I cannot play music from my library on either my external drive or my laptop - keep getting same message "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. I have tried changing the path in prefernces many times.

I cannot play music from my libray on either my external drive or my laptop. I keep getting the same message - "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have changed the path several times under preferences and it still won't recognize any songs from either my laptop hard drive or my external drive. I can't play any music at all.

I think I've fixed this on my machine. If you look in the ITunes folder there is a subfolder called Previous iTunes Libraries. In my case for some reason this contained the one which had always worked and a new one was in the main folder. I closed iTunes, deleted the new one, and moved the old one back to the main folder, then opened iTunes. It then rebuilt the library and it plays correctly. Hope it works for you.

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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?

I have tried everything, but still I can't locate the photos tab in iTunes...I have tried changing the resolution, started iTunes after connecting with the ipad2, nothing seems to work! please advise!

I have tried everything, but still I can't locate the photos tab in iTunes...I have tried changing the resolution, started iTunes after connecting with the ipad2, nothing seems to work! please advise!
I am also providing you with a screenshot of what appears! I need photos on my iPad2
Message was edited by: angana

You don't see it on the left-hand side of iTunes - you need to connect and select the iPad on the left-hand side, and then one of the tabs on the right-hand side that you use to select which content to sync to the iPad should be Photos : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236
You will need to select and sync all the photos that you want on the iPad together in one go as only the most recent sync remains on the iPad, not including photos in a subsequent sync is how you delete them from it.

I still cannot burn a cd even when I updated my software to 10.6.8 keep getting same message disc burner or software not found pls help

I still cannot burn a cd even when I updated my software to 10.6.8 keep getting same message disc burner or software not found pls help

Have you tried to restart the Mac?
Another program may be blocking the drive.
If restarting does not help, check out the questions here:
Re: Disc Burner or Software not found...

HT4245 I cannot get Facetime or IMessage set up on my IPad. It isn't recognizing my password and Apple ID. I have tried changing the password a few times and it still won't accept it. Any ideas?

I cannot get Facetime or IMessage to work on my IPad. It isn't recognizing my Apple ID or password. I have tried to change my password a couple times and it still keeps kicking me out of it. What am I doing wrong? My id and password work for everything else!
Can anyone help?

Settings\iCloud - Account is your Apple ID appearing here and is the place for your password full of stars. The password needs to be the password for the email account - not your Apple password.
Once you have checked this go to Icloud main page and ensure mail is on.
Go to home screen and tap on Mail App - check that you can access your mail and your .me.com email account.
The check settings\General\Restrictions and ensure facetime is On if restrictions is enabled - alternatively turn restrictions off if you wish.
Both services you require run through the cloud and need an active .me.com account to set up initially. the default account can be changed from your @me.com later if you prefer.
Also note that once iMessage is active - go to settings\iMessage and ensure your Apple id main email is listed in the Receive at Field.

Saving the domain file in iWeb fails. I have tried deleting the cache. I see that the file uploads to iWeb but the message is that the domain.sites2 file can't be saved. I note that duplicating the domain gives me different size files. Ideas?

I have read other discussions and my problem persists.
I note that duplicating the domain file user/library/applications support/iweb/domain.sites2 gives me files of varying sizes (I'm at around 200Mb).
I tried rebuilding the cache ../library/caches/com.apple.iweb - no change
I found a note to delete also a preference file ../library/prefernces/com.apple.iweb bt found more than one (.../plist and .../plist.lockfile) so ducked that.
The website seems to update out of sync - as if I have a domain file elsewhere (in the cloud?) that is saving on my drive later - that doesn't make sense of the comments I have read. My domain.sites2 file is stadily growing - so one interpretation is that files are being saved and the error message is the error.
This has been a problem for about a year as I have tried many alternative solutions. I;m looking fro somethign substantially different.
One repeated situation is that I write a new page and upload it. I get the usual error message. I visit the site and there is the new page. My domain (on my machine) shows no new work, so I copy the stuff on the web back to my domain and steadily the file increases in size. Bewildering.
Everything is as up to date as it can be. I don't reboot very often as my machine is rarley off.
I'm looking for different ideas and approaches.....

