Pro, but I have to wait until I hear word from Cupertino that they have not only acknowledged the general problem with Macbook Pro's wireless, but actually have a fix for it. Sorry, if I sound abrasive, but when something is supposed to "just work" and it doesn't, it does get a bit disconcerting.
Thanks to all for reading this! :-)

I see there's no answer.
This issue has ****** me off for a long time, and I am fed the **** up with it.
I DO NOT WANT TO DOWNLOAD the Movies and TV shows to every *^&%^$%# Apple device, ONLY the MUSIC!!!
COme on Apple!!! FIx this!!!

How do i get itunes to sync without losing my music

i have synced my phone twice and both times have lost my music. i cannot get my music to transfer to my computer. the latest time one album synced. the other 100 or so song disappeared

I'm sure you know that when you sync your iPhone to your computer, it automatically replaces the songs on your iPhone with the ones on your computer. It is important to sync your purchases to your computer on a regular basis, so that if you do lose them from your iPhone, they will be on your computer's hard drive and you will be able to retrieve them, if needed, the next time you sync. Purchases made on your device are not automatically saved to your computer. Your device has to be physically plugged in after purchasing.
Since it automatically replaces the songs on your iPhone with the ones on your computer, this could effectively erase any songs downloaded on your iPhone that haven't been backed up. I highly recommend checking out this article for future transfers:
Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305465
Additionally, you can set your iPhone to not replace your music automatically by enabling manual sync. You can read the following article for more information:
Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1535
Take care..

How do I get itunes and iphoto to have the same files on multiple users?

Every time I upload a disc or photos, they show up on my user profile, but not my wife's. It seems like I am wasting a ton of hard drive space reloading the same things between each user. I tried the "shared" folder, but i am not sure that worked.
Thanks for the help...

I don't think that Thomas's solution will work on 10.5.
There are two ways to share, depending on what you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a dmg.
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.
Regards
TD

How do I get iTunes to allow me to restore iPhone files from backup?

My iPhone 5 was previously backed up via iTunes to my laptop running OS 10.8.4. However, the File | Devices | Restore option in iTunes is grayed out (AAARGH!). Moreover, I cannot figure out where the backup file is stored on my laptop. I need to pull back a video that was accidentally deleted.
Any ideas?

To restore from back up try the steps in the article below apart from the one you already tried:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
Also to check for a back up you can do this two ways:
- iTunes>Preferences>Devices>Device Backups
Or
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

How do i get itunes to scan my computer for music-multiple user accts

I want to add music from another user account to Itunes under my userlogin. I can add files one folder/album at a time but that is very time consuming. Is there a way using one command for Itunes to scan the entire harddrive searching through multiple user accounts and add the files?

In itune 11,
Type (ctrl + B), this will make the menu bar unhide.
Then, go to File, SELECT "Add folder to Library"
A new window will open, and you can drive down to the folder that contain all of the music.
From that folder, hold SHIFT down and highlight all the folders of the music.
Then select ok.
Good luck

How do I get iTunes 11 to locate most of my music files?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for