ITunes Says Original File Cannot Be Found...Over and Over!

How do I stop this from happening?
I use an external HD, as it's an 88 GB collection and I don't want that on my iMac's primary HD/
Every couple of months, thousands of files are "lost", even though they're safe and sound in the iTunes Remote library. I've even reimported all the files before. It still happens.
There has to be an easy fix for this. Help and thanks!

Along these same lines, I have a lot of music that I either bought from itunes or loaded from cd's that I own. This music will play on my ipod, but gets the same error message of original file not found. Sadly, my ipod touch has a cracked screen. How can I save all of my music?

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I recently bought the i pod touch 4 and noticed that not all of my songs transferred over-The songs that didn't, say original file cannot be found. What should I do?

I recently bought the i pod touch 4 and noticed that not all of my songs transferred over from my i tunes library-The songs that didn't, say original file cannot be found, when clicked. What should I do? I tried using the tips on this site, but they weren't too helpful...I downloaded the songs from cd's and purchased them from i tunes.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!

I doubt that your music files are gone. Do a spotlight search and look for The Cure. What likely happened is that for whatever reason, your iTunes lost track of the location of your songs.. which happens on occasion.
What you need to do is go to the folder where your music library is - where the song files are - and check to see if they are there. If so, then go into your iTunes preferences and in the 'Advanced' pane put in the location of the folder where it says 'iTunes Media folder location'. iTunes should then be able to 'see' the songs again.
Deb.

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I moved my iTunes library to my external hard drive some time ago and I followed the directions listed here on the apple support page. It did copy my library and now is on my hard drive... I can open iTunes and use it to sync all of my devices but I would like to play my music... I can see all of my music files but can not play them if I click on an album or song it says the following: "(file name) could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I click locate but do not know where to go from there? I need a way to access all files and not to hunt down one at a time on my hard drive... I am pretty sure I deleted the original library to make space on my internal drive which was the reason for moving it. I have tried and tried to fix it and do not have a lot of time to do so with a one and two year old at my house who do not like it whenI sit down at my computer. What to do??? Any help is much appreciated!!!

See Make a split library portable. Move all of the bits of the library together in the the correct shape and it should work. Or undo exactly what you did and then start over.
If you're a former Windows user don't try merging two folders together that have the same name by dropping one into the same folders as the other, as that goes badly on a Mac.
tt2

I have over 2000 tunes in my ITunes library but I cannot use them because their original files cannot be found. What can I do to correct this ?

I have over 2000 tunes in my ITunes library but I cannot use most of them because their "Original files" cannot be found. What can I do to correct this ?

This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
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. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
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.
tt2

Ihave tons of music on itunes , but everytime i try to select it says "the original file cannot be found, would you like to try and locate it" i have no idea what happened to all of my music any tips? i have a dell windows vista.. thanks !

I have tons of music on itunes , but everytime i try to select it says "the original file cannot be found, would you like to try and locate it" i have no idea what happened to all of my music any tips? i have a dell windows vista.. thanks !

Basically, the computer thinks the music is 'lost'. Follow the prompts and try to locate it. It should navigate to the files and redraw the links which should make that pop up go away

HT1386 I have tried syncing my music from itunes to my iphone 4s and over 30 says don't transfer. It says the files cannot be found. Why is this and how can I fix it?

I have tried syncing my music from my itunes on my macbook to my iphone 4s and over 30 song won't transfer. It says the files cannot be found. Why is this and can I fix it?

You can try to repair your library. Once you are sure the files are all taken care of, you can sync the phone to remove all of the music and then sync again to add it back. That should take care of the issue.

Itunes says "Original File could not be found"

I've moved my Itunes music folder to a different location to accommodate more music. I've also created a new library in another location with other music (reasons aside). Also, the Advanced pane shows the correct location of the Itunes files. All worked just fine, opening Itunes with option key to be able to choose the correct library. Now, when I click almost any tune in after opening the original library, Itunes says "Original File could not be found - would you like to locate it?" I could but I certainly don't want to do this for each and every song. How can I do this "en masse" and How can I avoid this in future? Thanks in advance for any help.

am pulling my hair out now after to many hours on this issue.. Surely Apple must be able to sort this issue by now.
My itunes library is 5+ yrs old now and therefore 10,000 songs, numerous podcasts, videos etc etc. not to mention loads of rating information, hundreds of playlists created from last played, rating, genre etc etc, therefore i cannot afford to loose all this valuable data attached to my itunes library. However recently half of my library appeared with exclamation marks all over it, though i cannot work out why as all the music files are in the location specified in preferences, path etc.
It seems that itunes just wont bother looking at this path and syncing with whatever is there. Yeah fine i can add the whole itunes music folder again and it will import every song again so i go from 10,000 to 20,000 songs, i could deal with this with a dupe eliminator that are freelu available on the net but the new imports without the exclamation marks cleary dont have the historical data of play counts, last played ratings etc etc attached to them so its no different from deleting and starting again.
I have tried all the options in this post and none of them deal with the simple issue of just look at the location that it listed in the preferences and search for the file u think is missing on mass!!!
Its not rocket science so why havent Apple fixed this. !!!
If anyone has got a solution for this or work around that doesnt involve completly writing off years of rating and creating playlists based on numerous historical data then i would be bery appreciative!!

