ITunes not finding music files

iTunes cannot find 90%+ of my music files. I manually linked them together over the last weekend (yucch) and today when I went into iTunes, the links were all broken even though the .mp3 files were in the same directories as before. I can manually find the music files but that's a chore, particularly if I have to do it several times (not!). Any suggestions?
Inspiron 6000   Windows XP  

Well, you have a couple options. First shut down iTunes. Then unmount your HD. Then mount your external HD again, then after it pops up on your desktop, launch iTunes. Any files iTunes has that points to your ext. HD should play just fine.
Or, you can copy all your music to your ext. HD (if you don't already have it there), and simply delete your iTunes library (by removing your data files). You could then add to library, making sure you uncheck "copy itunes songs to music folder). This way, iTunes will only "point" to your ext. drive to play the music. If the drive isn't on, you don't get any music, and the "!" sign. If you have many playlists, this can be tricky.
As a rule, I don't go crazy with playlists, other than smart playlists. This way, you don't go nuts when you lose your data file, or want to do a clean update of your library. You'd be surprised at the times I thought I kept my library in tip-top shape, only to delete it and add the music again. I often find a song or two that I had hidden somewhere.
Bryan

Similar Messages

  • Itunes cant find music files

    Seems to be some discussion on this problem where as itunes will not play the music on the computer and says it cant find the music files. I found that the block for using itunes as default audio player has to be checked. This is in preferences under the advanced tab. Seems to come unchecked at times and stops the player. Also my music location, also under advanced will go back to default at times. (My files are on an external hard drive) Hope this helps.
    dlj

    Try one of these solutions already posted to this forum or use the "Search Discussions" for many more:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4358684&#4358684
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4123245&#4123245
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4090531&#4090531
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3960710&#3960710
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3950754&#3950754

  • ITunes cannot find music files, confuses inodes, external drive

    I have all my music on an external drive, which is not always connected to the Mac. When I start iTunes w/o the hdd connected iTunes occasionally marks some of the songs as not found. Which is ok so far. BUT if it finds the same inode (of the original file on the external hdd) on the internal hdd it changes the location of the songs to the internal hdd. In my case to files like /Previous System/<some path>/Info.plist. So iTunes thinks the files are still there and cannot play them. After deleting all the Previous Systems files iTunes marks all those files as not found, that is, it does not search for the inode on the external hdd again. Very confusing.
    Yesterday I started from scratch with an empty iTunes Library (I moved the original one) and the problem reoccurred instantly after I imported all my music, quit iTunes, disconnected the external HDD and started iTunes again. So some of my songs are lost, iTunes will never find them again w/o me reimporting them. Also the problem might occur anytime in the future and I seem to not be able to cure it, because iTunes tried to be intelligent. But how it can confuse inodes w/o looking at the device ID and why the songs did not return after I removed the /Previous Systems folder I cannot image.
    I checked the inodes on the internal and external hdd for some of the songs and they were indeed identical. So iTunes seems reset the path/location in the Library DB if it can find the inode of a song which it cannot find by path. Why it does not look at the device id in combination with the inode# is a mystery.
    Some additional details:
    iTunes Music Folder Location: on external hdd
    The Library files are on the internal hdd at ~/Music/iTunes.
    I hope someone can answer that. I do not want to start from scratch every week. I hope my iPod which holds all the songs synchs meta info like play count and rating back as well.
    Kind regards, soryu2.

    And further....
    I went into iTunes to try to download all my purchased music.  Some, but not all, is showing up under iTunes>iTunes Media>Music.  It looks like the library thinks some if the music is there, but it actually is not.
    Seems like my library is corrupted (or something). 
    Since I have to upload all music from CD anyway, should I delete my iTunes library and start over, first by downloading all purchased music. 

  • ITunes not finding original files?

    When I open iTunes on my PC, the songs all have exclamation marks beside them. When I click on the song, it says "the song could npot be used because the original file could not be found". All my songs have either been copied from a CD or purchased through iTunes. Is there a way to fix this without manually pointing iTunes to each file for all my 600+ songs?
    Thank you!

    The exclamation marks (and the accompanying note) inidicate the files aren't located where iTunes expects them to be. This most often happens when the files have been deleted, renamed or moved to a different location than where iTunes expects them to be.
    If the files are still on your computer but 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 that case, you can start with a new iTunes library. 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).

