HT1349 Unable to play any of the music in my itunes library. The message The song "__" could not be used because the original file could not be found.

Unable to play all the music in my itunes library. The same message always appears - The song "____" could not be used because the original finle could not be found. How do I fix this problem?

Hello there, Paso Kid.
The following Knowledge Base articles provide some assistance with locating content in your iTunes Library:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
and
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1391
If you have already reviewed those steps and still cannot find the songs you purchased from iTunes, delete the songs and download them again using the information in this article:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Download previous purchases from the iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12491
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

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HT1399 My songs can't be played because the original files can't be found. What can I do?

I can't play my songs on my computer because the original files can't be found. I can, however, play them on my ipod. I tried to re-download my purchases but itunes won't allow me to do so. What can I do to retrieve my music files on my computer?

If you still have the 'pointers' to the tracks on your computer's iTunes (even if the files themselves aren't on there) then it won't let you re-download them as it assumes that they are still there - if you delete the 'pointers' then you should be able to copy your Apple purchases back from the iPod via File > Transfer Purchases, and depending on which country that you are in you might also be able to re-download them for free. For music bought from other sources or copied from CDs you will either need to copy them back onto your computer from a backup, or you need to get a third-party program that can copy them off the iPod

HT1390 I rented a movie and it shows up in my iTunes "Rented" section, but when I click to play it, it gives me an error message saying the movie can't be played because the original file can't be found. Please help!

I rented a movie and it shows up in my iTunes "Rented" section, but when I click to play it, it gives me an error message saying the movie can't be played because the original file can't be found. Please help!

Never mind I fixed it. Just in case anyone else has this problem, after you reinstall iTunes you have to delete all your old music, and if you have iTunes match all the songs you have saved on itunes match will display and you just have to download them to your Macbook.

Can't play libray 'could not be used b/c the original file can't be found"

Dell Inspiron 9300 Windows XP
When I try to play the songs In my library I get an error message saying " could not be used because the original file could notbe found. Would you like to locate it?" This is the same for both my uploaded and purchased music. This happened all of a sudden and I don't know why. I did not remove any music files from my computer. Can anyone help me please?
Dell Inspiron 9300 Windows XP
Dell Inspiron 9300 Windows XP

You get exclamation marks or dead tracks because iTunes can’t find the file. This can happen for a number of 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.
So, did you move or delete anything? Do you have any other software that might move things - such as another music player reorganising your files?
You can use Windows Explorer to try and locate the music files, also look in the recycle bin.
Windows search can also look for music files.
Don't allow your iPod to synchronise as this may delete files from your iPod and you may need it to recover your music if the files really have gone from your HD.

Library not playing songs because the original file can't be found.

My iTunes is having problems. I download new music and then later that night my library shows up, but says:
The song "insert name here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
I have roughly 1400 songs and instead of locating each one individually is there something that I could do to make this process go much quicker and more efficiently? Can it also be done without messing up my song count and last time played?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Well, I got it fixed...
1 I found the nearest Apple Store. I think you can get to a list via Apple.com/retail
2 Made an online appointment with the GENIUS BAR folks at the store.
3 They went into Edit, Preferences, Advanced, and checked "Keep itunes music folder organized" and "Copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library" and "use itunes as the default player for audio files"
after a few other gyrations that I could not keep up with, my music library looked normal and i will only have to reload a few numbers that did not find there way back into the library. Some of the gyrations were deleting the duplications that occured in the fix process.
When I returned home, I duplicated the process on my other computer and it seems to WORK... now, AMAZING that TWO computers developed the SAME problem on the SAME day when BOTH had worked perfectly before hmmm?
GOOD LUCK, EVERYBODY!!!
It would sell a a lot more ipods if apple had a better online support program, but the real people at the store were fantastic...
Mike

When i try play a song i get this message " the song could not be used because your original file could not be found, would you like to locate. I tunes works on my iPad

OSX 10.9.5

I am getting this same message. I recently bought a new Macbook Pro and the geeks transferred my files from my mini-mac. Perhaps they did not transfer something critical? I follow the "locate" option when it asks to find my files and I get a file folder that has a red circle with a white bar in the middle.
I have the same issues with my downloaded movies but my apps all seem to be fine.
Even more confusing - it seems to allow random songs to play and download on my Macbook and other devices. But most of my music - whether downloaded from iTunes or my CD collection comes up with that message about the original file.
Should I get new geeks to locate these files on my old mini-mac?

My songs won't play because the original file can't be found. Please help.

I cannot play any of the songs in my iTunes. Whenever I try to play a song an error message pops up. It reads, "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have to search for the song on my hard drive in order for it to play. This process works but it would be very timely and tedious to go through each one of my 5300 songs to get them to play. Is there a faster way of doing this? Please help. Thanks.

