How do I get iTunes to refresh its database?

I have now twice imported an mp3 Audiobook into iTunes, attempting to get it onto my iPod.
Both times the tracks don't show up in iTunes but I can hunt for them in Finder and they are there in iTunes' folders, duplicated!
Searching on any of the album name, composer etc or even individual track names in iTunes, shows up nothing. This is not the only time this has happened. The other instances I find the tracks in iTunes' folders and drag them back into iTunes and mostly they show up. This set stubbornly won't.
iTunes is so unreliable, it's been losing material on me for years but due to the complexity of how it handles media, it is hard to pin down under what circumstances exactly it is doing this. Or whether it is just random or due to my library being so large.
How do you tame this donkey?

Steven
Not offended at all, just clarifying what I do. I'm pretty anal about this.
I had looked under Recently Added and have now looked with Date Added under all the categories and it still fails to show up.
I saw another post which said to tickle the database by bringing up some other tracks and just changing them to force the database to rewrite, but I have already been through a series of other imports which should do that.
This is what I really dislike about this all in one database style that Apple has chosen for iTunes, iPhoto, Bento etc. All your eggs are in the one basket when things go wrong, and go wrong they seem to do with depressing regularity.
I am in full agreement with all the PC users who detest the iTunes ecosystem for this very reason.
Because iTunes is stuffing up I can't do a straight forward import on to my iPod.
Apple insists on ATV2 using iTunes as well, the very worst system, to manage its media with the added complication that it does it exclusively over wireless network. Crazy as, when most other systems allow a direct connection between the media and what it is displayed on.
Apple has strayed a long way from its previous pursuit of simplicity and "It just works".
Peter

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How can I get iTunes to refresh its database of the music on my PC?

This is what I want to do:
1.Delete a lot of tracks in various folders on my hard drive
2.Then get iTunes to run through its database and compare to my hard drive and remove any references to tracks it can no longer find.
How do I do this? I can't find a way of getting iTunes to order the tracks by folder location, nor does there seem to be a refresh method.
If you want to know why I want to do this:
I had a bunch of music on my PC when I installed iTunes. So iTunes added all the music it could find to its database but basically without any info, like Artist/Album etc etc.
Now, I don't mind importing my CD's again so that iTunes can organise it properly with all the info and track order info, but how do I get iTunes to forget about the stuff that was originally imported? Bearing in mind that I don't want to forget about everything, and also there doesn't seem to be a way of ordering the music by location. If there was, I could just ordrer it that way and then select the tracks I want to delete.
Thanks in advance...
Generic Windows 2000

After a couple of days, I'm noticing that the repeat(ing) offenders have more than 10 episodes, and seem to keep repeating them every time I sync.
They only show once in my phone and in the iTunes Podcasts, but through iTunes and looking at what's in my phone is when I see the repeats.
Even after I've marked a podcast as played, and deleted it from within my phone, as well as telling iTunes to delete the played episodes, it still shows multiples of the played episodes.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it either. They aren't the newest ones either.

HT1296 so itunes deleted all my music from itunes, I still have all the original files however I unwittingly added new music after this happened which wipes the itl and xml files. I have my playlists on my iphone. how do I get itunes back to its original

If this cant be resolved I think apple and I shall be parting ways its been a long time in the coming

Also, what causes this, so I can avoid it in the future?

My laptop had to be reset to factory settings. prior to that i had all my itunes songs stored on a portable drive. how do i get itunes to recognize the drive as its library?

my laptop had to be reset to factory settings. prior to that i had all my itunes songs stored on a portable drive. how do i get itunes to recognize the drive as its library?

If the library file is on the external drive, hold <SHIFT> while launching iTunes. When it prompts to select a library file or create a new one, point it to the location of the library file.
If the library file was on the internal harddrive, easiest solution is to restore it from the backup. If no backup exists, use File > Add Folder to library. Also under Edit > Preferences > Advanced, change the library location unless you want iTunes to move the media to the internal drive.

I have a song in my itunes libary that is showing seperate from its album, how do I get it back in its album?

I have a song in my itunes libary that is showing seperate from its album, how do I get it back in its album?

See my article on Grouping tracks into albums.
tt2

HT1751 how do you get Itune to recognize the library if you have moved it to a external drive from your computer due to its size?

I have moved my Itunes libray to a external drive due to it's size. How do I get Itunes to see the new location and referance it when downloading and uploading media?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202

How can I get iTunes to display the tracks from a CD in their original (album) order?

