ITunes Music Library Starts, Stops, Starts Again

When playing a song in iTunes Library, just noticing that some (not all) tracks are starting for a few seconds, stopping and then starting over. Recently switched from a Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premiun operating system.

I may have found a partial answer to my problem. Like you we had recently upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and I had moved some music files using the windows click and drag system to the drive I needed for iTunes to see them. ITunes did see them and when I synced they were on the iPod - success for me I thought. However, these were the songs that were stopping and starting. I then deleted them off my iTunes and iPod play lists and using the original discs put them back on to the computer (importing the CD into iTunes) - they now are working OK. I shall check them out on my walk now and let you know if it has worked. I don't know if this helps you but hopefully it will.

Similar Messages

How do I get the Itunes Music Library to stop showing and asking me to purchase the songs I have drug in for playlist?

How do I get the Itunes Music Library to stop showing and asking me to purchase the songs I have drug in for playlist?

If I make a playlist of my favorite Sax players by dragging there songs from their homepage into my playlist not purchasing them. Those songs appear along side my regular songs in my overall music library with option to buy them. The only way to get rid of them in my Music library seems to be to delete the playlist.

Can I manually edit the iTunes Music Library.xml file

Here's why.
Noticed on my Apple TV that there were a number of podcasts that when selected would say "Apple TV cannot play the current song".
Looked in iTunes and these podcasts are no where to be found. Did some searches in Spotlight and also, turned up zeros. Not found.
I then looked directly into my iTunes Music Library.xml file and sure enough there are the records.
What is odd is that the location of all the bad songs have a similar invalid path.
Bad path.
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Volumes/iTunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Podcasts/KQED/podcast.mp3</string>
Correct Path
<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Volumes/iTunes/Music/Podcasts/KQED'/podcast.mp3</string>
Now, all of these have dates that lead me to believe this was due to an iTunes upgrade back in September of 2005. It doesn't look like they are causing problems with iTunes itself. However, it is quite annoying for my Apple TV.
Question. Is there a different way to fix this than just manually removing the entries from the xml file?
I haven't tried to edit the iTunes Music Library.xml file just yet as I want to make I don't totally screw things up first.

I did some additional testing here and I deleted the track information from the iTunes Music Library.xml
On start up of iTunes, it does not add the deleted file back in. On the Apple TV, it still shows the bad file.
What I think that means is that even the Apple TV gets its playlist information from another source.
I have also started on another track which is to remove all of my podcasts from iTunes. Which I have now done.
The only ones left are these bad tracks that only show up in the iTunes Music Library.xml file and more importantly on my Apple TV.
I'd put this on the podcast or the Apple TV thread, but still believe this is an iTunes issue.

When i start to trancfer songs from my itunes(music) library to my ipod classic,for example ( a playlist with 50 songs) the estimated time is 5-6 hours,even more.Am i doing something wrong?

When i start to trancfer songs from my itunes(music) library to my ipod classic,for example ( a new playlist with 50 songs) the estimated time is 5-6 hours,even more.Am i doing something wrong?

allow me to add that it also deleted all of the "genres" that I developed myself (I listen to a lot of obscure/experimental music)

I want to get rid of everything in itunes , music, movies etc and start afresh. Ive deleted all old libraries but still there is stuff in iTunes. Please help me start afresh?

i want to get rid of everything in itunes , music, movies etc and start afresh. Ive deleted all old libraries but still there is stuff in iTunes. Please help me start afresh?

Please do not delete any files from the HDD without having a current backup.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say you've "deleted all old libraries." Can you explain that?
If all you are wanting to do is empty the iTunes library of all music, video playlists, etc. the easiest way is to quit iTunes and, in the Finder, go to ~/Music/iTunes and simply move the .itdb, .itl and .xml files to the trash. Launch iTunes again and the library will be empty.
You should be prompted to add content, so you can let iTunes scan the HDD if you like.

ITunes music library file, yet again...

