ITunes Randomly Deletes Imported CDs

HELP!? This has been going on for years and is maddening. I will go to listen to a CD in my iTunes collection only to get the error:
The song “<NAME>” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? (note: the <NAME> will be the missing song name)
But it can't be found because there's no trace of it on the harddrive. When I dig out the CD again and re-import, iTunes remembers the disc because it will have selected only the songs I imported originally.
The selections it removes are random. I do use an external hard drive for the music library. That external hard drive has a Mac mini connected. I'm usually listening via my MBP in a separate part of the house. It doesn't seem to matter which computer was the source for burning the discs, it'll delete in all cases.
Any suggestions?

I have the same issue https://discussions.apple.com/message/17339930#17339930

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ITunes randomly deletes music

I have a Windows Vista computer with iTunes 8.0.1.11.
I have noticed that iTunes randomly deletes music from my computer, i know this because, i have a mac with the same music library and there is music on my mac which is gone from my windows computer.
The file is not in the music folder, and it doesn't appear anywhere on iTunes. There isn't a notice that says, file cannot be found, it is just completley gone. I do the same updates on both computers, so it can't be that.
Why is iTunes deleting music ?
Thanks

This has been happening to my wife's itunes library as well. First I had it set to use the existing folders of music on her laptop. Then it started deleting the original music files at random. Some were songs that she had for a long time and are nearly irreplacable. So I smartened up since Itunes is kind of a crappy software and had it just copy all imported songs into the itunes folder (keeping the itunes library seperate from the original files). Even though this is basicly using twice the space, it is a sacrifice that I must make in order to compensate for really bad coding.
Now, everything was fine for a while. Last night she updated to the 2.1 itouch software and everything seemed to go fine. This morning, she added a few more folders to the itunes library (again it should be copying the music to the itunes folder). But low and behold, she starts itunes and it deleted a bunch of music from her library. Thank gawd I had it not manage her original files as I would be throwing the ipod through the wall if it had.
This is very frustrating (among other issues which I will post in a new thread). Apple needs to give us an answer as to why itunes is behaving like this.

ITunes randomly deletes folders from my iTunes system directory

I am running iTunes v7, "I have the box Let iTunes manage folders" unchecked, I have no folders in my iTunes list. I select "Add folder to library". At this point iTunes imports the majority of the albums contained in the iTunes directory on my disk, those that it doesn't it DELETES from my system. This has happened on two different systems so now I have a copy elsewhere on the disk of all the albums in a directory structure. However, how can I stop iTunes from randomly deleting these albums - I have checked to see whether iTunes has just moved them somewhere else, it does not, they are deleted.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Ray

I have an Intel based PC with XP Pro. I have had the same problem as the rest of you for 5 years. I have e-mailed Apple 3 times sans response. I searched the Internet for solutions. I have done what several of the suggest but still the problem persists. I had almost 13000 titles of music and old radio shows. Some I uploaded from personal CD's. Some were downloaded via an online music service. I can play a piece one day and the next that line has an exclamation point in front of it. I have lost entire works by one artist due to this problem. I am fed up with reloading the music and losing it. iTunes either has no answer or does not care. I asked about any limitations on the database manger, no answer. I asked about database limitations, no answer. I saw a post two years ago from a husband wife team that had 18,000 titles and had now lost many of them.
If there are complaints, there must be a problem. If there is a problem, there must be a solution. I spent too many years testing software professionally to think otherwise. If I do not receive a response from iTunes in the near future I will find another database to move my music too.

ITunes randomly deletes songs or whole albums

I've been having this problem for quite some time now, maybe a year..I just thought I was misplacing the songs at first. However now I know for a fact that iTunes is randomly deleting entire albums. How can I stop this? I've thought about locking the folder, but then I probably wouldn't be able to update stuff as well.
Its extremely annoying because some albums are burns of physical discs and some are ones that I bought online. The physical are OK because I can just grab the original disc, but the ones I bought online I have to repurchase them.
Will taking off iTunes folder management work? Do I need to reinstall something?