  • Itunes not finding music

    my itunes wont load up because it says, "itunes can not find the music folder, the defuslt location is in the my music folder"
    my itunes folder is in my my music folder but for sumreason tweak ui cnt read the folder, i think my my music folder is not an official microsoft folder, is there a way for microsoft to make anothjer my music folder to put my itunes folder in?
    thanks

    If you cannot see the ‘My Music’ folder within the TweakUI drop-down selection, proceed on to the following:
    1 On the start menu go to ‘Run’
    2 Type in RegEdit
    3 Navigate in RegEdit to HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
    4 Delete any entry for ‘My Music’
    5 Navigate up the tree to HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
    6 Make sure there is an entry for ‘My Music’ and is pointing to C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Music (you can edit the value by double clicking it)
    7 Close RegEdit
    8 Reboot
    iTunes &/or TweakUI should now be able to find the folder.

  • Mac Air storage indicates music storage is big but can not find music files

    I am going in to check the storage on my hard drive. In the music section it says there is 74.14 GB of storage being used but I am unable to locate the files. I have checked everything that can be checked on this mac and no music. Can you please help. I fequently use Final Cut Pro and I know they render files but there are no music files rendered in there. Especially not to amount to that amount of storage. Please Help.

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and open it.  It will show all of you files and the respective sizes.
    Ciao.

  • Why does my itunes tell me they can not find music files on my computer?

    Why does itunes only play 10 sec. of a selected song instead of the 1:30?

    The question in your text is not the question you ask in the topic.  I already posted a response to that one in your other topic.
    It would help if you tell us on which computer you are doing this, and I assume you are using itunes.
    The topic needs to be reposted in the iTunes forum for the system (Mac or PC) you are using, under the correct topic, or you may never get an aswer.

  • Itunes cannot find music files

    I know I've seen this problem before but can't remember the solution. When attempting to play an Itunes song I get a box saying "song could not be used because the original file could not be found". I've checked under advanced for the proper music folder location and that is correct. Could someone help me again.
    Thanks in advance.
    Dale

    If you hold down the option key when you open iTunes you should be able to point it to the library that you want to open.
    Is you extrernal drive formatted in NTFS? That might be causing an issue with your Mac seeing it.

  • ITunes not finding music on external hard drive! Help!

    My music is on my external hard drive and for quite some time now, whenever I want to sync my iPod, I've had to manually tell iTunes where each and every song is--this gets annoying very quickly. I have the preferences set so iTunes should know where my music is, but each time I open the program up, I have to tell it where the songs are... I turn on the hard drive and THEN open iTunes. I'm not sure what else to try.

    I was going to ask that, but I won't Small point though, not only must it be plugged in but the drive must be "ready" as well. If it's still running up the hard drive to full speed, it isn't ready.
    In addition, the external drive must have the same drive letter allocated to it as before. If, for any reason, your laptop gives the external drive the drive letter E the first time, but drive letter D on the subsequent occasion, then once again, iTunes will fail to find the Library as it's "on a different drive" (letter).
    Various things can transpire to cause the drive letter to be different; other deivces such as cameras, scanners, printers, or even memory card readers are all assigned a drive letter when plugged in, usually on a first come, first served basis. Perhaps your laptop has some quirk that means it decides on a different drive letter.
    As a test, make a note of which drive letter has been used before you power off. Then check the next time iTunes fails to find the Library whether the drive has been given the same letter as before.

  • Can not find music files

    I moved all my files to an external HD trying to opens up some space and then moved them back,  now when I try to open a song either in I tunes (that I have already purchased) or on the computer I get the followoing message:  The song “All Your Life” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

    iTunes really, really doesn't like it when you move files yourself in Finder.  The best answer requires knowing exact detail of what you did and your folder strucuture.  Probably the easiest thing would be to rebuild your library from scratch by adding the relocated media to an empty iTunes library.

  • Need help with library....Itunes not finding music !

    I was going through folders on my hard drive, not using Itunes. I was looking at each of the album folders when I noticed that many artists had duplicate tracks, but the track name had a 1 added to the titles. I spent hours deleting thousands of duplicate songs. I have no idea how that happened, but it's finished & I have more drive space.
    I then noticed a bunch of artists were for some reason, filed under compilations and not where they belonged. I copied the folders from compilations and put them in the proper artists folder. Now itunes isn't finding them, yet they are there on the drive.
    Question: Is there anyway to have itunes go through my library completely to rebuild what it needs to find all of the moved songs? Thanks!