Itunes song cannot be played because original file cannot be found? but i just downloaded the song 1 week ago from cd

I imprted music in to my itunes librabry a little over a week ago, today I am trying to play the music and I am getting a locate button telling me that the original file cannot be found? What do I do?

This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
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. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
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 .
OR
Assuming you are in a region where you are allowed to redownload your past music purchases, delete the entry for the missing track from your iTunes library, close and then reopen iTunes, go to the iTunes Store home page, click the Purchased link from the Quick Links section in the right-hand column, then select Music and Not on this computer. You should find a download link for your track there.
While downloading select Downloads in the left-hand column and make sure Allow Simultaneous Downloads is unchecked.
If the problem persists, or that facility is not yet available in your region, contact the iTunes Store support staff through the "Report a problem" links in your account history, or via Contact Support.
See also:
HT5085 - iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match Availability
HT2519 - Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
tt2

When i double click itunes it doesn't open it just comes up with an error saying " The itunes library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the 'itunes' folder in the 'music' folder". How can i fix this?

When i double click itunes it doesn't open it just comes up with an error saying " The itunes library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the 'itunes' folder in the 'music' folder. How can i fix this problem?

Anyone can help to advice how to solve this issue ?

TS1717 iTunes will not open. I get a message that says, "The iTunes Library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the "iTunes" folder in the music folder." How can I fixt this?

iTunes will not open. I get a message that says, "The iTunes Library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the "iTunes" folder in the music folder". How can I fix this?

Hi pgarard1,
If you are having issues with launching iTunes after an update, you may want to take a look at the troubleshooting in the following article:
iTunes for Windows: Doesn't open after upgrading in Windows Vista or Windows 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2363
Regards,
- Brenden

I updated my itunes to 11 and found out my phone and ipod were not compatible. I uninstalled it and reinstalled 10.7 but now I get an error message when I try to open itunes saying "the file cannot be read because it was created by a newer verison"

I updated my itunes to 11 and found out my phone and ipod were not compatible. I uninstalled it and reinstalled 10.7 but now I get an error message when I try to open itunes saying "the file cannot be read because it was created by a newer verison" What do I do?

Thank you for clarify I'm supposed to read the ENTIRE article. I thought I was just supposed to read the title and magically everything will fix itself. I appreciate you taking the time to help me however I do not appreciate the caps and the way you have addressed the situation. If you are not going to kindly help people/make suggestions just don't try! And for the record my conclusions are not illogical, the iOS7 thing is on the website in small font (which I got by reading the ENTIRE thing) and you should really find a new hobby because your socialization skills need some help! That goes for you too Chris. Not everyone is a tech nerd

Selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes

1- on the beginning i used to purchase any App from iTunes and will be downloaded to my MBAir with out any problems .
2- But, after 2 or 3 days i will get Apps icon as inactive icon in the itunes Aplication and cannot copy them to my iPhone neither cannot open them in his iTunes and i will get an error message " selected App cannot be used because the original file cannot be found and must be re-downlaoded from the iTunes".
MBAIR with Mac OS 10.8.4 with the latest iTunes version 11.1
thx.

And redownloading doesn't work...?

I purchased a song from iTunes and when I try to play it I get a message that the original file cannot be found and asks if I want to try and locate file.

I purchased a song from iTunes and when I try to play it I get a message that the original file cannot be found and asks if I want to try and locate file. I locate the file and it's empty?!

Delete the file, then download again from the iTunes Store, Purchased section (in the Quick Links sidebar).

When I try to play a song iTunes says "Original file could not be found"

I am getting a "!" next to my songs, and the message that the file cannot be used because the original file cannot be found.

iTunes' library keeps track of where your tracks are located. If you move a track, or keep your music on an external drive and don't turn it on before starting iTunes, or your computer's file system becomes corrupted, or iTunes' library gets corrupted, or..., then iTunes goes to where it thinks the file is located, can't find it, and you get !

I'm finding that songs that I have imported to Itunes are suddenly showing with "Exclamation" marks and Itunes tells me that the original file cannot be found. When I tell it to locate the file, it can't do it.

I'm finding that songs that I have imported into Itunes and played before are suddenly showing an"Exclamation" mark and Itunes tells me that the original file cannot be found. When I tell it to locate the file, it can't do it. I went to the Itunes help for locating files, but that still won't do it. It seems that somehow they are getting deleted, but not by me that I know of.
Can anyone help me?

Maybe you rename it. Somehow the path to the songs have changed if not deleted.
In Finder go to "Macintosh/Users/username/music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music" that's where all your songs located so if those songs are not there you get an exclamation mark. You can delete those entries in iTunes and re-import again.

ITunes Says Original File Cannot Be Found...Over and Over!

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