I apologize for this advance:
About every other post on this discussion board relates to how people are missing their music, playlists, etc. and I roll my eyes to read them. Now I am one of them.
Two days ago, I consolidated my music on my external drive, fixing a longstanding problem with syncing my iPod. For good measure, I figured I would make a copy of the iTunes Music Library file to have a backup. I am almost sure I copied it, but I may have MOVED it from the Music folder on the Mac (despite how none of my music was stored in that location). When I next opened iTunes, everything was reset: no music, no playlists. I have attempted SEVERAL times since then to import the backup file; my playlists have returned, but my ratings and the last played category are empty. How do I restore this information?
Know also that I had retitled my music library within iTunes to "The Jam." When I import the .xml, does it need to be named "The Jam" or "iTunes Music Library" or what? Does it need to be in the Music folder on my HD? with the actual music files on the external drive?
Any help would be appreciated (and eye rolling, too).
Grant

Also, a corollary:
Out of frustration, I imported the backup of my library into iTunes, but did it about 20 times changing the options a little each time in an attempt to restore the rating/play count/last played information (it didn't work). As a result, I have 20 copies of each playlist, so many that it has slowed everything down to the point that it takes around a minute with the spinning beach ball of death to delete EACH playlist. Is there a way I can start from scratch? I already followed the instructions on this discussion board about reinstalling iTunes...I did, deleted my copy, downloaded a new one, and the new iTunes came up with the exact same playlist configuration (despite my replacement of the iTunes music library file with the desired file).
Just know that I have spent days of my life amassing the information I now seek to reclaim and if a proposed solution requires that I reset and reinstall iTunes, I would be more than willing to go through with it.
Grant

How do my move my itunes music library to a different computer?

my itunes music library is housed in an external drive, and i want to move it to a new computer. what is the least painful way to do this? any help will be greatly appreciated.
ps: i can no longer access the computer where my orignal itunes was installed.
Message was edited by: highonpod

zebedy1 wrote:
want to transfer the whole thing to an external hard drive so i don't have it on my laptop memory anymore and free up laptop memory for other things. How do i do this?
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

Can I add the iTunes Music Library (old) to iTunes Music Library?

Hi, I'm asking this question on behalf of a friend and I don't want to give her incorrect advice ... She has an Intel G5 iMac running 10.5.8 and iTunes 9.0 (she has downloaded but not installed the iTUnes 9.1 update).
Her problem is that she has deleted certain songs from her 'Jane Doe's iPod Playlist' so that she didn't have those songs on her iPod - I don't know the method she used to do this, nor does she. However, it has resulted in those songs now not showing up in the iTunes music library on her computer. There's just an exclamation mark and a dialog box asking if she would like to locate the songs.
She asked me to help her out and I discovered that all these songs (there are dozens- more than a hundred - of them) are still on her computer in a folder called 'iTunes Music old' - this is a sub-folder of the iTUnes Music folder where the path is Music - iTunes - iTunes Music.
My question is this -
Is it possible to select all the albums in this 'iTUnes Music old' folder and simply drag and drop it onto the iTunes Music folder (after making sure that the location I'm dragging and dropping to corresponds to the location for her library as specified on the advanced tab of preferences) so that the songs will be back in the default library?
It seems to me that it should work but I don't want to be responsible for the person who loses all her music for her if it doesn't.
I would really appreciate someone who knows their way around iTUnes telling me the best way to sort her music and whether or not she should install the 9.1 update before or after reorganising the library.
Cheers
Tricia