This is weird in that when you intentionally delete something by selecting it and hitting 'delete' you get the choice to 'Cancel' vs. 'Keep Files' vs. 'Move to Trash' with note in box that only files in the iTunes music folder can be moved to the trash - so it should not be possible for iTunes to completely trash anything.
The only thing I can think of to check is to be certain in Preferences > Advanced both 'Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized' and 'Copy files to iTunes folder.." are checked (from your first post it looks like they are). If they are not, it is possible that you imported a song in another folder which was not copied into your iTunes folder, that is that you created a link to it but then accidently deleted the original. Of course, if you imported the physical CD using iTunes to rip it this wouldn't make sense. I would recommend making a backup of all music that you buy, but of course that doesn't answer the 'Why' question. -Bob

ITunes randomly deleting content - the "!" shows beside them, but they are not where iTunes says they are

Hi - I find that iTunes has been randomly deleting some content (movies or songs) from my library. I'll go to play something and it will have an exclamation point beside it. Sometimes if I "Get Info" and locate the file, it will be there, and then play fine. But sometimes it is completely gone from the library (still listed with an exclamation point, but not in the file folder it was stored in). In that case, the location in the "get info" window shows as:
file://localhost/Users/Username/.Trash/iTunes Media/Movies/Movie Title/Movie Title.m4v
Even if I view hidden files, I cannot find that folder location to move the content. The content is also not in the Trash, nor on the extrernal hard drive any more.
NO idea why this is happening, and can't figure out a pattern. Is anyone else having this issue, and/or found a solution?
As background, I'm on a MacBook Pro (2011), running OSX Lion. I sync an iPhone and an iPad2 to the iTunes library. iTunes is set to manage files automatically. The library is stored on an external hard drive accessed through a Time Machine.
Thanks to anyone that can help!

file://localhost/Users/Username/.Trash/iTunes Media/Movies/Movie Title/Movie Title.m4v
But that file location is your System Trash - you seem to have a problem with the permissions on your Trashes, either in your system Trash or the hidden Trash bin on your external drive.
See if any hints in this document help to locate the trash on your external drive:
Solving Trash Problems: http://thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
The library is stored on an external hard drive accessed through a Time Machine.
Do you mean your Library is stored on a network volume (Time Capsule)? Then network problems may be the reason for your dead tracks.
Regards
Léonie

HELP!! Upgraded to latest Itunes, now cannot import CDs!!!

Was doing fine, enjoying my new Ipod, building music library for first time. Then I upgraded and now I can no longer import music.
I ran diagnostics as suggested in other thread on problems burning CD, which shows that the computer is not recognizing my CD drive anymore. And in My Computer...it does not show that there is an audio cd in the drive.
What is going on that Itunes is causing the computer not to recognize the drive? I read that there is a work around for the immediate problem of beginning the import in windows media player---but is there a way of backing out of this version of Itunes that is clearly problematic? I really regret upgrading.
Itunes diagnostic is below which shows drive is "empty" when there is a CD in it.
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
TOSHIBA Satellite A45
iTunes 7.0.1.8
CD Driver 2.0.6.0
CD Driver DLL 2.0.6.0
LowerFilters: PxHelp20 (2.0.0.0), AFS2K (3.1.14.0), BSSTOR (1.0.7.0), PFC (2.5.0.201),
UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.0.6.0),
Video Driver: Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller\Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller
IDE\DiskIC25N060ATMR04-0______________________MO3OAD4A, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
IDE\CdRomTOSHIBADVD-ROM_SD-R2412________________1431___, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
If you have multiple drives on the same IDE or SCSI bus, these drives may interfere with each other.
Some computers need an update to the ATA or IDE bus driver, or Intel chipset. If iTunes has problems recognizing CDs or hanging or crashing while importing or burning CDs, check the support site for the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard.
Current user is an administrator.
D: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R2412, Rev 1431
Drive is empty.

