ITunes on new computer cannot find my songs

I recently purchased a new Vista laptop and now want to enjoy my music via iTunes on it. I had previously made a backup of my whole itunes folder on an exHD. On my old computer, the music in my library is found here and there, it is not all found in the iTunes music folder, since it came from various sources.
After installing iTunes on my new laptop, I replaced the whole iTunes folder by the one I had backed-up and when launching iTunes, it only finds the songs that are in the iTunes music folder. My playlists are all there with the song counts and album covers, etc. but the songs that arent in the iTunes folder have all an exclamation point besides the title. I've tried consolidating my library but it did not work, it copied some of the music but most of it still have the ! mark.
What can be done so that it can find my music by itself...? Or am I doomed to replace the unfound songs one by one?
thanks!

iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads

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Recently I got a new PC laptop. I backed up my iTunes from my old laptop to an external hard drive and transferred them to the new computer. Although the song information appears in my iTunes window, when I try to play them I get a message that the file cannot be found and would I like help locating it. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Something whet wrong with your migration process, that much is clear.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. It may be possible to simply slide the media folders into the location that iTunes expects them to be.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
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I did some file maintenance and now my itunes icon on my computer cannot find the songs. I have to show were all the data for the individul songs are located in the computer. How do I remap the location of the actual songs, so the computer list can find

did file maint on computer, not ipod list in computer not linked with actual place of songs in computer. What can I do to remap the itunes list in the computer to find actual songs.

You didn't move the library or rename the folder or drive it was in? Are your songs IN the library or are did the library point to them elsewhere on your drive? Obviously something happened, any idea what?

Reinstalling iTunes to new computer; Concerned for current songs on iPod

Alright, so my last computer just died November 29th un-expectantly. (It suddenly shut down while in the middle of a conversation with a friend and wouldn't turn back on since). At first I hopped that it was possible overheating because of that week, it had been on from morning to night none stop.
Yet, it soon showed that it was completely fried.
I hadn't backed up any of my music and so everything that wasn't lost on the computer is still on my ipod. Today, my grandmother gave us one of her good computers and I am prepared to reinstall itunes to it and start over.
But I am concerned on what will happen to the 700+ songs still on my ipod when I sync it. Will I lose them when I sync my ipod and if so, is there a way to save them??

1). Connect your iPod to your new computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod.
2). When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
3). Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you only want to copy your purchases to the computer that can be done using iTunes, you'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
For everything else (including purchases) there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
A selection of iPod to iTunes utilities:
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide
4). Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync.
5). I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

Itunes on new computer wiped out old songs while sync

My old computer that i had my collection on had to be trashed, so my songs were backed up on an external hard drive and i transfered them over to a new computer with the same account. Problem is, when i went to sync the ipod because i made some new purchases, it only synced the new ones while completely wiping all my old songs from my ipod. Before i could play my old songs on my itunes, now i cannot.
Did i miss a step somewhere? Or do i just need to get a new ipod?
Message was edited by: Crissi21

https://discussions.apple.com/message/11527071#11527071
1) Without connecting your iPad to your laptop, start iTunes. Click on Edit. Click on Preferences. Click on Devices. Check the box next to "Prevent your iPod etc. from automatically syncing." Click OK.
2) Now connect your iPad to your laptop and start iTunes.
3) When iTunes starts, right click on your iPad under Devices in the left column. Select Transfer purchases etc.
4) After it finishes transferring all your apps to your new laptop, right click on your iPad and select Backup your iPad.
5) After it finishes backing up your iPad, right click on your iPad and select Restore etc.
6) After it finishes restoring, left click on your iPad , then click on the Apps tab on top, and check the box next to Sync Apps, then click on Apply below.
If everything on your iPad looks good after the sync, go back and click on Edit / Preferences / Devices and UN-check the box next to Prevent your iPod etc. The only other thing you may want to check is if your contacts, bookmarks, etc. are syncing correctly now. If not, go to the Info tab after connecting and make sure you indicate which features you want to sync with what sources.
That should do it.

HT1420 looking at the 'help' to work out how to authorise new computer so can play songs, the instructions say - open itunes - go to store tab -locate 'authorise computer'- I cannot find the 'authorise computer' part !

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You are looking at the drop-down menus at the top of iTunes e.g. on a Mac :
If you are on iTunes 11 on Windows then press Alt-S and the Store menu should appear at the top.

I bought songs on itunes through my iphone. When I went to plug my iphone into my computer to sync, itunes asked me to restore. I backed my phone up, but now i cannot find the songs i purchased through my phone. How do i get back the songs?

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After downloading itunes on my new computer all of my songs have an exclamation point in front of them and it says the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. How do I fix this?

After downloading itunes on my new computer all of my songs have an exclamation point in front of them and it says the song could not be used because the orginal file could not be found. How do I fix this?

Hey waltee911,
It sounds like you're seeing something similar to this picture:
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iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
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Delgadoh

ITunes says it cannot find my songs...

My itunes library is on an external HDD. I've gone to edit>preferences and made sure the itunes media library is set to this place. I had no issues last week but today i've turned itunes on, and it cannot find any of the songs even though they are in the same place.
Any song I click on it says "itunes cannot find the file would you like to locate it". Is there a way that you can get itunes to search and assign everything for you? Its confusing me...

When you first told iTunes where to look for your library (i.e. on an external drive as opposed to the default) that drive would have been assigned a drive letter by your computer. Now, is the external drive given the same letter as before? If not, that's why you have a problem.
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Message was edited by: the fiend

I have a new ipod touch and whilst I was syncing with my computer I was asked if I would like to update, I did and now I have lost all software from my ipod touch. How do I retrieve it? My computer cannot find it. I am a new user so simple language please

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I am trying to transfer 3000 songs from my iPod Classic to my new computer. The only songs that transfer are those that I have purchased on iTunes (242 songs). All of the music from my CD collection that I have on my iPod Classic will not transfer. What (if any) is the best 3rd party website that will assist?

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HT1351 We had 2 computers: his itunes library on one, and mine on the other. We got rid of both of those and got a new computer. I put music on the new computer. My ipod songs are not on itunes. Will I erase them if I sync? How do I add new music?

We had 2 computers: his itunes library on one, and mine on the other. We got rid of both of those and got a new computer. I put new music on the new computer. My ipod songs are not on itunes on the new computer. Will I erase them if I sync? How do I add new music?

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If you have those purchases on an iPod, simply dock the iPod & you will be asked if you want to sync your purchases iPod back into iTunes.

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ITunes on new computer cannot find my songs

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