    I'm sorry to say I have the same problem...sort of..I want to know if there is a fast way to transfer music from my music library to itunes...since I accidentally deleted the entire iT library...I wanted to post my question so I signed up here, but can you tell me WHERE in this place do I GO to POST??? how frustrating, I cant find where to post so I had to BUD in somewhere, and hope you have that answer..I'm sorry!!

  • Itunes not converting music files.

    i just don't understand itunes.
    so when i installed itunes onto my computer so i could upload the music onto my slvr, it converted SOME of my previoud audio files that were in windows media player. but it didn't take them all, infact it took a little less than half. and i can't figure out how to get them on the itunes library.
    i know i've probably overlooked a simple task but whatever. can someone please point out why i'm an idiot, and tell me how to do this?
    thanks.

    Edit > Preferences > Advanced > (check box) Copy files to iTunes Library

  • My itunes are on windows 97. just got windows 7 laptop. when i load new software on my new laptop it shows all my windows 97 music/audiobooks but can not find the files. how do I link them

    my itunes are on windows 97. just got windows 7 laptop. when i load new software on my new laptop it shows all my windows 97 music/audiobooks but can not find the files. how do I link them

    iDevices are not and have never been backup devices.
    Authorizing a computer does not cause media to magically appear.
    Media is only where the user puts it.
    Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer.

  • Updated my itouch gen 4 32g to Ios 5 and now itunes can't find music files

    I did a search and could not find anything about my specific issue.  I was hoping to get some help if possible.
    So I did the update to IOS 5 and everything went fine..........except for one thing.  I have all my music stored on an external hard drive so I changed the media folder location to my external drive.  When I did the update IOS changed the location to "C:\users\name\music\itunes\itunes media folder".  I figured this is why itunes could not find the files.  So I switched it back to my external drive and it still could not find my music files.  The weird thing is that I can sync it and it won't delete the music from my ipod.  All of the music is still on the ipod but not on itunes.  I know I can manually go in and find all the folders but I REALLY don't want to have to do that.  I have done it before and it took 7 hours.  Since I don't use all the files I can't just drag the library over and problem solved.
    One other strange thing that happened:  After I did the update I downloaded an app off of the the appstore in itunes.  This is the first app that I downloaded off of itunes and not straight off my ipod.  I then recieved an email from apple saying it had been downloaded on a computer or device not associated with my apple id (which makes no sense seeing how the id on my ipod is the same as on itunes).
    If anyone has a suggestion on how to fix the music problem, I am all ears.  Thanks.

    Once a track is in your iTunes library, you should not touch it except through iTunes. But I guess you know that now.
    iTunes, to answer your question, cannot "refresh." If you re-add those files to your library, iTunes is unable to match them with the existing library entries, and will create a bunch of duplicate entries. This is a longstanding shortcoming of iTunes (and the source of lots of traffic on this fourm).
    If there are "too many to manually" reassociate, then starting over, in the sense of deleting and then re-adding, may be a good plan.

  • ITunes can't find music files

    Somehow my iTunes library got messed up, though everything worked fine before. I think that something happened when I did an iTunes upgrade but I am not sure anymore.
    The library file is at
    -- C:\Documents and Settings\i080151\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
    and all my music is at an external HD at
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
    In iTunes under Advanced I set it to the right music location, it says
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
    On a side note I also have a library file at
    -- G:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes
    and it is a few months old, when the problem started. In any case, if I remember right the library file needs to be where iTunes is installed itself, and that is on C:. The library file on C: is current.
    So all my music is on G:, my library shows all that music, but when I try to play any song I get the exclamation mark and that message that iTunes could not find the file.
    When I today add a new music file, say a podcast, it gets properly added to the G: drive, shows up in iTunes, and I can play it there. I also see that the file date of the library file on C: gets updated to when I added the new podcast. But none of the older music files play.
    I am confused... can someone help?

    Try this as a test - open iTunes and tell it to get the old library from G:
    Here aer directions on how to do that - don't create a new library, just hold down the shift key while starting iTunes and browse out to that old library file.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/7.5/en/15502.html
    Does it find the old songs with the old library?
    Something else to check-
    Do you have any old libraries with a date near when you upgraded?
    As mentioned in this article
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301895

Maybe you are looking for