"+itunes frequently renders CD/DVD burners useless...+"
"Frequently"?! Do you know why (and what can be done about it)?
I'd love to have itunes on my PC and throw 'em $$ for downloads, but I haven't had any luck so far. And, frankly, I'd rather have my drive and burner working and be itunes-less than the other way around...
EDIT: I asked in an already existing thread with no luck:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1800058&tstart=90
Message was edited by: JimPV

ITunes on iMac imports CDs slow and eventually stops

I have 2 iMacs and one Macbook. Both iMacs are Snow Leopard, the Macbook is just Leopard. Only one of the iMacs has this problem. I'm running the latest iTunes and I take in all Apple supplied updates every week.
This problem existed on the previous version of iTunes (9) and it did not get better after upgrading to version 10.
There are actually several problems, and they are quite bizarre. No other posting in the Forums seems to cover them.
1) When I import a CD, it starts out OK. Kind of slow, like 3x, 4x but it moves for a song or two. Then the import progress bar stops updating. It seems to freeze. If you touch the mouse, the bar jumps way ahead, or even to the next song. Then it just sits there again. If you move the mouse continuously you can eventually get the thing up to 6x or 8x and it will finish. If you don't move the mouse, it eventually just goes to sleep and never finishes. There is a workaround for this - if you play a song from your library while you are importing the CD then it will eventually finish. The progress bar retains its weird non-linear behavior, but it will finish and eject the CD. It never gets faster than about 8x and my other iMac can import at about 20x.
2) Sometimes when I start playing a song from my library (not importing a CD at this time) the progress bar jumps all over the place. It will be 30 seconds into a song and then it flashes back to 2 seconds, then ahead to 32, then back, etc. The audio during this time is fine it does not actually rewind the music.
3) I also have an Airport Express. When I set this machine up to play through the AE it will play OK for 10 or 15 minutes. Then it will just stop. You cannot click anything to make it responsive. You have to right-click on the iTunes icon and do a force quit. Other machines in the house can play through the AE for hours with no dropouts. There is good network connectivity, the machines are only 15 feet apart.
If the problem was just the importing of CDs, it might seem like a hardware problem. But I have these other 2 problems and they have nothing to do with the CD. The only constant is iTunes. The rest of the apps on the box Mail, Safari, Firefox, etc. seem fine. There are no glitches in them.
Should I reload iTunes completely ? If I do that will my library be lost ?
Theoretically I do have a saved copy of the library in my Time Capsule.

This was resolved with a hardware repair. The USB port was shorted causing an interrupt storm and affected iTunes.

My itunes no longer imports cds corectly with tracks showing no music and zero timings??

When adding CDs to my library limited or no tracks are shown. They appear as time not available? Tried to change import settings but this does not help?

I have a nearly identical problem. I can import part of the first track, and for some reason, part of the 6th track and then skips over the rest. It shows the play times as a huge number (somewhere around 667 hours) but imports nothing. I cannot play the CD with iTunes either.
I bought vista home premium and was disappointed to discover it does not come with a x64 bit disk. I used vista 32 bit software and had absolutely no problems with iTunes. After a fresh install of vista for 64 bit iTunes no longer works properly. I can still play anything I transferred from my backup HD but no importing is possible.
I have tried the error correction with no success. I tried installing and running 32 bit iTunes and it gives me an error saying something to the effect of "iTunes is improperly installed. You may need to reinstall iTunes to fix this problem."
I have a hard time believing that this is due to a x64 bit problem as Apple has used this technology longer than most. Is this an issue with the latest iTunes? I am going to fuss with it some more but I'm very frustrated that I can bearly use the new iPod I bought. Any suggestions from Apple users as well as Dark Side (*vista or windows in general :)*) users would be awesome.