Her problem is that she has deleted certain songs from her 'Jane Doe's iPod Playlist' so that she didn't have those songs on her iPod - I don't know the method she used to do this, nor does she. However, it has resulted in those songs now not showing up in the iTunes music library on her computer. There's just an exclamation mark and a dialog box asking if she would like to locate the songs.
If you're seeing the , that's generally an indication that media files (the mp3 or m4a, etc., files) were moved using Finder. They were moved or removed and the iTunes library wasn't able to keep track of where they went. If this is an old machine that she's messed around with, it can be a bit of a crap shoot trying to figure out where the stuff should go (iTunes is quite unhelpful in telling you where the music for the broken links was expected to be ... you can take some guesses, but iTunes 9 and iTunes 8 use different folder structures, so getting the stuff in the right place can be a nuisance).
Is it possible to select all the albums in this 'iTUnes Music old' folder and simply drag and drop it onto the iTunes Music folder (after making sure that the location I'm dragging and dropping to corresponds to the location for her library as specified on the advanced tab of preferences) so that the songs will be back in the default library?
Surprisingly complicated question. If you were confident of where the music files should go, you could try moving them (safer, copy them) to your current iTunes media folder and if you drop them in the exact same spot they were before, your broken links problem will be solved. It's a long shot, though.
There are apps out there for rebuilding libraries, but if you don't have extensive playlists that would take forever to rebuild (or you don't have lots of ratings or things like that which you are trying to preserve), I'd personally be inclined to rebuild her library from scratch by:
Create a new library by pressing and holding down the option button while you start iTunes, keep holding the button down until it prompts you to create a new library.
Go into the "Advanced" section of the "Preferences" screen and tell iTunes to (a) keep your folder organized and (b) to copy music to the new media folder.
Use the "Add Folder to Library" command on the "File" menu to add the music to your iTunes Library. This will copy the music to the new folder you specified in the previous step. Repeat this for her old iTunes folders (sounds like she might have it in different areas). Nice thing is, you can select some common parent folder (e.g. your parent "music" folder) and you'll only have to do this once.
Once iTunes is done copying music to the new media folder and has rebuilt the new library, you can clean up the old music media files that it sounds like are scattered about on her machine.
Again, I personally lean towards just rebuilding the iTunes library, allowing iTunes to organize the files like it wants, and then rebuild your playlists. But, if you'd rather try to repair her old library in situ, then you'll want to check out some of the apps designed for repairing broken links in libraries. Let us know if you want to do that and we can point you to some apps that might be able to help.
It seems to me that it should work but I don't want to be responsible for the person who loses all her music for her if it doesn't.
It's kind of hard to lose the music unless you do something nuts like drag stuff to the trash without making sure you've got a copy/backup somewhere. In fact, go ahead and have her back up her machine before you start. And when you're all done, and you've confirmed that everything is great, do another backup.
I would really appreciate someone who knows their way around iTUnes telling me the best way to sort her music and whether or not she should install the 9.1 update before or after reorganising the library.
Unless her version of iTunes is archaic (v7 or earlier), I'd suggest fixing her library first, and then doing the upgrade. Let's not add variables to the situation. Also, I don't know what the iTunes upgrade process would do with the broken links in her existing library.
Frankly, there are enough bugs/problems with 9.1, you might want to wait until 9.1.1 comes out anyway. I personally regret doing the 9.1 upgrade. It works, but I'm working around various bugs. And some people are having very serious problems. If you absolutely need 9.1 (e.g., iPad), you can do it and you'll probably be fine. But unless you need 9.1 for some reason, I'd wait for 9.1.1 release.

Odd: 1037GB iTunes Music Library when it's really only 280G or so...

I opened my iTunes library and while looking at it noticed that there were alot of duplicates in the library window. At the bottom for the Music list it says: " 252693 items, 730:15:50:30 total time, 1037.01GB"
I looked in the actual Library folder at the suspect music and there are not duplicates in those folders -= just in the Library.
I can get rid of the dups but this seemed odd and seems mainly a problem that might be more easily solved by rebuilding the library file or something = I'd rather not lose my various playlists and my ratings etc.
Any suggestions as to what is going on and how to clean things up without destroying the Library xml?

