HT1349 All of my songs on Itunes won't play. All I get is a message saying my original file could not be found. How do I get my songs back?

Can not get my songs to play. They just keep giving my the error message

Hello, huskertitan.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like the original location from where iTunes was accessing your media has changed. Below, this article may help you locate your missing media. If the missing media was purchased from iTunes, the article will also show you how to download your past purchases.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1408
Cheers,
Jason H.

Similar Messages

HT1933 I bought six songs using my itunes gift card in February but I cannot play the songs or downlaod them to my ipod because I get an error saying the original file could not be found. I have used the gift card previously with no issue. How do I fix

I bought six songs using my itunes gift card in February but I cannot play the songs or downlaod them to my ipod because I get an error saying the original file could not be found. I have used the gift card previously with no issue. How do I fix it?

Have you moved or deleted those tracks on your computer (the gift card has got nothing to do with it) ?
You might be able to re-download them via the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes store home page on your computer's iTunes (re-downloading isn't possible in all countries) - if those songs appear there then delete the entries from your iTunes library (where you are clicking on them to play them and gettinf the 'original file' error), and they should then get a cloud symbol against them for re-downloading.
If they don't appear in that link then have you got them on, for example, an external drive ?

I have moved my file from my old computer. Now that I am trying to play songs and movies iTunes says the original file could not be found. How do I reverse this problem?

I have moved my file from my old computer. Now that I am trying to play songs and movies iTunes says the original file could not be found. How do I reverse this problem?

Put the files back where iTunes expects them to be.

When I try to play a song it says " The song "Take a Chance on Me" Could not be used because the original file could not be found" how do I fix this?

When I try to play a song it says " The song "Take a Chance on Me" Could not be used because the original file could not be found" how do I fix this?

1. delete this songs from your liblary
2. go File -> Add File to Liblary... (Ctrl+O) or File -> Add Folder to Liblary

I recently restored my laptop and also iTunes from an external hard drive, but when I play songs, it says the original file could not be found. How do I locate and fix this?

I recently restored my laptop with Windows 7 and imported my iTunes library from my external hard drive. When I try to play songs, it says it cannot and that the original file could not be located. How do I fix this?

Put the files back where iTunes expects them to be.

"song cannot be used because the original file could not be found" How do I fix?

I get an explanation point by songs that are gone, Why?

The media is not where iTunes expects it to be.
If you moved it, put it back.
If it was moved by another program, put it back.
Any other reason, restore the files from the backup of the computer.

When selecting a song to play in iTunes, I get an error message indicating the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it. I have no idea where to look since the library hold all my files.

When selecting a song to play from iTunes library, I continually get an error message indicating the original file could not be found. Then asks, would you like to locate it? Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm not even able to play the songs I purchased due to this error message. Any ideas how to remedy this problem?
Thanks

It would help to have more background about your iTunes collection such as if you keep it on an external drive, or if you have moved or renamed anything recently. iTunes is very sensitive to you renaming or moving files or folders involved with your media. iTunes only keeps a reference to where a media file is located and then goes to look for it when you try to play it. If you have changed things since it was added to itunes then it's like me sending you to look for a friend in my addressbook but that friend has moved.
The other possibility is your computer is starting to lose files. Again, the computer uses a reference database to tell it where on the drive to look for a file. If that database gets corrupt then it starts losing files. Use Dsk Utility's first aid to verify your hard drive.

ITunes message "the original file could not be found"

I recently consolidated my music files to an external hard drive using the "consolidate" feature in iTunes. I imported the music library files and everything seemed to be good. I even did it a second time on to another external hard drive that I back up my entire computer to so that I actually had two copies of my music. At the time I checked that I could access the music on either hard drive by picking the library on that respect external unit with the other drive turned off. Both units were disconnected from the computer for several days and when I went to play iTunes I get the message that "the original file could not be found". It doesn't matter which hard drive library I try to access the result is the same.
I have exported the library text file to Access and there is no information in the "Location" column. It would appear that this information was not saved or lost somehow. The tech article on "Recreating the iTunes Library file" didn't work as iTunes stated the same thing, "the original file could not be found".
All my music is still there, iTunes library file just lost the information as to the location of the individual files. Anybody know of a way or a program to reestablish those locations with out going through 10,000 songs one by one to reestablish its location?
HP Windows XP

