ITunes library gone crazy

My iTunes library on my PC is suddenly schizenophrenic. Artists, albums, songs, and artwork are no longer properly associated. I clicked on a Rev. Gary Davis song yesterday and N.W.A. started playing! The only possible cause I can think of is I recently compressed one of my hard drives to save space. However, my music library is stored on another drive. My PC is seven years old & runs WinXP. Does anyone have an idea what could cause this problem or how I might fix it?

Hi Jose,
Have you tried this?
How to recreate your iTunes Library
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313
Regards,
Colin R.

Similar Messages

  • Itunes LIBRARY GONE! (5th Gen80GB)

    Hi,
    I have a 5th GEN 80GB iPod.
    I would not say a proud apple owner, given all the problems I’ve had over the years with the device apparently overheating ,then shut itself off while playing in a JBL soundstage speaker thang, (could have been the JBL, (but they insisted it's not them, it's the ipod) as well as the music library in my itunes on the computer suddenly disappearing.
    I have XP Home SP3. I installed the itunes software in my primary boot hard C: Drive, and kept all my music in my second internal F: drive. I’ve always had all my (mp3) music ripped from all my old tapes, CD’s and online purchased tunes on my computer, in a music folder.
    When I bought this 5th GEN ipod, I installed iTunes on this computer, opened itunes, up and created about ten playlists, then methodically dragged each genre from my music list folder into the specific genre playlist into itunes…follow so far?
    So the bad thing for me was, that every time I changed anything at all (date, mis-spelled word, wrong artist, etc.,) to one or more songs in my Music folder, when I opened itunes up, there would be a yellow exclamation next to any of those ‘corrected’ songs, then I would have to Double-Click on it, then LOCATE, to put it back into itunes again.
    Last night, after buying four Mp3 songs from Amazon, which automatically opens up itunes to place them there, I noticed all my playlists ands songs were GONE! GONE! GONE!
    For some reason, I thought by downloading Gizmo which restores itunes music back into itunes from my ipod would work, but it simply placed all the music into my itunes/itunes media/music folder on the C: drive which was filling up the 74GB drive, and ALL my music was close to that size.
    So I uninstalled Gizmo, created another MY MUSIC>ITUNES MEDIA>MUSIC in my F:Drive (500GB) then changed the directory output in my itunes music in itunes Preferences to this location on nthe F Drive.
    So is it crazy that I have two sets of music on my computer? About 38 GB of regular Mp3 songs, then another 37.2 GB in my itunes music directory?
    I keep those regular songs in there for backup, in case this happens again. So now, I also see exclamation marks in hundreds of songs in the itunes library, which, SORRY, apple seems to think I have all kinds of EXTRA time going back and LOCATING each and everyone of those darkened checked songs! Crazy!
    Does anyone with itunes have two sets of folders for music…main Music folder, and also itunes library folder? Or primarily, just the music in the itunes. I listen to my music in WINAMP, not itunes when I’m by the computer, preference I guess.
    Thanks for any light on this subject.