Thank you so much for your reply Katrina. Interesting stuff. Somehow in the mega searches I was doing for answers I didn't think to search using the Vaio angle. I will definitely go through those Vaio Files. This is my 4th Vaio and I NEVER seem to use any of the preloaded software, but to this point have not had problems until I installed iTunes 9.
Last night I read another post that reminded me that the music files that show up in the iTunes/music folder are just "pointers" or say "shortcuts" (I can't remember the actual term used) to where the ACTUAL music files are located. When I used the Add Folders from the file menu I've always assumed that these "shortcuts" have been placed in the iTunes/Music folder properly. But just in case, I clicked on the Copy Files to iTunes Media folder in Advanced tab to be safe and then I did the Drag/Drop from my windows MY MUSIC folder (rather than using the Add Folders to Library in iTunes). I started by dragging and dropping like 5 albums. Then I'd close, open, close, open etc. to see if they would stay in my iTunes music library.... and they DID! So I left it overnight and then this morning I dragged a bunch more albums into my iTunes music library. Did another close, open, close, open on iTunes and so far everything is staying in place. My next test is going to be to completely shut down my Vaio and start it back up and see if it's all still there.
Do you think any of this makes sense, or relates back to the Vaio software issues from the post you provided? I don't quite understand why it would work to drag/drop but not simply click Add Folders to Library???
Thanks Again,
Jeromy

I open itunes "importing itunes music library.xml" then nothing???

so itunes is my everyday sanctuary.. I listen to all kinds of music.. Im also a great DJ!!
that is until now:(
yesterday i tried to open itunes and it says "importing itunes music library".. but it goes on for
like an hour.. so i clicked "stop"..
and now when i open itunes, i have no content, no playlists, no music... no NOTHING!!
please help me with this.. i have a gig and no music??!!
somebody

Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash
Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
See iTunes Folder Watch for a tool to catch up with any changes since the backup file was created.
When you get it all working make a backup!
tt2

HT1451 So what do I do when it finishes? Do I erase the itunes music library.xml that is on the desktop?

I´m affraid I will lose all my music if I do it

Sounds like a permission issue.
Navigate to the iTunes Music Library.itl file
The path should be Username/Music/iTunes/
Right click on the iTunes Library.itl and select Get Info
The window will open on the left hand side. Go to the Sharing and Permissions section at the bottom
Click the padlock to allow changes and enter your Mac logon password
Select yourself and make sure you have Read & Write selected. Click padlock to lock it again
Close the Get Info window and try and start iTunes

Itunes music library "damaged"

my ibook crashed when trying to download a large email attchment and when I re-started, my music library was damaged and a new one was "created" with nothing in it. How can I re-install my old library.... I can see the one labelled damaged but I can't import it via itunes.

A damaged 'iTunes Library' file is unusable and there is no way to repair it as far as I know.
If your 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file still reflects the contents of the now damaged 'iTunes Library' file, you can try to use this one.
Choose 'Import...' from the File menu and navigate to the 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file. Click 'Choose'. There's a very small chance it will work.
Usually you have to re-create the library after a 'damaged library file' message.
Drop the 'iTunes Music' folder (in./Users/YourUsername/Music/iTunes) on the empty library in iTunes.
iTunes will rebuild the library. You have lost your playlists, play counts, date added, ratings and podcast subscriptions, but at least the library is populated again.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

ITunes musical library located on a WD 2TB, ext. drv. Computer destroyed by virus; ED survived. Bought new laptop, connected ED. Not able to see library. ED shows as 'G:' 95% full. How can I reconnect my old library to new laptop?

I had my iTunes musical library on an ext. drv. WD 2TB, ‘MY BOOK ESSENTIAL'. Three weeks ago, my computer was infected by a virus that fried it. It did not affect the external drive. I bought a new computer: a laptop, Dell XPS, Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium. I have been able to connect the WD external drive; however, I am not able to see the musical library in my iTunes or Explorer. ‘My Computer’ shows the external drive as ‘G:’ 95% full. It reads, 32.1 GB free of 1.36 TB. When I click on the drive to see its contents, it shows nothing. The library in iTunes also shows nothing. Can anyone help, please? How can I reconnect my old musical library to my new laptop and iTunes? Many thanks.