To be absolutely honest, I don't really understand what this box is for, so I shall just use it to repeat and expand on my question. (I have already sent a "Feedback" comment on the same topic).
How can I get iTunes to display the tracks from a CD in their original (album) order?
It seems to me that there is something very basic wrong with the way iTunes handles CD Tracks.
Professionally produced CD tracks are seldom if ever in a randomised order. Why then does iTunes seem unable to display the tracks in the order they appear on the original CD source - whether from a personally owned CD or from a download from the iTunes Store?
Some music demands a specific, non-alphabetic sequence in order to make sense. Why does it seem that iTunes only offers Alphabetic, or reverse alphabetic order - both of which make a nonsense of the original, often intended order of tracks?
Why not replace the so-called "cover-art" in the bottom left hand corner if the iTunes window - which, while it may look attractive to some, gives the barest of information concerning the original disc, with a list of the original CD tracks in their original order, so that the user can easily reestablish the order in which they should be played.
As I would expect legibility might be a problem with doing this, why could not the original contents, (in their original order), at least, be displayed when the "cover art" is double clicked-on - the result of which at present gives me an enlarged version of the "Cover Art". While on the subject of the contents of the source disc, what about all the album notes which someone takes trouble to write in order to increase the appreciation of the music on the CD and the listener's general background knowledge of the artists involved. Such notes, it seems to me, have considerable intrinsic value in their own account. I would, I think, normally be prepared to buy such "Sleeve notes" - so long as a "taster" was supplied (as it is for the music) - for something like the cost of a single 'Tune" on iTunes.
These two aspects let Apple iTunes down enormously, in my opinion. I think that by chopping even quite protracted sequences of music up into bits does no one any favours - except perhaps Apple's already quite substantial bank balance. People have to be aware that two and a half, to three and a half minutes is a very short time to develop a piece of worthwhile music, and that there are many, many composers, not all of whom are alive today who have written music that huge masses of mankind value for the enrichment of their lives and the human condition in general.
Please make the viewing of iTunes tracks in their correct order by default possible. By all means have the alphabetical variations available as offering a different approach to the music, but not the sole approach to it - PLEASE.
Frustratedly yours
Alan Whitaker
PS I work at my old 24" iMac Intel Core 2 machine which runs OS "Tiger" - because it is more beautiful to look at, the screen is more pleasant to work on, and because, in some ways it is more capable (it will run FreeHand MX without needing a "patch"), than my more recent 21.5" which runs "Snow Leopard". (I don't find it that much slower, either).

Dear Mike
Thanks for the support. I am utterly amazed that after all the hype about how good iTunes is that it cannot play a downloaded CD in the correct order, and that what that order should be is not available directly from within one's own iTunes installation. (I know that one can go back to the iTunes Store to check what the order should be, but having downloaded the tracks surely iTunes is clever enough to retrieve this important information.
My iTunes to differ from yours in that I have also noticed that it seems unable to download copies of my "talking books" in the correct order either. But in my case it downloads them - from a CD - in order, but with the first track downloaded first - so that it appears at the bottom of the column of tracks so that it would get played last! (At least this is, while being inexplicable, a relatively "logical" bit of blundering and because of this is relatively easy to put right!).
I like many genres of music, some of which are not really programmed except perhaps by the artist performing them. I know that Frank Sinatra was very careful to programme his album songs to obtain a particular effect and in relation to the keys of the music. iTunes presumes to know better.
Film scores may be totally randomly put together, in some cases, but in others the order is vital to one's appreciation of the music as a whole and how it relates to the plot of the film.
In symphonic music most works are divided into sections and are conceived by the composer that way. Some individual sections may gain a life of their own if played separately, but they are never complete in the sense that the composer envisaged them without being placed in their proper context.
Opera and probably most choral music too, is similar except that the words may well become meaningless if the order is changed at the whim of a piece of ill-written computer code, while ballet music has to be heard totally within its sequential context or it becomes meaningless.
Finally, I would venture that iTunes, by jumbling up the order of the tracks as recorded on a CD, does an immense disservice, not only to the music on a particular CD, but to music in general, by expressing everything in terms of "Songs" - which it seems to interpret as stand-alone items of between 2 and 4 minutes whatever the genre. Even the way the iTunes publicity speaks of how many "songs" it can store instead of how many minutes or hours of recorded sound. This has to be another brick in the wall of "dumming-down" of people's expectations, and the shortening of their attention spans.
I don't know about anyone else, but I feel betrayed by Apple over this. Perhaps the look, feel and general presentation of an item are not the most desirable features of a consumer product. Maybe it should be judged more on it fitness for the purpose for which it was sold. There is one other possibility - that Apple are trying to redefine "Music" - and that everything that lasts longer than about 3.5 minutes or is in the form of what could for want of a better term be called symphonic in the broadest sense is something else - not "Music" within Apple's new definition, at all!
Well that's off my chest! now I can get down to creating some sort of order in my iTunes Libraries, knowing that I have to reconsult all the sources in order to confirm the source playing order.
Anyway thanks again. At least I know that it is not just me
alanfromthatcham

How can I get itunes to play one album from start to finish, especially when there are different artists on it?