    Because my Primary drive is only 74GB, I got this pop up message telling me the C: Drive is out of space,that's where all these itune files were going. So I changed the path in preferences, to go to my second hard drive to a created new folder named 'MY Itune Music'. That added another 37 GB of music to my secondary HDD
    Right. Because the music you had in iTunes is still in the first location and iTunes is using that.
    Putting music into a folder then pointing iTunes to this new folder does not add it to iTunes.
    Edit > Preferences > Advanced > 'Keep itunes media folder organized' is CHECKED.
    ....The second option, 'Copy Files to itunes media when adding to library' is UNCHECKED
    This is fine.
    When you add new music to iTunes, it will stay in the location you add it from. iTunes will not copy it anywhere.
    The easiest way to manage music is to keep it inside the iTunes folder and iTunes manage it. Then everything is in one location. In addition, if you want to move your music, it's simply a matter of moving the entire iTunes folder and nothing will be changed or lost.
    If you try to do things yourself, you must do a lot more work to make sure everything stays straight.
    Quit iTunes.
    Go to /Music/ and copy the iTunes folder to the F: drive.
    Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
    Select *Choose library* and select the iTunes folder you copied to the F: drive.
    Now everything will be as it was except the library files in the iTunes folder are now on the F: drive and this is what will be used.
    The iTunes folder in /Music/ on the C: drive is no longer needed.
    To get everything inside the iTunes folder...
    iTunes prefs Advanced and make sure iTunes media folder location is set to /iTunes/iTunes media folder not eh F:drive.
    Tick *Copy files to iTunes media folder....* and tick *Keep iTunes media folder organized*.
    This will keep everything inside the iTunes media folder you pointed to in prefs Advanced.
    Now go to File > Library > Organize library > Consolidate.
    This will copy everything in iTunes library into the iTunes media folder you pointed to in Advanced.
    At this point you can delete everything outside of the iTunes media folder on F:
    Then you will likely have a bunch of duplicates in iTunes (since it was messed up before.
    iTunes menu File > Show duplicates will help to sort it out.
    If you edit filenames or paths outside of iTunes with windows explorer, iTunes will lose them.

  • PLEASE HELP! Itunes library gone but music still on iPod

    I recently have started organising my 'my music' files and deleting folders with more than 3 copies of songs, I have a lot of music 2500 songs and opened up itunes and all music I have imported (not bought) has gone, my music is still on my ipod though but I'm too scared to sync it in case all my music has gone, I still have my original music in 'my music' file but it's not shown up on library as usual PLEASE HELP!

    See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
    tt2

  • Had to re download itunes, library gone?

    itunes told me to redownload software, that mine was corrupted, but all my songs are gone, can i get them back?
    carrie

    Perchance you may still have the music files on your PC -- but not seen in iTunes or the PC.
    Do a thorough search of your PC using the tips below:
    First - Make sure that you enable your Windows Explorer to view 'Hidden' files:
    - Open Windows Explorer
    - Select 'My Computer'
    - On the main Windows Explorer menu: Tools=>Folder Options=>'View' tab
    - In 'Advanced Setting' --> Files and Folders --> Hidden files and folders:
    -- Select 'Show hidden files and folders’
    - Click 'Apply to All Folders'
    - Click 'OK'
    Then check using Windows Explorer in 'My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\...' for folders containing your music (or wherever you keep your music folders).
    Also check in your Recycle Bin to see if you accidentally deleted it. If so, ‘Restore’ it back to it’s original spot.
    Then try running a search using Windows Explorer (or similar) for files with the extensions of: m4a, m4p, MP3, OR with the partial names of the songs you are missing.
    Do all the above before you decide that your music files have been completely erased from your hard drive.
    IF you can locate the music files/folders, we can get iTunes to recognize it. Try one of these:
    If you have a backup iTunes database file available....
    1. --- Close iTunes. If you have a backup (or previous version) of the ‘iTunes Library’itl’ database file, then place a copy of that file in the ‘...\My Music\iTunes’ folder (or wherever the current, incomplete file resides).
    1b. --- Open iTunes
    If no backup ITL file exists….
    2a. --- In iTunes choose: Edit==>Preferences==>Advanced tab. Select 'Change' and browse to the music folder in your PC drive (if it isn’t already). Click OK to save that setting.
    Then....
    2b. --- In iTunes choose: File==>’Add Folder to Library’ & browse to the music folder in your PC drive. Click OK.
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    IF your music files are truly gone, and you have some or all of your music files on your iPod, these links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring playlists, ratings, playcounts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
    Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
    MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
    Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
    Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
    Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
    iPodRip Software
    PodUtil Software
    XPlay (Software For Cross-Platform Functionality & Music Recovery)
    XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
    Extremely Simple Method: (just to recover the song files – may not work on a Mac)
    1 - Open iTunes
    2 - Edit=>Preferences=>’Advanced/General’ tab
    2a --- Select ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library’: checked
    2b --- Select ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’: checked
    2c --- Click OK to store changes
    3 - Attach your iPod to the PC and hold down the ‘Shift+Ctrl’ keys until the iPod is fully recognized (this will defeat the auto-sync process)
    4 - If you get a dialog box to link the Library, decline this option
    5 - Within iTunes: Edit=>Preferences=>’iPod’ tab: switch iPod to manual transfer – click ‘OK’
    6 – Eject iPod
    7 – Close iTunes, then reopen iTunes and attach the iPod (it’s in manual sync now)
    8 – File=>Add Folder
    9 - Browse to and open ‘My Computer’ (click on the ‘+’) and select the iPod
    10 - Click OK
    -- The music files should start to transfer back into iTunes with its correct information
    –-- This will take some time depending on your PC’s speed and the amount of songs on the iPod
    No Playlists, or Ratings, Last Played, & Play Count attributes will be transferred from the iPod to iTunes using this method.
    If you have problems with seeing the iPod within 'My Computer', try again switching your update method to 'manual', detach the iPod, then reconnect the iPod to the PC.
    AFTER recovering your Library, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation.
    You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
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    -- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
    -- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
    Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is not considered having any backup.
    If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
    Backup both the music files and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl). What are the iTunes Library files?
    Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy:
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1822938#1822938