Although some of the following will be a repeat but try the following:
delete the iWeb preference files, com.apple.iWeb.plist and com.apple.iWeb.plist.lockfile, that resides in your Home() /Library/Preferences folder.
go to your Home()/Library/Caches/com.apple.iWeb folder and delete its contents.
Click to view full size
launch iWeb and try again.
If that doesn't help continue with:
move the domain file from your Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder to the Desktop.
launch iWeb, create a new test site, save the new domain file and close iWeb.
go to the your Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder and delete the new domain file.
move your original domain file from the Desktop to the iWeb folder.
launch iWeb and try again.
OT

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.

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". need help

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help

Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems...

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.

Library Lost - Please HeIp I tried updating my old ipod & now all 10,000 songs in my library have an ! next to them and I get the error message "song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found" on every song I try to play

Please help - this morning I tried updating one of my old ipods for my wife (this ipod hasn't been updated in 2-3 years). I plugged it into my pc, it was recognized and the software updated. I created a new playlist and tied to sync the ipod. This ipod had never been used on this pc/itunes since the pc is only 2 years old. When I tried to sync the ipod it stated that it would have to erase all the old songs on the ipod prior to syncing. I clicked ok and it proceeded to wipe out the old ipod and sync the new playlist (~1000 songs). When the sync was complete there were only 6 songs from the new playlist (all purchased this morning from itunes) on the ipod and to my horror all ~10,000 song on my pc in itunes now have a ! next to them. Only my recent purchases from itunes do not. When I click on a song with the ! I get the error message "the song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I correct this issue - I am scared to hook my ipads or other ipods to my pc for fear of losing everything?!?!? I spent 100s of hours burning the 10,000 songs from my cd collection and do not want to have to do it again.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

This "original file cannot be found" 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 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 cannot play music from my itunes library. I keep getting an itunes message that says, "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found." Is there a fix for this? Thank you.

I cannot play music from my itunes library. I keep getting an itunes message that says, “The song could not be used because the original file could not be found.” Is there a fix for this? Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a fix for this? Thank you.

Hello Turintest2,
I am having a similar problem. I have over 4000 songs giving me this error. I certainily don't want to go in one by one and find them. I know you wrote a script for Windows but I am a Mac user. Is there a fix for me? Here is the info on where the song is currently (used by doing the get info)
Here's a shot of my preferences:
Just FYI, I know that apparently iTunes is looking for this music in the trash. However, if I go here:
Then I find the music there as well. (Which is where it is in my preferences.)
Please help! I don't want to have to go through over 4000 songs and update them one by one.

I am unable to play a downloaded HD movie from iTunes. SD movies play OK. An error popped up saying something about the display not suitable for HD movies but now all I get is a blank window. I have tried changing the display resolution to no avail.

I have sownloaded an HD movie from iTunes store and when I attempted to play it on my Windows 7 PC a error message popped up saying something about the display not being compatible for HD movies. I have tried changing the display resolution several times but it didn't help. Now it just comes up with a blank screen when I attempt to play it. SD movies work fine. I have the latest version of iTunes installed.
Can anyone help me resolve this problem?

Apparently the display is required to be HDCP compatible to view HD movies in iTunes. My display isn't so this is my problem. I contacted Apple support and they have agreed to credit me for the HD movie and I have now downloaded the SD version.

I have movies in my movie library but i cannot play them or drag them into my ipod.There is an exclamation point next to each of them.Then when i click on it to play it it says the movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.

I have movies in my i tunes library but i canot play them or drag them into my i pod.There is an exclamation point each of them.Then when i click on them to play them on my pc it says this movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.Help?

Read threads list over on the right under the heading of More Like This
Allan

Error message when trying to play music on computer states The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found. However, my library shows how many items and the GBs used. How do I locate the files?

When I try to play my iTunes music on my computer, an error message comes up and state "The song (title of song) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
When I click on Locate It, I cannot find where the music file may be located. Does anyone have any suggestions?
This all occurred when I attempted to do a backup to an external hard drive. Unbeknownest to me, the files did not copy over and do not appear on the external hard drive.
When I open my iTunes library, at the bottom of my music list it shows how many songs and the GBs, so it appears that the files are still there; however, cannot be located.
Thank you.

Hi angela dfromtx,
When tracks in iTunes display a it means the file cannot be located; it may have been moved or deleted. You'll have to locate the file manually if it is still available. For more information refer to the following article:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Alternatively, if your media was downloaded from the iTunes Store, you may be able to download it again free of charge:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
Thanks,
Matt M.

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

I cannot play music from my library on either my external drive or my laptop - keep getting same message "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. I have tried changing the path in prefernces many times.

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