Itunes cannot locate the original file

Question

The majority of my itunes library has little exclamation marks next to the songs, and whenever I click to play the song, a pop-up states "The song "name of song" could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" and if I press yes, then I have to go into my music and then search for it. I was wondering why it says that after years of having itunes and most importantly if there was an easier/less time consuming way to locate the original files to play my songs.

Answer 1

Hi, shopper2472.
The exclamation marks (and the accompanying note) inidicate the files aren't located where iTunes expects them to be. This is most often happens when the files have either been deleted or moved to a different location.
If they have been moved, the best solution is to get them back where they were in the first place. iTunes will be able to find them again - happy ending.
Sometimes though, it seems iTunes loses track of files for no apparent reason. In this case, your only alternative - other than finding them one by one and letting iTunes know - would be to start a new iTunes library all over again.
Regrettably, this method loses playlists and related information (Ratings, Play Counts, Dates Last Played, etc.) If that's not a deal-breaker for you, delete the current entries in your Library by highlighting them - iTunes File menu > Select All - and then right-clicking > Delete . You remove the entries from your Library but keep the files themselves in your iTunes Music folder, assuming that's where they are in the first place.
You can then add them back into your Library by selecting the iTunes Music folder in Windows Explorer and dragging it into the Library entry in the iTunes Source List (left-hand column).