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If your music is sorted by "Albums", even a compilation is a single click.
'various artists' on the album, it stores them all separately,
That happens when you sort your music by "Artist".

How do you get iTunes to list JUST broken or dead links?

I would like to know how to get iTunes to show just broken links (aka Dead Links) much like how you can select it to show just duplicate songs/links
My Internal Harddrive (HD) had a glitch afew weeks ago and I had to reformat and reinstall. Before any of that happened tho I had made a complete backup copy of the "My Music" folder (Which included the iTunes folder with its database and everything else) to a external HD.
After getting the interal HD back up and running, I just copied everything within the "My Music" folder off the external and into the "My Music" folder on my Internal C Drive. During the copy process is when I found out that whatever glitch had happened had also affeced some of the MP3 files I had backed up on the external. Windows was able to copy all of the iTunes folder with its database and half of the MP3's The other half it couldn't tho.
Now when I open iTunes being that the database was copied over and all songs that were recovered are exactly where they were before they show up I have no problems there. But the songs that were not recovered are listed in the iTunes Library, just has broken links tho since they do not exist anymore.
It would make things ALOT easier if I could just get iTunes to show only the broken links. This would make a PERFECT list of all the songs I have missing. I could then know exactly which songs I need to rip again using iTunes or download so I can point these dead links to files and finish updating my iPod.
Windows XP

OK I have finally got this question somewhat answered, I went and used the Javascript at http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/FindDeadTracks.txt the first time, followed the rules of using "Save as" and changing the .txt at the end to .js and got errors running it.
The Second time tho, instead of just using "save as" I realized the first lines of this text are not code but just directions. Someone might know of a shorter way of doing this but I Highlighted only the code itsself and saved that (Example Below):
/* Rename me to FindDeadTracks.js
Double Click in Explorer to run
Script by Otto - http://ottodestruct.com */
var ITTrackKindFile = 1;
var iTunesApp = WScript.CreateObject("iTunes.Application");
var deletedTracks = 0;
I just skipped the "Rename me to ........" Highlighted "var ITTrackKindFile " And everything below it. After saving this and running it, The script opened iTunes poped up how many dead tracks it found in a pop up window and (Without saying) had made a Text File of all the songs that were dead tracks in the "My Documents" Folder.

TS1363 I have windows 8 and itunes 11.1 ... it identifies my iphone 4 but insists that I either update my phone to OS 7 or restore to by basic 6.1.3 OS I don't want to do either. How can I get itunes to access my iphone ?

I have windows 8 and itunes 11.1 ... my laptop identifies my iphone 4 but itunes insists that I either update my phone to OS 7 or restore to by basic 6.1.3 OS I don't want to do either. How can I get itunes to access my iphone ?

RealPlayer can cause conflicts with Flash Player because it tries to assign EVERY TYPE of video or audio file to itself by default. I haven't used RealPlayer in years for that reason. It's an unnecessary program anymore. There are apps loike VLC media player that cna do EVERYTHING it does without conflicting with other apps like Flash Player.
With WIndows 8, Microsoft began embedding FlashPlayer themselves into Internet Explorer. Because of that, you cannot download and install it from here. You cannot uninstall it from Internet Explorer without removing a specific Windows Update first. And you cannot update it via this website. ONLY through Windows Update can Flash Player for Internet Explorer be updated.
That said, you probably DON'T have a virus that's causing the problems with Flash Player and Internet Explorer. Many, many websites are not "recognizing" the browser.
This is a known problem with Internet Explorer 11, which Microsoft has been aware of since October 18 when they released IE11 The pages can't recognize the browser, so they don't recognize any of the plugins, like Flash Player.
So far, Microsoft has made NO indication that they have any plan to fix it soon.
Microsoft's recommendation is to use Compatibility View for affected pages, and "pretend" you're using an different browser. Trouble with that is it has seen limited success at best, and you have to individually enable it for EVERY page that has problems.
I'm not big on "pretending" so I recommend actually using another browser.
Firefox (from Mozilla)
Opera (from Opera)
Safari (from Apple)
Chrome (from Google)
ANY of those will work where IE11 won't, with the Flash Player Plug-in (For all other browsers), and Chrome doesn't even need that because it has its own Flash Player plugin built in.