Hmm, viruses don't generally "fry" drives. They can make bootable operating systems not bootable, hide data, and corrupt executable files. Software can potentially wipe all the data from the drive but it shouldn't be able to physically damage the drive. Bah! What's done is done.
As to unhiding your files assuming they are just hidden....
Hit Start > Run, type in CMD and press enter. Type the following at the prompt and then press enter:
attrib -h -s -r g:\*.* /d /s
This tells windows to clear the hidden, read-only, and system flags from all files on the drive, assuming of course your profile has the power to "see" the files and change them.
If that doesn't work then you may need to take ownership of the drive first. The drive may have security settings that make it "belong" to an account on your old system. Right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer and click Properties. Click the Security tab, the Advanced button, the Owner tab, then the Edit tab. Make yourself the owner, then you can make any other changes to the security settings you want to back on the Permissions tab. (If you can't change the owner log out and log back in as Administrator). For iTunes your account (or everyone) and SYSTEM need full access to all files. Any changes you make should be applied to "This folder, subfolders and files", should be inheritable and you should also replace the permissions on all child objects.
tt2

Itunes won't find 'itunes music library' on external hard drive by default

I have my Itunes library saved on a wireless external hard drive. When I open itunes for the first time after a re-start it won't automatically detect the itunes music library file and I have to point it to the correct folder on the external hard drive. Once I do this everything works perfectly until I re-start my mac and then I have the same problem.
One of my friends has told me that macs won't automatically connect to wireless devices like windows does but he thinks there is some software that enables it to do so. I presume this would sort the issue out or alternatively any other suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks for any help

Your external HD needs to be mounted before launching iTunes or iTunes will create a new blank library on your startup drive.
You can add your external HD to the list of startup items in  > System Preferences > Accounts to avoid this problem.

The iTunes music library.itl file cannot be found or created?

itunes 7 worked all day for me yesterday, but I have had this problem since last night where when I try to start it I get this message: "the iTunes music library.itl file cannot be found or created. the default location for this file is in the "itunes" folder in the "my music" folder. PLEASE HELP!

there should also be a "Previous iTunes Libraries" in the itunes folder besides itunes music.
if not, good luck making a new playlist

How to move iTunes Music Library from an external HD to another?

Yesterday I tried to move all my music from an external HD to a new bigger one.
Well, I encountered various problems, the most important one is that the “iTunes Music Library” file messed up.
I transferred all files and both “iTunes Music Library.xml” and the “iTunes Library” file in the new HD. I have to say that I didn't know so much about those two files and I thought that it was enough to move them in the new location; I discovered that those files included the information about where the music is located (among other infos), so it still redirects to the older HD.
However, now I’m trying to recreate the previous situation on the older HD, and I’m trying to “rebuild” the iTunes Library (I have a back-up of the xml file, even if it is not the running one).
This operation is very important for me because about two years ago I used (for a long time )an earlier version of iTunes that had a bug: even if wrote all the tag infos on an a mp3, the “artist name” and “album name” tags didn’t remained. But I still can see all the informations through the iTunes browser (thanks to the iTunes Music Library DB). So, I cannot recreate it from zero. I absolutely need to export the existing “iTunes Music Library” to the new HD, or at least to use the existing “iTunes Music Library”, leaving it where it already is and moving only the “iTunes Music folder” (even if I don’t want to use two external HDs, the older one holding the existing “iTunes Music Library” e “iTunes Library” files and the newer one holding the “itunes Music” folder I moved!).
As far as you know how can I move safely “iTunes Music Library” e “iTunes Library” files on the new HD applying them to the new “iTunes Music” folder??
I really need your help!
This article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074 didn’t help.
Stefano

Sorry, I wasn't responding to you, just the original poster. I didn't look at the date on that posting and didn't realize that you'd added a post that wasn't quite the same problem. In future, you'll find you get better answers if you start your own thread. You're issue really is a bit more complicated.
If iTunes currently recognizes all the music on both internal and the external drives, it should work. You have to make sure that both drives (old and new) are mounted. Make sure you have both "Keep iTunes music organized" (you probably already do) and "Copy files to iTunes..." (you probably don't) checked.
If not all of the music is currently in your iTunes library, perform the procedure with the music that is a part of the library and add the other stuff afterwards.
Best of luck.

ITunes Music Library Starts, Stops, Starts Again

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