ITunes doesn't import CDs without minimizing, then maximizing iTunes window

According to the instructions I found after digging through many help files and tutorials, I was led to believe I could open iTunes, insert a CD, then a CD icon would appear on the left, and I can then click on Import CD. Not so. I open iTunes, insert a CD, and nothing happens. However if I then minimize and maximize the iTunes window, which I discovered after an hour of putzing around, it THEN recognizes the CD and I can import it. When it's finished and I insert another CD, I again must min/max the window before it recognizes the new CD. ALSO, if I min/max the iTunes window while it's importing, the import is aborted and I have to start over. Is this the way it's supposed to work?

Here are the diagnostics acquired after reading CD:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 3000
iTunes 10.1.1.4
QuickTime 7.6.9
FairPlay 1.10.14
Apple Application Support 1.4.1
iPod Updater Library 10.0d2
VoiceOver Kit 1.4
CD Driver 2.2.0.1
CD Driver DLL 2.1.1.1
Apple Mobile Device 3.3.0.69
Apple Mobile Device Driver 1.52.0.0
Bonjour 2.0.3.0 (214.3)
Gracenote SDK 1.8.2.457
Gracenote MusicID 1.8.2.89
Gracenote Submit 1.8.2.123
Gracenote DSP 1.8.2.34
iTunes Serial Number 6122FF266D4EBDD1
Current user is an administrator.
The current local date and time is 2010-12-30 21:57:39.
iTunes is not running in safe mode.
WebKit accelerated compositing is disabled.
HDCP is not supported.
Core Media is not supported. (16005)
Video Display Information
Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
** External Plug-ins Information **
No external plug-ins installed.
iPodService 10.1.1.4 is currently running.
iTunesHelper 10.1.1.4 is currently running.
Apple Mobile Device service 3.3.0.0 is currently running.
** CD/DVD Drive Tests **
LowerFilters: PxHelp20 (2.0.0.0), Pfc (2.5.0.204),
UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.2.0.1),
D: HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B, Rev 0D20
Audio CD in drive.
Found 9 songs on CD, playing time 31:57 on Audio CD.
Track 1, start time 00:02:37
Track 2, start time 03:04:60
Track 3, start time 05:55:17
Track 4, start time 10:25:02
Track 5, start time 16:33:55
Track 6, start time 19:27:22
Track 7, start time 22:42:12
Track 8, start time 24:24:02
Track 9, start time 28:35:20
Audio CD reading succeeded.
Get drive speed succeeded.

ITunes - random deletion of playlists and 100+ songs

Yesterday, I had somewhere around 1100 songs in my iTunes library, including quite a few I had purchased from the Music Store.
Today, I opened iTunes to find only 900 songs, and that my playlists were no longer there.
No one has had access to the computer but me during this time.
Help?

Perhaps you may still have those 'missing' music files on your PC -- but not seen in iTunes or the PC.
Do a thorough search of your PC 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).
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.
Without the ITL file, re-‘Adding’ the music files to the Library will lose you the Ratings, Play Counts, Date Added and Last Played attributes, as well as your Playlists. No real way to recover them if you haven’t made prior backups. Something to consider for the future....
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)
AFTER recovering your song files, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation.
You need at least three sets of your music:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- 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 the computer is not considered having any backup. If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer, then create and maintain two external sets.
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/click.jspa?searchID=394618&messageID=1263275

My Itunes randomly deletes music numbers.

Sometimes one song in the middle of a cd is missing, and sometimes a single just disappears. The weird thing is that the name and albumcover is still there, but the music file is not. Has anyone ever tried this? The original file in the music library is gone, and a lot of it is music i bought in itunes.
Also, i keep getting less and less space on my harddrive. It's like it's automatically filling up, allthough I'm not filling it with anything.
Could it be the solid state drive that's dying?
Regards
Elias

Two main reasons for disappearing music I can think of. One is sloppy typing/mousing accidentally deleting things. Another is drive corruption. Have you run Disk Utility recently and verified your hard drive's directory structure?
Mac OS X 10.6 Help - Repairing a disk - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8492.html

