How do I get 'lost' songs to reappear in my iTunes library?

Question

I have files that have stored themselves into different folders within the iTunes Music folder(C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\iTunes Music) and many of the songs in this folder do not appear in my library. I need to know where to move the folders so they re-appear in the library.
This comment on the help menu makes no sense to me:
"Here are ways to make your songs appear in the library again:
■ Drag your iTunes folder (by default, located inside My Documents/My Music) to the iTunes window. You will see the songs in your library again. If the iTunes Library file was included, you'll also see your original playlists."
I do not know what it means by "drag your iTunes folder to the iTunes window". What is the iTunes window? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question!
Can anyone help please?
Similarly, some imported albums store themselves in a 'compilation' folder or under 'Various Artists' - even when it's different albums for the same artist - how do I successfully move these to their logical place so they appear where they should??
I think after having a few crashes, the library has gotten fragmented.
Any help is much appreciated. Cheers

Answer 1

Hi, welcome to Apple discussions.
If files that you added to iTunes are going missing, one possible candidate is Windows Media Player. Both iTunes & WMP have options that enable them to rearrange files based on the contents of the tags. If you let WMP move files however they will be "lost" to iTunes, whereas if iTunes moves a file WMP will have a good chance of finding it again.
You'll find Windows Media Player & iTunes play happier together if you make sure WMP doesn't make any automated changes to your tags. Open WMP, go to *Library > Options* and in the section *Automatic media information updates for files* remove any ticks agaisnt the following:
- Retrieve additional information from the Internet
- Rename music files using rip music settings
- Rearrange music in the rip music folder, using rip music settings
- Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files
I also make the WMP Rip folder match the main iTunes\iTunes Music folder.
Hopefully that should stop matters getting worse. It's not always that easy to work out where the missing files have moved from or where they might be now. The following method should help identify which files are no longer where iTunes expects them to be and which are not currently connected - you can use this information to help you restore things, or just use the tools to update the library with the current locations of the files.
*Adding new items/removing orphans*
Try iTunes Folder Watch or iTunes Library Updater. Folder Watch is much faster on the adding files front, can be set to run in the background and includes a useful exclusion feature, however it’s really slow at removing orphans. iTLU is better for this although doing it manually after looking at a list of proposed removals generated by Folder Watch is probably faster still. iTLU can also be set to update iTunes when you've used 3rd party tools to change tag info.
I do not know what it means by "drag your iTunes folder to the iTunes window". What is the iTunes window? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question!
This suggestion is the "drag & drop" equivalent of File... Add to library... "iTunes\iTunes Music" which would find any files within the iTunes Music folders that are not in your library, no use if WMP has moved them elsewhere and may also import duplicates in some circumstances. I'd ignore the suggestion.
Similarly, some imported albums store themselves in a 'compilation' folder or under 'Various Artists' - even when it's different albums for the same artist - how do I successfully move these to their logical place so they appear where they should??
iTunes uses the Gracenote database to get CD information. Sometimes this marks ordinary albums as "Compilations" when they aren't, most often becasue they are anthologies. If iTunes thinks an albums is a compilation it will put it in the compilations folder, otherwise it uses the Album Artist or Artist together with the Album name.
If you're lettig iTunes "Keep the iTunes music folder organised" then updating the values of Track Name, Track No., Artist, Album Artist, Album, Disc. No. & Part of a compilation flag will cause the tracks to be moved & renamed. If you manage you libray manualy, put things where you want, delete moved items and reimport from the new location. I go for full manual control, but it's up to you. In principle it really shouldn't matter where things are stored as you will be using an application to access them rather than browsing for the files. Having all you media organised within the iTunes & iTunes Music folders does make it easier to back up or relocate the entire library however, hence my suggestion to relocate the default RIP folder for WMP.
For more information on the logical organaisation of tracks within iTunes as opposed to the physcial layout of the files, see my recent post on Grouping Tracks Into Albums.
tt2