HT1473 Had to "repair" Itunes today after error messages would not let me open. I can no longer sync my phone to computer without deleting all of the contect on my phone. I don't want to do that! I am trying to get the music from my Iphone to my Itunes li

Question

Little background:
Went to open Itunes, error message told me I was missing files and I was unable to open. I deleted Itunes and re-downloaded and received same message. I then "repaired" Itunes from my "unistall/change" program menu. The error message then changed to being "unable to read my library of music." So I fixed that by following some other forum directions (Went to My Computer/Music/Itunes then dragged the most recent Itunes Library selection to my desktop, then opened the folder under music titled "Previous Itunes library" and moved that file into that folder. Thankfully that worked... sort of... I have some music in my library. None of the music from my super old Limewire library, or any recent music from my phone. All of which was in my library last night. Not to mention the HOURS of cd's I burned to Itunes over the entire weekend. Hundreds (at least) of songs are missing.
So I attempted to sync my phone and was told it would delete all of the files in my phone to replace with files from my computer. Which is NOT what I want to happen. Trying to get music FROM my phone to my computer.
Can someone please help me simply sync my phone to my computer? And then somehow get the music from my Limewire library to my Itunes library? I know I may not get the burned music back... But that sure would be amazing.
I am at a loss. Apple won't help unless I pay them... So hopefully this looks familiar to someone!
Thanks,
Katie

Answer 1

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