Suddenly getting write errors, iTunes randomly deleted my playlists

Last night I started having problems with the iTunes store, and today the problem is getting even worse. Initially I had a 'write error' that screwed up two different downloads/purchases from the store. Today, upon opening iTunes, my entire library was wiped out and so were all of my playlists. Now I can't restore my library without it running into write errors and freezing iTunes. I had the most current version of iTunes, uninstalled it, and reinstalled a fresh download.
Still having all of the problems I listed. They are completely out of the blue: I hadn't changed anything with my computer, and all of a sudden this problems started happening. If it can't be fixed I'm going to stop using iTunes completely. It's junk as far as I'm concerned.
Anyone else have any idea what the **** is going on here?

I am having a similar problem all of my music has a error log that says it can't find the file and therefore will not play. Most of the music was coped from my cd's. Any ideas?

Why ITunes gets freezed importing CDS?

I bought an anthology of big band CD and a Sergio Mendes Greatest hits CD and the program freezed when I the importing procedure begins, Why and what can I do to solve this?
thanks...

I bought an anthology of big band CD and a Sergio Mendes Greatest hits CD and the program freezed when I the importing procedure begins, Why and what can I do to solve this?
thanks...

ITunes 12.1.0.71 for Windows 8 Not importing CDs

the new iTunes is not importing cds properly
When you put the disk in it starts playing the CDs and there's no way to stop it from playing. I've tried going into "Controls" and pushed "stop playing" and the option wasn't even available (grey). The Arrow button on the top left is also indicating that nothing is playing (in other words it still looks like an arrow and not the pause symbol). So basically according to iTunes...the CD is not playing. I even tried playing another track in my library and they ended up playing simultaneously. Also importing is very slow...an hour for 1 cd.

Just putting this out on the web for those that encounter it, not necessarily the original poster as I'm sure solved by now. I have a new Dell running Windows 8.1 and iTunes update 12.1 got error 193 and would not install, I tried numerous methods listed here. The folder some said to delete did not exist. uninstalling and reinstalling did not work. Rebooting to an earlier restore point did not work. I cannot say what will work for others, but here is what DID work for ME: Do not browse to the Apple site and download iTunes in Google Chrome, instead use Microsoft Explorer. When I went that route a different pop up box appeared asking if i want to repair or uninstall. (Repair did not work), selecting uninstall Then downloading the 64bit version (which I need) fully and successfully installed- not just saying it did, but actually working. I opened it up and re-synced to my iPhone 4s. Viola! (Btw, the day prior when purchasing an album over 3G not wifi all my stored music mysteriously disappeared, which ironically is what caused me to update iTunes to 12.1 but maybe this is unrelated, but both problems solved now. once iTunes was running again, everything was still in the cloud not lost just downloading to phone.) Hope this helps.

Songs that are imported manually from cds or flash drives are randomly deleting from my iphone 5. Sometimes I get an error -54 message first. Sometimes not. What could be causing this and how can I fix it?

I have an iPhone 5 16g ios 8.2 and it keeps randomly deleting the songs I manually put on from cds or flash drives. The songs I purchased from iTunes don't delete just the ones I manually add. It has happened three times, once after I added 399 songs, once after I added 27 songs and once when I added 45 songs. Sometimes an error (-54) pops up but not always, it's just in an instant all the songs I put on are suddenly gone. I have uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes three times, reset all the settings on my phone and also restored my phone to factory settings. Nothing has worked. I have a 4th generation iPod and I have never had this problem. Any and all suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

x0SiN0x:
Welcome to Apple Discussions..
My first suggestion is to Repair Disk. Here's how:
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel, and report)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
If DU reports errors it cannot repair you will need to use a utility like Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior
Please post back and let me know how that goes.
Here are a few links that may help you to identify the issues:
Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption
Tuning Mac OS X Performance
Mac OS X System Maintenance
Please don't hesitate to post back should you have further questions or comments, or with update.
Good luck.
cornelius

ITunes Randomly Deletes Imported CDs

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