ITunes recently stopped locating almost ALL of my music files.

I've never had a problem with this until recently. When i go to play a song, an error message comes up that says, "The song 'name of song here' could not be used because the original file could not be located. Would you like to locate it?"
Then I go and locate it myself. All of my music is on a external hard drive but it hasn't been a problem until now, yet I haven't changed anything on iTunes.
Of the 1500 songs on iTunes, it plays 30. Very odd.
Any suggestions?

I noticed that your music is on an external hard drive. You didn't accidentally lose connection with it, did you? When the firewire plug on my old external drive started to die I got the same error.
If that's not the case, you may want to recreate your library.

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Itunes 11.1 deleted almost all of my music! WHY?

After both updates (iTunes 11.1 and ios 7) everything was fine for a few days. Yesterday however I noticed my iPod was skipping songs as I had it on 'shuffle', most of them just wouldn't play. I tried selecting these songs from my iPod but the text was grey instead of the usual black colour. There were also squares next to these songs with circles around them.
When I got home I plugged in my iPod to my laptop, opened up iTunes and found exclamation marks with circles around them next to the songs that no longer play on my iPod. After ejecting my iPod I found that these songs don't even show up on my iPod anymore. They still show up on iTunes when the iPod is connected but they are still not playable.
These songs played perfectly fine the night before. I've had this iPod (5th Generation touch) for months and never had any problems. This is why I think it has something to do with either the ios 7 update, the iTunes 11.1 update or both.
I do not purchase music from iTunes. I buy CD's, download music using codes provided when I buy Vinyl records or download free music online.
The songs that don't play are seemingly random. Some albums are entirely gone but most still have a few playable songs from that album. I'm still hopeful that all my music is not gone because as I mentioned before they still show up on iTunes, they just aren't playable. Please help.

Nephilimx1973 wrote:
having the same problem and its really p*ssing me off!, it seems everytime a plug in, it wipes new songs, ones that were fine the day before. i always update manually. once i have added the album to my ipod, i usually delete it from my itunes library (never had a problem before until I updated to 11.1) any ideas?
Mainly that you should always keep copies of all your media in your library, and back it all up. Managing an iPod via a selection of playlists is also, in my opinion, easier, and more powerful, than manual management. Should the device need restoring it is a simple matter to reselect which playlists should sync to it..
tt2

Itunes has renamed and reordered all of my music files. Why? can I undo it?

Sorry, I posted this in 'windows' by mistake...
I moved my music library from an ext drive to an int drive. Then I clicked "add to library" in iTunes [7.2(34)]. My target is the int drive, no files to be copied in my iTunes music folder. It uses too much memory (double!). When it was all done, most of the folders had been renamed and moved around. It will play through iTunes, but when I want to find an artist or album on the hard drive, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. What happened and how can I either undo it, or prevent it from happening again if I go to my backup drive and start over again.

iTunes should only do this if the options are set in the itunes preferences.
The check box is Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized.
iTunes will organize files by artist>album
The next check box is Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library.
Does just what it says.
The first checkbox is the one that does what you described.

Hey, so I logged onto my computer after a mandatory restart and my music and playlists were deleted from itunes, but I still have all of the music files that go into itunes if I open them individually. Any way I can get them back into itunes altogether??

really just want my songs back in itunes, trying to find a way to do it all at once instead of clicking on individual song files since i have so many.

copy them and then paste them into music/itunes/itunes media/music/ automatically add to itunes. that should automatically add them back in.

Recently my iTunes has stop opening but i hear my music just find. Was wondering y i cannot see my iTunes when click on it from my dock?wh

Recently my iTunes has stop opening however i hear my music just find. Was wondering why i cannot see my iTunes when i click on it to open from my dock? It never was an issue before - it just stopped opening all of a sudden.

Hi Bink Wills,
If you can't click Window and then iTunes to bring the Window to the Front, try suggestions in the following article.
iTunes: Troubleshooting issues with third-party iTunes plug-ins
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3430
-Jason

ITunes doesn't recognize all of my music files

I recently updated to 11.3 - My music library has always been recognized in its entirety up until this point. I am super OCD about it, everything is well organized and all my artwork is in place. For some reason it does not recognize all the music files now, including the fact that I lost some of my album artwork. I went ahead and followed steps (1-6) in re-creating my iTunes library and playlists. After doing this it still doesn't recognize all of my music files. What should be my next step so iTunes shows/sees everything as it did before the update?
Thank you!

Yes,
Let's move the discussion from the iTunes for Mac to the iTunes for Windows forum.
Thanks,

I got a replacement iphone 4s about 2 months ago and now almost all of my music is missing. How do I get my music back on my iphone?

I got a new iphone 4s which was a replacement for my 4s that got wet abuot 2 months ago. I had the applecare people walk me thru setting up the new phone. I just noticed that almost all of my music is not showing up on my phone. How can I get my music back?

Is your library still present? You can upgrade iTunes, then on left hand side u should see purchased. Music that was purchased can be restored through phone and computer. Go to file & click transfer purchases from your iPhone. You may have to authorize the computer again.

I upgraded to 5.01 and lost all my CD music files. Worse, I have had to change my computer and while I can see a list of files in Itunes on the new machine I cannot download them. What's to be done?

I upgraded to 5.01 and lost all my CD music files. Worse, I have had to change my computer and while I can see a list of files in Itunes on the new machine I cannot download them. What's to be done?

It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer.
Use your backup copy to put everything on the new computer.
If for some reason you have failed to maintain a backup ( not good), then you can transfer itunes purchases from an ipad- without syncing : File>Transfer Purchases
In some countries you can redownload some itunes content.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

Is there a way to find out whether all of my music files have been imported to iTunes?