I am having some difficulty understanding exactly what set up your have and are you on iTunes 7? You don’t need to use consolidate to get your library onto an external drive if you are on 7, there is an easier way.
There are two important considerations, the location of the library files and the location of the iTunes Music folders. You have iTunes Music folders on two different external drives, but what about the library files – iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml?
Do you have those on the internal drive in My Music\iTunes, or do you have separate copies on the two external drives in iTunes folders there? Something like
X:\Music\iTunes\ containing the libraries and X:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music for the music files.
The more precise information about how you have things set up the better, and what is the location of your iTunes Music folder as set in Edit>Preferences>Advanced>General.
What method were you using to try to connect to the music on the two drives, and do they always have the same drive letters?
In general terms you get exclamation marks against your tracks for the following reasons:
The song file or a folder in its path was renamed
The song file or the folder it is in has been moved
The song file has been deleted
The device containing the song files e.g. external drive is not accessible

I have a new hard drive as my old one crashed. Everything seemed to transfer fine except for my entire iTunes library. It shows all of my old songs, but when I click on one it states "the song could not be used as the original file could not be found

I have a new hard drive as my old one crashed. Everything seemed to transfer fine except for my entire iTunes library. It shows all of my old songs, but when I click on one it states "the song could not be used as the original file could not be found.would you like to locate it".
Either how do I locate it, and I've tried every trick I know, or how do I restore all of my songs from one of two sources. I have my old hard drive backedup on an external drive which should have all of my songs, and I have most of my songs on my old iPhone 3S which I'm using as a backup iPod.

The "missing file" error happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place. In the case of a library moved from one system to another there are also potential permissions issues. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links.
If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

ITunes tells me "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want it?

iTunes tells me my song selection: "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want?
Message was edited by: Woildbill

I just spent several hours dealing with this when switching to a new PC. It was extremely frustrating as I knew my files were on my external HD but no matter how many times I copied my old iTunes folder over the files were still missing...because dummy me had forgotten to "unhide folders" on my new PC and my old files were actually stored in a hidden folder created long long ago.
This is how I did it on Windows 7 with iTunes 10
1. Look in iTunes Advanced Preferences to see where iTunes is saving files. (Edit, Preferences, Advanced)
Example: C:/Users/Woildbill/My Music/iTunes/Music
2. Ensure you are able to see hidden files - Control Panel, Folder Option, View, Show Hidden Files
3. Use Your Computer's Search Function to Locate the Missing File (Start, Search, type name of song - I started my search in "My Music" folder but be sure to expand to entire Computer if not found right away)
4. In Search Results, right-click found folder and select properties. This will tell you where the file is actually stored.
5. Use Windows Explorer (right-click start) to navigate to the location of the file. It is likley your other missing files are in the same location.
6. In Windows Explorer, copy the newly located files to the iTumes location from Step 1 and everything should work again.
Hope this helps!

Recently bought a new computer and all my music appears in iTunes as well as on my computer in a saved folder. When I try to play the music in iTunes I get an error that reads"the song could not be used because the original file could not be found."

Recently bought a new computer and all my music appears in iTunes as well as on my computer in a saved folder. When I try to play the music in iTunes I get an error that reads"the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" Hope you can help me solve this issue.
Thanks,
Shellyboo

This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
tt2

I downloaded the new version of iTunes and now over 100 songs have an exclamation mark beside them and won't play. The message says: "The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I get these songs back?

I downloaded the new version of iTunes and now over 100 songs have an exclamation mark beside them and won't play. The message says: "The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I get these songs back?

Presuming they're on your computer, right click on them and then follow the prompts to locate hte file on your computer.

Recently got a new computer and installed itunes from external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when i click on a song i receive this message "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". What do i do?

I recently got a new computer and installed itunes from which had been saved onto an external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when I click on a song I receive this message "the song "abc" could not be used because the original file could not be found". What can I do?

I was given the option to locate the file where the song is held. If so select "locate" and direct it to the folder / file where the song is and open it. itunes then will give you the option to use this process to update all of your library. OK that as this will do it automatically instead of doing them one by one. I hope this helps.
Martin

I want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"

i want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"i want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"

but they are on my phone and play

I tried to play my iTunes and suddenly get an error message that says "The song (name) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it now?" It happens on all my tunes and each one I select ends up with a "?"

I tried to play my iTunes and suddenly get an error message that says "The song (name) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it now?" It happens on each tune I select and a "?" appears beside the song. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music

HT1349 All of my songs on Itunes won't play. All I get is a message saying my original file could not be found. How do I get my songs back?

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