ITunes loses track of music

iTunes 9.0.1 under SL 10.6.1
How can iTunes lose track of music after I just added an entire folder full of music using the Add to Library command?
I select all my music. Delete all music. Do not move music files to Trash. Select Add to Library. Select the root folder where all of my music is stored. It adds all 18,000+ files. A new list of songs is displayed. As I browse through them, the missing file exclamation points start appearing next to songs. I double-click the missing file, it says it can't locate the song and asks me to help it locate it. I locate it, navigating through the same folder I used above to Add to Library, re-map the missing song. Repeat about 5,000 times.
The songs reside on a secondary hard drive in my MacPro. This is a constant game of cat-and-mouse. After adding a few songs, sometimes iTunes just gets tired and crashes.

If I rename items from within the iTunes interface then iTunes will make the changes and move things accordingly.
Yes, that is what I wrote the box is for.
If I take an item in iTunes and move it in the Finder to the Trash and empty the trash then iTunes will give me the !
And?
That has nohing to do with the Keep box being checked or unchecked.
Uncheck that box then toss a file into the trash and iTunes will still show an exclamation mark.

Similar Messages

ITunes lose track of music files

Every couple of days iTunes loses track of all the songs stored on my PC. As soon as you open iTunes for any user. all songs you attempt to access cannot be found and the exclamation point appears beside all songs listed in the library.
I have centralized all my song files – about 9400 files - on an internal secondary drive “e:\music\iTunes\iTunes music”. This is set as the default folder for all iTunes users.
I have iTunes v.6.0.4.2 installed for three separate user IDs on a single Dell PC running XP Home Edition. The User IDs and individual iTunes library files – iTunes Library.itl and .xml – are stored in the personal directory – “c:\Documents and Settings\my documents\my music\iTunes – per the defaults when iTunes is installed.
The only way I am able to recover from this is to delete the library files for each user and rebuild the library by going into “file=>add folder to library” and pointing at the iTunes music folder on the ‘e’ drive. I do not lose any music files but this is a very annoying bug which should be fixed. I have looked in the iTunes user forum and many people have experienced similar problems on both PC and Mac environment. None of the suggested fixes on the forum have solved my problem I have also spoken to Apple Support about this problem twice, including a Level 2 support tech. None of them was able to solve this problem.

I have had the same problem. it seems to have stemmed from the upgrade. However, I have over 40 gig of files on an external HD. I was wondering how you reload delete the titles from ITunes and reload them back into ITunes from the external HD. I want to avoid deleting the actual file from the HD; only from ITunes. thoughts?

ITunes Loses Tracks

Hello good people of the board.
I imported all my files over from my old iMac to my new one and have an annoying problem. iTunes loses tracks seemingly at random. I assumed that it was a glitch during the transfer which caused the little exclamation mark to appear next to tracks meaning that I would have to manually tell iTunes where the file wass. I've noticed that it's starting to happen with tracks imported directly on to my new computer though. I've searched the forums but no-one seems to have this exact problem, all the others seem to be related to external hard drives which I'm not using. Any ideas?

Have you tried 'Advanced:Consolidate Library...' option? I've never needed to do that yet (when I occasionally get the !, I just navigate to the relevant iTunes folder to re-establish the link, but if you're getting a lot of them, maybe you need to Consolidate? )
Try it out, it can't hurt, see if it helps.

ITunes loses track of songs?

When I turned on my iTunes today, and tried to double click the song, it gave me the error: The song "____" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? Yes/No". So I go through a bunch of my files and find the same song but I was surprised to find that EVERY file was like this..so I spent about an hour restoring all my songs and then, out of nowhere, I didn't even close my iTunes program or change it somehow, all my files can't be located again? What's happening!!?
Windows XP

I'm having the same problem. Hopefully somebody has the answer.

I recently purchased songs from itunes via my pc and I dont know how to get them onto my iphone? When I click the sync button it says I will lose all the music currently on my iphone.. Help :(

I recently purchased songs from itunes via my pc and I dont know how to get them onto my iphone? When I click the sync button it says I will lose all the music currently on my iphone.. Help

If you're syncing with a different iTunes library than the one you previously synced with, then there is no way around it. You're gonna loose the old data. The only way round it would be to make sure that all the music files on your iPhone is also in your iTunes library. If you still have access to the computer with the old library, you could copy the files on to an external harddrive, and then import them into your new iTunes library.
If it is in fact the same library, then the music currently on your iphone, is also in your itunes library. Just make sure that the artists/albums/playlists, or whatever you sync contains these tracks, that you allready have on your phone and don't want deleted. What i do is, i create a playlist specifically for my iPhone, and i set it up to only sync with this playlist. Whenever i hear a track from my iTunes library or buy a new track that i want on my phone, i just drag it to this playlist and next time i synchronize, it's there without deleting anything else.

I downloaded version 11 for the itunes library and updated my ipod to ios6, today when I click to open itunes, it wont open and says I need to reinstall itunes. Will I lose my whole music library?

I downloaded version 11 on itunes and updated my ipod to os6, when I try to open itunes now, it says it downloaded incorrectly and won't open. It says to reinstall itunes. Will I lose my whole music library if I reinstall itunes?

you will not loose your content at all. It is still sitting in your hard drive even if you uninstall itunes.
Once itunes will be reinstalled , it will re-sync your stuff on your hard drive

I just bought a new computer and when i click on itunes it says i need to install ASL.dll, but i'm scared if i instal it or reinstall itunes i will lose all the music i've bought from itunes, what do i do?

HHHHHEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i just bought a new computer and when i click on itunes it says i need to install ASL.dll, but i'm scared if i do or re-install itunes i will lose all the music i have bought from itunes, what do i do?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
The music is stored on the iTunes library. This library isn't deleted when you uninstall or reinstall iTunes, so you will keep everything. Anyway, it's better to make a backup of the library. Apart from that, you can download the purchased music as many times as you want

Music files getting renamed (why?), iTunes loses them

This has happened once every month or two since I started using iTunes on my laptop. I haven't been able to figure out what triggers it, but every now and then my music files get renamed. Not all of them, but, for example, this time every song on 24 albums out of about 100. It's always entire albums. When it has happened, I double-click on the song, I get the message saying the "original file could not be found", then I re-find it and it starts playing. When it starts playing, iTunes will usually rename it and/or move it to another folder. Sometimes the album ends up in the "unknown artists" folder, or in the "compilations" folder, but once I track it down (through iTunes "do you want to find it") it gets moved back where it belongs.
It was only this last time that I noticed that these lost files were not only getting moved, but they were getting renamed as well. When everything's working fine, my music has been moved and named like has been renamed by iTunes and looks like "C:\My Music\The Dresden Dolls\The Dresden Dolls\03 Missed Me.mp3". Some process in iTunes or in Windows is renaming only certain albums to look like "C:\My Music\Stephen Lynch\A Little Bit Special\10-Gerbil-Stephen Lynch-A Little Bit Special.mp3".
When the files get renamed like this, iTunes can't find them anymore until I go in and fix things, file by file. This takes forever. If not for the fact that I need to preserve my playlists and my play count numbers, I would just blast the whole library and reimport the folder, but I can't do that.
So, any one have any ideas why this happens, how to keep it from happening, and a way to fix things while preserving my metadata without having to double-click on a few hundred songs?
Windows XP Pro

Actually, I found a good solution based on another question. If I re-import the folder, it finds all of those misnamed files and adds them to the library. Then I tell iTunes to keep my music folder organized, and it fixes all the file names and folders. Then after I make sure the original entries work again, I can sort the list by date added, and delete the new entries.
But I still have no idea why those albums are getting renamed. It's not just the most recent ones or the oldest ones, it's not ones that haven't been played, it's just random-seeming.

Hi, I need to re-format my hard drive, as it has a virus, so will lose all my data including itunes. I therefore need to reinstall itunes - but if I do this will I lose all the music that I have bought? How do I reinstall music to the new itunes?

Hi, I need to re-format my hard drive, as it has a virus and is corrupted- so I will lose all my data including my itunes software. I guess I will need to reinstall itunes again - but if I do this will, I lose all the music that I have bought or imported into my library? How do I reinstall my library/playlists to the new itunes?
Thanks

Make a backup of your media and other important files.
Just to be safe, make a backup of your entire iTunes directory.
Restore computer or do whatever it is you need to do.
Restore your media and other important documents.
Install iTunes.
Try using search next time... this gets asked way too frequently.

HT201413 updated last night and now ipod says to coonect to itunes which i cant because apple application support was not found. tells me to uninstall and reinstall itunes. Will i lose all my music or is it still on my ipod?

Updated ipod last night and now when turned on tells me to coonect to itunes (picture of usb cable with arrow to itunes). I can't connect to itunes on computer because apple application support can't be found. Tells me to uninstall then reinstall itunes. Will I lose all my music or is it still on my ipod?

Under normal circumstances, an uninstall/reinstall doesn't touch your content. (That being said, it's still always a good idea to maintain a current backup at all times in case of disasters.)

I have iTunes installed on a laptop that I use for work, but it's owned by my employer. A new policy my have them deleting iTunes from the machine. If that happens, will I lose all my music? I am an iCloud user and pay for iTunes match.

I have iTunes installed on a laptop that I use for work, but it's owned by my employer. A new policy my have them deleting iTunes from the machine. If that happens, will I lose all my music? I am an iCloud user and pay for iTunes match.

If they just delete iTunes, the music files should still be there. I suggest making a backup of them though. Locate your iTunes folder (The one that contains your library file) and just copy the whole thing to your Documents folder or wherever you like (Just not in the same directory of the original folder otherwise the computer will get confused and could confuse your iTunes library). Then you will have a backup of all your music, plus if you purchased it from iTunes, you will still have it linked to your Apple ID so you can re-download them to any computer with iTunes on it when you feel like it.

My itunes match subscription will be expiring soon. Will I lose all my music, as they are threatening, if I choose not to subscribe again?

My itunes match subscription will be expiring soon. Will I lose all my music if I choose not to subscribe again?

Hi,
If all your music is in your itunes library on your computer, you will not lose that music.
If you do not have the music on your computer and stream the music you will lose all your music except for previous itunes purchases. Likewise you will no longer have access to match music.
Jim

If i uninstall itunes and reinstall will i lose all my music

I got a messge saying i couldnt connect my iphone bc Bonjour something had been deleted and that i needed to uninstall itunes and reinstall it. I am worried that i will lose all my music... what do i do?

You won't lose the music unless a problem occurs. Back it up first.
(88235)

My itunes says it corrupted or not installed correctly..if i uninstall it will i lose all my music ?

my itunes says that the programe is corrupted or installed incorrectly ?..i'v had it for years will i lose all my music if i uninstall the programe ?

No, but backup anyway.
tt2

If I make a new iTunes account will I lose my app music etc from my old account

If I make a new iTunes account will I lose my app music etc from my old account

1. No.
2. Not as long as you're still syncing it with the same iTunes library. If you meant iTunes libraries and not iTunes Store accounts to begin with, you need to use the Transfer Purchases function in iTunes.
(72824)

ITunes loses track of music

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for