The "missing file" thing 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 say no when asked 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. I can provide a step by step guide if you give me the two paths.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps and locate the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. 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

The song could not be used because the original file couldn't be found

About a week or two ago I loaded up my iTunes to find that most of my music could not be played. Upon clicking on the songs I got the message "The song '__' could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" This was weird because none of my music was missing from my computer and it was in the same file location that it has been in all along. I went into the preferences and noticed that the iTunes media file location was different and I changed it back to what it was before. This helped with about half of the files but I still have about 1500 that I will have to "locate" in order to play. This is a solution, but unfortunately it is very time consuming. Does anyone have a solution that could ultimately fix this and save me the time?
Thanks,
Stunray
Message was edited by: Stunray

*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.
tt2

HT201272 the original file can't be found (TV episode)

I am getting this error message on my PC when attempting to watch a Downton Abbey episode I bought with the season's pass:
The TV show "Episode 4 (Original UK Version)" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
I've spent two or three hours on this problem. I googled it. I searched the Apple support pages. I followed several different suggestions. I found where all the other files for this TV series live. Episode 4 is listed there, but when I attempt to open it, I get the error message, and the file is marked with an exclamation point. I checked my trash bin. It wasn't there. I tried to download it again, but the Apple store tells me it IS downloaded. I can watch all the other episodes. This latest one, Episode 4, just won't let me in.
I posted this problem a couple of days ago, and can't figure out how to get back to that discussion and see if anyone can help me.
I am not impressed. I want my money back. I will never buy an iTunes product again if I don't get this episode to work. There are other ways to download media. You are not the only game in town. Downton Abbey is a continuing story. Missing an episode is the same as if you took one of my books, yanked 50 pages out of the middle of it, and told me, "here, read this." Seriously annoying.

Have you deleted the music tracks from your computer or moved where they are stored on it ? Do you have a copy of your library on a backup ?
If you are in a country where you can re-download music, and if they are still in the store, then you might be able to re-download them via the Purchased link under Quicklinks on the right-hand side of the iTunes store home page on your computer's iTunes. If they appear in there but without the cloud symbol next to them for re-downloading then try deleting one of them from your library first (where you are getting the 'unable to locate' message) and it should then get the cloud symbol next to it for re-downloading (iTunes will see that entry in your library and assume that you still have it somewhere and that it therefore doesn't need re-downloading), and if that works do the same for the others.

I have some albums on my itunes that were transfered from my ipod, and some that were put on itunes from CDs. Now the 1st 10 songs of every album say that the original file can't be found, and i cant find them anywhere.

One day, they were there and working, the next they were all like this. There is a lot of money in these, and i would like to be able to keep using them.

WhyItuneswhy wrote:
It seems to be that every few months or so I can't move songs around
Never move songs around by hand, iTunes will lose track of the files that you move.
Your iTunes library is normally stored in C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes.
The iTunes application stored in C:\Program Files\iTunes is meant to hold a selection of dll files that are needed by the program. Leavel them alone unless you are actively Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.
If you know where you've moved things to my script FindTracks may be able to reconnect iTunes to the relocated tracks.
tt2

Since downloadingthe new foxfire i am unable to play any of the Zynga games trhough facebook or directly to the website.

Since upgrading the the newest foxfire i am now unable to download the Zynga games on facebook or going directly to the website. I went to the Abobe flash player setting and the box is checked to allow 3rd party to store data. So what is the next step. It was working fine until the upgrade.

Any ideas? The issue is still occuring, but seems to be intermittent, though it seems to be occuring more and more often. The only work-around I have now is to do a hard reset, which resolves it temporarily, but the error comes back soon after.
Any suggestions?

Since upgrading to ios7 i cannot transfer any of my music in my itunes library to my ios device

can anyone help with this?
it has all purchased music already there to download from the cloud, but any of my 'own' imported music just won't transfer.

Try a reset. Press & hold the Power and Home buttons simultaneously, ignoring the red power off slider, until the Apple logo appears. Then release both buttons. This should not affect any content on the iPad, it is similar to rebooting your computer.

Error: this song cannot be played because the original file cannot be found

I recently purchased a new computer and restored my music to the new computer. Although all of my songs are being displayed in the itunes library only half will play. When I try to play the remaining songs I get a message that says "this song cannot be played because the original file cannot be found". I'm at a loss and need help because all of the songs are in the same folder.

Hi
I've pretty much got exactly the same problem. We've just replaced our old computer with a laptop and I've transferred my iTunes library over but I can't open almost all of my songs as "the original file couldn't be found." I've tried the "locate" prompt but that gives me so many different options, all to no avail. However, I have added a few new CDs since transferring the library to the laptop and they open up without any problems.
Can anyone help? I've got to go through all of this again soon as my daughters both have ipods as well!

I dropped my external hard drive which contained my iTunes library and it is no longer readable. I attempted to upload my library from iPod and while all the songs appear to be in iTunes I get a message telling me that the original file can't be located.

I dropped my external hard drive that contained my iTues library and the disk is no longer readable. I figured I would simply transfer my music back from my iPod to my MacBook Pro and it loks like it worked. All the songs are there, but I receive a message that the original file can't be found when I try to play anything. ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

A Couple of questions..
Is the location shown under preferences/Advanced/General still showing the correct location?
Is the check boxes under this checked or unchecked?

Please help! I'm unable to access content on my iPod Classic while it is connected to iTunes. The iPod itself shows up and is set to manual management, but I am unable to view or play any of the content on it (music, movies, podcasts etc.).

I'm unable to access content on my iPod Classic while it is connected to iTunes.
The iPod itself shows up and is set to manual management, but I am unable to view or play any of the content on it (music, movies, podcasts etc.).
I can click the tabs Music, Movies etc. but I can't see anywhere to access the files themselves, no music or movies are listed, I only have the option to 'Sync' with the iTunes, which I don't want to do as there is no content on the iTunes!!!
I just downloaded the iTunes program.
Very confused, pleaseee help ...

Here is what worked for me:
My usb hub, being usb2, was too fast. I moved the wire to a usb port directory on my pc. That is a usb1 port which is slow enough to run your snyc.

HT1349 Unable to play any of the music in my itunes library. The message The song "__" could not be used because the original file could not be found.

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