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The problem here is that iTunes wants to make sure that the songs that were purchased are sent to the same device that purchased them. In this case, you would need to authorize your computer first. This is as easy as opening iTunes, find "store" in the upper status bar, and select Authorize This Computer. A dialogue will pop up asking for your iTunes ID and your password. Enter the ID you purchased the songs with. Afterwords, you should be able to sync the songs.

How do I get iTunes to maximize to the full screen instead of maximizing off the screen?

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How can I get iTUNES library to display renamed files and folders (renamed with Windows Explorer)?

How can I get iTunes library to display the new names and organisation of tracks and albums (ie files and folders) that I have renamed and reorganised (using Windows Explorer) having previously imported them using iTunes?
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Thanks for your replies ckuan
I agree with Tgod that your first solution does not work. It appears unpredictable whether the old or new file names are listed when you drag the folders into iTunes from Windows Explorer. The folder structure is completely missing. I reckon if you have to muck around spending days/weeks/months finding out how to fix links to a secret meta-file (obviously designed by some deep-cover microsoft worm working in the Apple!), then it's pretty obvious that almost any alternate way of doing this would be better. Bye bye iTunes!!
Incidentally, I tried several other things that (if the software was designed intuitively) should work, but give disastrous results:
1) when deleting the library listing in iTunes, it gives you two options - one is to remove the listings to the Recycler. Be aware that IF you select that option, it removes not only your library listing, but also your ACTUAL MUSIC FILES to the Recycler. Moreover, it does NOT remove the insidious secret meta-file that is what apparently keeps rewriting old names over your carefully renamed file names, and keeps totally ignoring your carefully designed folder (album) structure. OK - not a complete disaster, as I realised and went hunting through the chaos in the Recycler to recover all my files. No thanks to the genius who designed this brilliant feature!
2) after deleting the library listing in iTunes, I attempted to import just the folders that I wanted. iTunes refused to allow me to do that, and proceeded to try to import every frigging music file it could find on my whole hard drive, in apparently random fashion into the library. Whoever thought up that doozy either never ever tried to use or market test it, or has modified their mind rather too many times with artificial substances so their brain is like muesli chop suey.
3) oh why go on, it's too depressing ...

How can I get itunes on my pc laptop to recognize my ipad

how can I get itunes on my pc laptop to recognize my ipad

I had the same problem and I found the fix here on apples site. http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/. If your using a pc you should go to this address on apples site and follow these steps exactly! its what fixed my problem. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923. You can also get to this link from the above address location at the end when it asks which version of windows you are using. Hope this saves you a trip!

How do i get itunes to recognize my device

how do i get itunes to recognize my device

Hello there,
It sounds like your iPod Nano is not seen in iTunes. I recommend the troubleshooting steps from the article named:
iPod not recognized in My Computer and in iTunes for Windows
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1369
Here is an overview of the troubleshooting to be done:
1. Start with the iPod Troubleshooting Assistant
If you haven't already done so, use the iPod Troubleshooting Assistant that applies to your iPod. This will often solve your issue.
If you're still experiencing the issue after going through each of the steps in the assistant, continue with the steps below in this article. The most likely solutions are listed below (for both USB and FireWire (IEEE 1394) iPod connections). Check each section starting from the top of the list to see if that is what's keeping your iPod from appearing.
Note: To determine if your iPod syncs via USB or FireWire, check the table in the Additional Information section below.
2. If your iPod displays an exclamation point folder or sad iPod icon
3. Charge the iPod and make sure it is getting power
4. Secure the iPod's connections
5. Disconnect other USB Devices
6. Determine whether your iPod's cable functions properly
7. Place the iPod into Disk Mode
8. Determine which format the iPod is in
9. Verify that USB drivers are installed
10. Determine if Windows confuses iPod with a network drive
11. Determine if third-party software may be causing conflicts
12. Reinstall iTunes
13. Make sure FireWire card is a WHQL-certified IEEE 1394 card
14. Check for a conflict in the FireWire chain
15. Determine if there may be an issue with your computer
16. Your iPod needs service
If the issue persists, try uninstalling iTunes and its associated apps with this article named:
Removing and reinstalling iTunes and other software components for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1923
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
All the best,
Sterling

How do I get iTunes to refresh its database?

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