Library not playing songs because the original file can't be found.

My iTunes is having problems. I download new music and then later that night my library shows up, but says:
The song "insert name here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
I have roughly 1400 songs and instead of locating each one individually is there something that I could do to make this process go much quicker and more efficiently? Can it also be done without messing up my song count and last time played?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Well, I got it fixed...
1 I found the nearest Apple Store. I think you can get to a list via Apple.com/retail
2 Made an online appointment with the GENIUS BAR folks at the store.
3 They went into Edit, Preferences, Advanced, and checked "Keep itunes music folder organized" and "Copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library" and "use itunes as the default player for audio files"
after a few other gyrations that I could not keep up with, my music library looked normal and i will only have to reload a few numbers that did not find there way back into the library. Some of the gyrations were deleting the duplications that occured in the fix process.
When I returned home, I duplicated the process on my other computer and it seems to WORK... now, AMAZING that TWO computers developed the SAME problem on the SAME day when BOTH had worked perfectly before hmmm?
GOOD LUCK, EVERYBODY!!!
It would sell a a lot more ipods if apple had a better online support program, but the real people at the store were fantastic...
Mike

Similar Messages

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  • The song could not be used because the original file couldn't be found

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    Message was edited by: Stunray

    *Adding new items/removing orphans*
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  • Some of the songs I have downloaded onto i tunes won't play when I select it to do so.  The error message I get is "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found.  Would you like to locate it?"  How can I get my songs to play?

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    When I try to play my iTunes music on my computer, an error message comes up and state "The song (title of song) could not be used because the original file could not be found.  Would you like to locate it?
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    Hi angela dfromtx,
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  • After installing iTunes 10.5 update i get the following message when trying to play any song in my Library "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"  how do i fix this??

    I have an iPod Classic and work on Windows 7.
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    Try my script FindTracks. Select a few of the missing files to start with then run the script. Choose No at the first prompt so that you can check how it works track by track, then confirm or edit the location of the media folder where your files are. Once you are happy with how it behaves let it process larger numbers of tracks automatically.
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  • I cannot play music from my library on either my external drive or my laptop - keep getting same message "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. I have tried changing the path in prefernces many times.

    I cannot play music from my libray on either my external drive or my laptop. I keep getting the same message - "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have changed the path several times under preferences and it still won't recognize any songs from either my laptop hard drive or my external drive. I can't play any music at all.

    I think I've fixed this on my machine.  If you look in the ITunes folder there is a subfolder called Previous iTunes Libraries.  In my case for some reason this contained the one which had always worked and a new one was in the main  folder.  I closed iTunes, deleted the new one, and moved the old one back to the main folder, then opened iTunes.  It then rebuilt the library and it plays correctly.  Hope it works for you.

  • HT2953 i-tunes could not be used because the original file could not be found.could not locate.this error occurs on most of my songs in my library and will not play even though they are in my i-pod and play with no trouble.can  anyone please help?

    i-tunes could not be used because the original file could not be found.could not locate.this error occurs on most of my songs in my library and will not play even though they are in my i-pod and play with no trouble.can  anyone please help?

    I was not complete clear.
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  • I cannot play music from my itunes library.  I keep getting an itunes message that says, "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found."  Is there a fix for this?  Thank you.

    I cannot play music from my itunes library.  I keep getting an itunes message that says, “The song could not be used because the original file could not be found.”  Is there a fix for this?  Has this happened to anyone else?  Is there a fix for this?  Thank you.

    Hello Turintest2,
    I am having a similar problem.  I have over 4000 songs giving me this error.  I certainily don't want to go in one by one and find them.  I know you wrote a script for Windows but I am a Mac user.  Is there a fix for me?  Here is the info on where the song is currently (used by doing the get info)
    Here's a shot of my preferences:
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  • Since i download the new version of i tunes i canot play the songs of my library...it say that "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found" what i do to just play the songs directly? please someone help

    since i download the new version of i tunes i canot play the songs of my library....it say "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found".
    would you like to locate it.i just want to play directly..what i do?  please help  thanks

    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

  • Library Lost - Please HeIp I tried updating my old ipod & now all 10,000 songs in my library have an ! next to them and I get the error message "song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found" on every song I try to play

    Please help - this morning I tried updating one of my old ipods for my wife (this ipod hasn't been updated in 2-3 years).  I plugged it into my pc, it was recognized and the software updated.  I created a new playlist and tied to sync the ipod.  This ipod had never been used on this pc/itunes since the pc is only 2 years old.  When I tried to sync the ipod it stated that it would have to erase all the old songs on the ipod prior to syncing.  I clicked ok and it proceeded to wipe out the old ipod and sync the new playlist (~1000 songs).  When the sync was complete there were only 6 songs from the new playlist (all purchased this morning from itunes) on the ipod and to my horror all ~10,000 song on my pc in itunes now have a ! next to them.  Only my recent purchases from itunes do not.  When I click on a song with the ! I get the error message "the song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found."  How do I correct this issue - I am scared to hook my ipads or other ipods to my pc for fear of losing everything?!?!?  I spent 100s of hours burning the 10,000 songs from my cd collection and do not want to have to do it again. 
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    This "original file cannot be found" thing 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

  • My partner deleted my itunes (10) library. I use a WD external back-up and retrieved my itunes library, but when i try to play a song i get the message 'could not be used because the original file could not be found Would you like to locate it?'

    My partner deleted, by accident my itunes library. I have an iMac 10.6.7, Itunes 10. I use an WD passport as an external back up and retrieved my itunes library but now get the message "could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" so itunes is not recognised the exclamation marked songs, how do i get the retrieved files recognised. At times I get fed-up with Apple blocking files being used, although I like the product its restrictions are so silly!

    You not only have to retrieve the library file from the backup drive but the actual music files (usually stored within the "iTunes Media" folder) as well.

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