Is there a way to find out whether all of my music files on the computer have been imported to iTunes?
I want to consolidate my music files to tidy it all up into one place, and then delete the originals. I don't want to delete any music until I know that it's all been imported.
Thanks.

Try iTunes Folder Watch and point it all the places you store media. When you're happy everything has been imported you can consolidate.
See also this post on Duplicates which includes a link to a backup tip.
tt2

I downloaded i tunes onto my new computer, i connected my iphone during the updating process itunes failed and i lost all my purchased music from my iphone. I would like to get it reinstated how ?

I downloaded itunes onto my new computer, i connected my iphone during the updating process itunes failed and i lost all my purchased music from my iphone and can no longer retrieve them. I would like to know how i can reinstate the lost music please.

When you are done with this issue, consider the computer back at the office may still
have access to your iTunes account, and it should be de-auhorized. You can do that
remotely, but be sure you carefully do not mess up your other computer iTunes libraries.
Good luck & happy computing!

I am in the process of completely restoring my Early 2009 MacBook, which is the computer that I originally created my iCloud account with; which, consequently, is the original location of all of the music that finds its way from iCloud-

Onto all of my other device. Is all of the music in iCloud safe if I restore my MacBook?
I have an iPhone and an iMac. There is a lot of music that I have downloaded from iCloud onto both devices – however, not all. My question is: will the songs that have not been downloaded onto my iMac from iCloud be lost if I restore the computer that was the original location of all of that music?

I agree with Keith about using the Target Disk Mode, Transferring files between two computers using FireWire. This way there's no chance of errors due to dropouts using the wireless connection.
According to MacTracker your early 2009 Macbook does have a Firewire 400 connector which should do the job very well.
OT

Best way for iTunes and Apple TV to output high resolution music files?

I am currently listening to music at home using this set-up:
My iTunes library of Apple Lossless music files ( Win 7 ) is in my home office, and it is connected to an Apple TV 3 in the living room through an Ethernet cable.
The Apple TV 3 is connected to a DAC Moon 100D through an optical cable
The DAC is connected to an integrated amplifier Cambridge Audio Azur 815A which outputs the analogical sound to the speakers.
I want to have best possible sound quality, but as far as I understand I have some limitations on this set-up:
1) Apple TV outputs everything at 16 bit/48 kHz (not bit perfect and not 'CD quality' 16 bit/ 44.1 kHz). So, even if I have higher quality music files being served from iTunes, it will be down sampled to 16 bit/48 kHz.
2) ITunes does NOT support 24bit recording and all Apple Lossless music files are automatically converted back to 16-Bit by iTunes
So here are my questions:
Can I play 24bit music files using iTunes directly from the PC to the DAC?
If yes, which formats?
Any suggestions to improve my set-up output quality?
Thanks in advance.

Hello Sugarrayleonard,
After reviewing your post, I have located an article that can help in this situation. It contains a number of troubleshooting steps and helpful advice concerning Apple TV issues. You may want to consider a full restore of the device, if you haven't tried that yet:
Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation): Restoring your Apple TV
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4367
Restoring your Apple TV to factory settings
On Apple TV, choose Settings > General > Reset, and then click Restore.
Your Apple TV will restore to factory settings and will download and install the latest Apple TV software. This process may take some time. Do not disconnect your Apple TV's power cable during the restore process.
If you cannot use this process, and you have a micro-USB cable, try the steps in the next section.
Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
BobbyD

My hard drive with all my actual music files died. how can I transfer the music on my ipod classic to another drive?

my hard drive with all my actual music files died. how can I transfer the music on my ipod classic to another drive?

If you purchased all of the songs through itunes store, please follow these steps:
1. Open up Itunes and Click on Itunes Store
2. Once you're in the Itunes Store look to right side of the screen and you should see the word "purchased". Click purchased and you'll be sent to a purchase screen.
3. Click on "All Songs" and then it will show all the songs you've downloaded. From there you just hit the button that looks like a cloud with an arrow on it, and it will download all the songs all over again.
If you didn't purchase them through Itunes, then you'll have to download software that will strip the songs from your iPod onto your computer. Here is a guide about how to copy iPod music. Hope it helps. Feel free to email me if you need further help.

TS1424 I have all my previous music files in wma formats from PC Windows xp computer. But now I had decided to purchase an iMac computer, and there is a lot of information I would like to bring to the Mac, but I'm having problems with my music file, and o

I have all my previous music files in wma formats from my previous PC Windows xp computer. And only two weeks ago I decided to purchase an iMac computer OS X Maverick, and there are a lot of files and information I would like to bring to the Mac, but I'm having problems playing my music file, suited to the PC but not with iMac as yet. So, I hope you can help on this...
Kind Regards
Robert Klaassen

WMA files are 'window media audio' files, which is a Microsoft format. If you want to add them to your iTunes library on your Mac then you will need to convert them into a compatible format first. If you still have your windows machine then iTunes for Windows can convert them from WMA to MP3 format : https://discussions.apple.com/message/24158701#24158701
Or try a search for, for example, 'convert wma to mp3' to find programs to convert them.

HT1473 i have an ipod that was associated with a different i-tunes account. I want to sync it to me new i-tunes account but do not want to lose all of the music files already stored on the ipod. how do i do this

i have an ipod that was associated with a different i-tunes account. I want to sync it to my new i-tunes account but do not want to lose all of the music files already stored on the ipod. how do i do this?

Hello, peppertwist.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
When receiving the not enough space alert, he is the best article to go through.
iOS: "Not enough free space" alert when trying to sync
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1503
Cheers,
Jason H.

ITunes recently stopped locating almost ALL of my music files.

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