  • Previous iTunes library gone when upgraded to 7.6

    Can you help us find it? I just bought an iPod Nano, and I am trying to put some of our music on it that my husband has purchased through iTunes, and I cannot find it.
    I see an icon (but it is iTunes Library 2008-05-17, so I don't even know if that is the old stuff or stuff from today) for Previous iTunes under My Documents>My Music>iTunes>Previous iTunes Libraries.
    I should also mention I am a computer moron. Thank you for all of your help!

    You should run Start -> Search ->Type song title
    If your computer finds that song, you should be able to double-click on it. This will force it to load in iTunes.
    My iTunes files would be in My Documents>My Music>iTunes
    Another way: In iTunes -> File -> Add File to Library (or Folder if you are loading an album of songs). When this opens up, you will have to search for the location of the files or folders you want to bring into iTunes. If you did the Search and were able to find the file(s), you will know the location of your files.
    Libraries are records of how iTunes loads your music. When you exit from iTunes it saves changes that you have made. If you open an older library than your current one, it will return to a previous version of your library. This would account for the non-appearance of your most recent songs. Your most current library doesn't sound like it would be stored in a folder called "Previous iTunes Libraries".
    Good luck.

  • ITunes library gone

    My complete libary is no where to be found. I was able to pull it off the hard drive, but need to transfer them back to my iTunes library. The troubleshoot did not answer that. Also, my daughter has her own account, but hers is fine. Can anyone help?? Thanks!!!

    Gino79,
    Just a couple of thoughts from the "For What It's Worth" files:
    Can you confirm that your external drive is always connected and powered on before you start iTunes?
    And once your external drive is recognized by your computer, does it always have the same drive letter?

  • Library gone crazy!

    My library (and playlists) have developed some odd quirks. Some song names, artwork, and actual files don't seem to be properly associated anymore. I recently hit play on a Rev. Gary Davis song and NWA started playing. Songs I never put on playlists suddenly appear there. Sometimes if I play these songs on my PC they convert back to the proper song, artwork, etc. Sometimes...
    I run WinXP with 2 hard drives. I recently compressed HD 1 to save space, but my iTunes files are on HD 2.
    Any ideas????

    Hi Jose,
    Have you tried this?
    How to recreate your iTunes Library
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • Itunes library gone after update

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    have you lost only the recent purchases or all your purchased library ?
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  • HDD crash, iTunes library gone, is it possible to restore from itouch?

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    Message was edited by: richbaylon

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    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/P2/

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    eMac G4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  
    eMac G4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    Here's what I'd do. Note that this will delete any playlists you have and may clear track ratings, etc.
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  • Hard disk faild, iTunes library gone

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